Serious graphic design students and creative professionals will find this presentation of quantitative and qualitative research methods in visual communication invaluable. Fully illustrated with eye-opening real-life case studies, it focuses on the relatively unexplored process of design analysis. Illuminating and thought-provoking discussions deal with such issues as the audience, communications theory, experimentation in the studio, semiotics, and semantics. A final section features suggestions on how to synthesize practical and theoretical models, with strategies that working designers can really use.
Visual Research: An Introduction to Research Methodologies is a guide to the practice of researching for graphic design projects. The book explains the key terms and theories that underlie design research; examining the importance of audience, communication theory, semiotics and semantics. Inspirational case studies demonstrate how the use of rigorous research methods can form the basis of effective visual communication and design problem solving.
This new edition is packed with more than 200 color illustrations and includes all new case studies, end of chapter exercises, a new chapter on Visual Grammar and a foreword by Ellen Lupton, an internationally renowned graphic designer, writer, curator and educator.