CCT204H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Cirque Du Soleil, Rudolf Arnheim, The Act Of Creation
15 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
CCT204 Design Thinking
Dr. Ann Donar
Wednesday, May 9
Agenda
● Presentation of Group Activity from Monday
● Example: application of bisociation
● Communication theory
● Rudolf Arnheim: Sketching and the Psychology of Design
● In-class assignment
Review of Bisociation
● Creating involves relating two normally independent frames of reference (Rowe, 1987)
● Koestler’s idea of bisociation (1964)
○ Two mutually incompatible contexts, or bisociation of matrices
● Integrative thinking (Martin, 2009)
○ 2 or more opposing ideas transformed into a creative resolution
Bisociation can also be a method in choosing a creative or art direction
● What is a creative direction?
○ Bigger umbrella: verbal, non-verbal, visual, and non-visual in a creative way that
can pertain to things, methods, services, and other that transcend visual level
● What is an art direction?
○ It has to do with the elements of art (ex. Colour, line, shape, form, texture, value);
visual-oriented. Aesthetics visual and humanistic (not necessarily visual, but
kind of enhances/touches a body, mind, and soul, i.e. yoga, music, ASMR)
● Choosing the framework of aesthetics
○ What kind of aesthetics?
○ Think of adjectives. Grungy, organic, sharp, elegant, warm, etc.
Example: The idea of combining a wheelbarrow and shovel has to do with creative direction
(function). The design of the wheel (shape, size, lines - shaped like letter ‘Y’ reinforces the
wheel) and the colour.
The art direction can support the functionality. Art direction does not necessarily make
something pretty, it enhances art direction, function, and message you want to communicate.
What is appropriate for the message?
Be inspired by art movements and styles
● Go to museums and art magazines to strengthen your repertoire
● It does not have to be complex, it can be very simple, three-dimensional, etc.
● Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and other cultures
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Exercise: Pretend you are an art director and you need to come up with a new direction for
Disney characters. Ex. Make them look older, update their costumes, re-contextualize by pairing
it with a real world problem (creative direction).
Disney did their characters in the Haida art style.
Applied Arts Extra combines porcelain plate with a drawing of contemporary people - how it is
drawn, colour, lines, texture (art direction)
Applied to Other Disciplines
● Any other examples of using bisociation as an innovation method?
● Ex. Acrobatics and theatre arts - cirque du soleil; Combine restaurant with experience
(ex. O.Noir - marrying experience of dining with the experience of being visually
impaired, i.e. eat in darkness); foods.
Communication Theory
● Communication is social interaction through messages
● Messages are made up of signs that convey meaning
● Claude E. Shannon and Warren Weaver
○ The Mathematical Theory of Communication (1948)
○ How channels could be used more efficiently
■ E.g. radio waves, telephone cables
● Shannon and Weaver defined three levels of communication problems
○ How accurately can the symbols of communication be transmitted? (technical)
■ The words need to come across clearly
○ How precisely do the transmitted symbols convey the desired meaning?
(semantic) - The tone needs to be clear.
○ How effectively does the received meaning affect conduct in the desired way?
(effectiveness)
● Look at it in the realm of semiotics
● *3 branches
○ Syntactic (structure of image)
■ Plastic dimension. What visual components do we see? How are things
put together in the composition? E.g. line, colour, directionality, simplicity,
and complexity
○ Semantic (meaning of image)
■ Visually, what is it made up of. Ex. Adidas logo - three lines = climbing up
a mountain (left to right)
○ Pragmatic (effect of image)
■ Aspiration of being an athlete trying to reach their peak shape. Even if the
stripes are reversed, the meaning would be different (downhill), so the
effect would be different
○ E.g. deconstructing logos into their constituent elements and explaining the
meaning behind each
How would you design a crown symbol?
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Creating involves relating two normally independent frames of reference (rowe, 1987) Two mutually incompatible contexts, or bisociation of matrices. 2 or more opposing ideas transformed into a creative resolution. Bisociation can also be a method in choosing a creative or art direction. Bigger umbrella: verbal, non-verbal, visual, and non-visual in a creative way that can pertain to things, methods, services, and other that transcend visual level. It has to do with the elements of art (ex. Aesthetics (cid:3450) visual and humanistic (not necessarily visual, but kind of enhances/touches a body, mind, and soul, i. e. yoga, music, asmr) Example: the idea of combining a wheelbarrow and shovel has to do with creative direction (function). The design of the wheel (shape, size, lines - shaped like letter y" reinforces the wheel) and the colour. Art direction does not necessarily make something pretty, it enhances art direction, function, and message you want to communicate.
