Exploring the Visual Language of Display

Learning Outcomes

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• work effectively as an independent researcher;
• demonstrate in written form an understanding of the module’s content;
• produce work fully aware of ethical considerations and conforming to academic integrity guidelines.

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• a range of theoretical and philosophical contexts relevant to the history of display in Design/Fine Art in the global creative industries;
• a range of historical and contemporary strategies of display and how they apply to your practice.
• current theories and practices relevant to the history of display;

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• undertake detailed research into specific examples of display;
• think in a critically reflective and creative manner related to display;
• apply critical judgement on how display principles relate to your own practice.

Taking DISPLAY as a key concept, the module will consider how modern and contemporary critical thinking has shaped and been shaped by developments within visual communication and design. The sites of display are increasingly diversified, and in addition to historical spaces such as the department store and the museum, we now experience display strategies in malls, online as part of e commerce, and temporarily in pop-up or guerrilla retail and art spaces. Similarly the strategies of display are informed both by historical examples, psychological influences and technological developments that push the boundaries of what can be displayed and where. Major shifts in socio-cultural attitudes are accompanied by similar shifts in design and art practice and so the module will provide historical contexts for these changes. These will include an understanding of the development of the museum, department store and exhibition space, and how 19th century technological innovations such as photography altered and continue to alter, our visual perception of display. Our psychological need to collect and display will also be explored and how art and design has utilised our need to classify and order.

In order for display to be successful it needs to command the attention of its audience. Whether in retail spaces, art spaces or the personal space of the body, we use signs, logos, brands, and indeed clothing as communication. The module will explore how we “read” the signs that direct us through the contemporary landscape of art and design culture. How a brand promises a certain lifestyle, how a gallery presents an artist’s work and how we choose what to wear or what profile to make virtually available is dependent on the viewer understanding the message. Increasingly our world is understood and experienced via the media through representation, and by exploring the historical origins of our commodified society we can recognize the prime position the sign occupies in contemporary art and design. In order to understand how display ‘speaks’ to us the module will present semiotic analyses of examples drawn from retail display and advertising.

Teaching methods include:

• Lectures
• Seminars
• Screenings
• Guest lectures/presentations

Learning activities include:

• Peer-group learning
• Group presentations
• Object centred learning
• Independent research and study

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Interim Report

• Assessment Type: Formative
• Feedback:
• Final Assessment: No
• Group Work: No

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.