Visual Metaphor
Brief
The assignment here was to choose a metaphor or phrase that is relatively known and create a series of visual representations for it. This series needed to contain what we labeled a one, a two, a three, and four. One being a written explanation of what the metaphor is, clearly explaining it with limited design aspects. Four needed to be an abstract representation of the metaphor but still understandable with the use of deliberately designed elements. Two and three acted as steps between these showing an evolution from visual-verbal to visual alone.
Concept
The metaphor I chose was "ignorance is bliss" and focused on the idea of ignorance and bliss fading as you grow up and lose the innocence of your childhood.
While developing this concept I understood that I needed to convey time passing, growth, the division between right and wrong, and the increasing lack
of clarity as you recognize how complex the world really is.
"Growing up sucks... When life starts everything is simple, the line between black and white is so thin and so crisp that right and wrong seem obvious. You come into this world ignorant of the temptations and perplexities around you making life easy, but as you grow older your ignorance fades along with your innocence. As you acquire more knowledge extinguishing your ignorance, the burden of thought becomes heavier. Decisions often not only take longer to make, but the choice between right and wrong becomes harder to distinguish. The line between black and white grows exponentially creating a field of grey with blurred edges which one can easily lose themselves within. While you appreciate the knowledge you have worked so hard to attain, you question what you have sacrificed in this process."
I chose to stick with a horizontal layout for each iteration to convey time. In the first composition, there is a simple verbal message set into two columns. The first column reads normally with allowing the reader to have a quiet introduction to the topic at hand. The second column fades to a grey, symbolizing the fading of clarity between right and wrong in the world as you move into new sections of life.
The second iteration begins to increase all the effects seen before. Now the grey has begun to approach from the path ahead and the text is moving into it. As the reader continues their journey, it begins to be obscured and the text shifts making it slightly more complex while remaining readable. Now, this shift as you go forward is more drastic, unclear, and while not quite messy it is not clean either.
Now we have removed the body copy text, but the story remains. A hash mark timeline has appeared representing time and separating the composition into white and black or right and wrong. Both colors however fad into the same tone of grey, or the unclarity ahead in life.
The text here is less literal and more text as
an image. The comments go from certain statements and shift into less certain questions, representative of increased questioning we do as we learn to consider the consequences of
our actions.
The fourth and final iteration relies solely on the visual elements. The blocks represent an individual who starts off with the belief that they are whole. They believe the squareness and clarity of division between right and wrong make the world around them whole and equal. This changes as you grow, as each iteration of the block appears, it fades further into the world around it. As you grow older and gain more knowledge the world gets less clear and it becomes easy to become lost. You are more than when you had started, but you have to question if it was worth sacrificing the false clarity you believed in.
Ignorance is Bliss
