Task 4

"Who says what in what channel to whom with what effect?" is the principle of communication theory in regards to Shannon and Weaver model. I thought a good example would be one which works and I could explain and learn for myself why I remember it and how I could possibly use these elements in future. The one which stood out to me is a collection of graffiti recently appearing in Leeds. With street art, you can tell a definite style to someones work and see a collection of it, even if they have not been identified as a collective. We know there is someone trying to communicate with us, but we never see the person, only their message.

Street art 01

Street art 01 and minimum noise

Street art 02

Street art 02 and minimum noise

Rival street art

These have been plastered to the streets in busy areas, but not at eye level. There is limited noise around the graffiti which is uncommon. Once one person tags a wall, another and another and another do the same it seems. To reduce the impact of noise even more, the medium on which this is made is unusual for the purpose. Newspaper. The artist is not damaging street property, but is making his art more high-end through appearing in the same format as a poster. Colour reduces noise even further, against the dark background, the pink and brightness of the medium shine out and grab our eyes attention. We recieve a message even at a glance. Entropy is essential in these designs, unpredictability make them stand out among all the stereotypical takeaways and pubs. A high level os information is built into these (a picture tells a thousand words) but at a glance, we only recieve a small amount of this. Due to this it is important that the impact is high and continued.

The areas in which I have seen these designs have been on streets heavily used by students. Near Woodhouse (Raglan Road) and along Woodhouse Lane. The more you see of these works, the more impacted they become on our memories, and so this is aimed at students, as these are the primary walkers of these streets and see both works.

Noise can be created by other artists, and even though another piece of work is not near these, I find myself thinking about them both the equal amount, possibly to me I put them in the same category as being different and interesteing that they merge as one collection in my mind. This is damaging to the reputation as one, as it is not seen as simply 'one' anymore. These other works I have seem have a more digital and finished look to them, and communicate with a less obscure voice. The message is still difficult to decode as through illustration there are thousands of semiotical and semantic theories we apply without even realising. The most damaging noise has come from my mind, and how I have stored this information. There are level B communication problems with all of these artworks as the illustrations are obscure and don't have context with the surroundings. They are not relatable to anything we know and therefore the message could be recieved warped. In semantics, language is not an issue, but the tone of voice of the illustration mixed with the colours are conflicting. Memorably conflicting through the use of entropy and channel.