Brief
Collect as many examples of visual metaphor as you can find. Often metaphors are used within political and issue-based works to give complex or subtle ideas greater clarity. For this reason you are likely to trace them more easily within editorial contexts: newspapers and articles in magazines.
Reaching retirement – Dreams of romance – Broken relationship – Censorship of the press – High achievement – Economic catastrophe
Choose one from the phrases above and create a drawn visual list of objects and subjects which could be used to symbolise them. You may find that it is in the way that the symbol can be modified that you can convey your idea most effectively. Don’t be overly concerned with the aesthetic quality or technical accuracy in the drawing. See this as an extension of your visual shorthand. If you find it useful, make a spider diagram around the phrase to generate other words, which will bring other visual connotations.
Show your drawings to someone else to check their understanding of the meanings in your drawings and gauge how far your drawings communicate what you intended.
Key words:
- Collect as many examples of visual metaphor as you can find
- Choose one from the phrases from the list
- Create a drawn visual list of objects and subjects which could be used to symbolise them
- Show your drawings to someone else to check their understanding
Examples of visual metaphor
I searched for visual metaphors on google images and saved couple of them that caught my attention.
Spider diagram
My chosen word from the given list is “economic catastrophe”. I made a spider diagram to investigate all the words that can be related to this word.
Thumbnails
I made some sketches based on the words that I gathered on my spider diagram. I decided to use a globe to show the world that is cracking because of the economic catastrophe and some hands that trying to hold it altogether and save it.
Design process
Final design
Self – reflection
This exercise opened my eyes to the visual metaphors. I’ve seen the examples of visual metaphors before, however, I wasn’t familiar with term. Also, I realized that making a visual metaphor is not an easy process, it needs lots of practice and research.
I personally like my design, I’m not sure about the concept though. When I asked for feedback, mostly thought that the picture is related to the global crisis in general. Probably, I needed to ask for feedback before finishing the design and make some changes accordingly.
Resources
Google images. Visual metaphors. https://images.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl. (Accessed: 26/08/2023)
Maryam: OCA Graphic Design 