#experimental layouts

[lovakim25997]

WOII: Week 10 - Poststructuralism

​Poststructuralism, a philosophical movement that emerged in the mid-20th century, challenges the idea of fixed meanings and structures in texts and cultural practices. 

This perspective encourages designers to consider the fluidity of meaning and the role of the observer in interpreting design (Discourse Analyzer). 

By embracing poststructuralist principles, designers can create works that are more inclusive and responsive to diverse audiences (Kheder Paintings).

I strongly agree with this sentiment, as it allows for clear understanding and communication with audiences through the adoption of poststructuralist principles.

In this activity, we did an activity in groups where we randomly combined photos and texts. Each person had a different meaning and the way they understood the photos was very different. Through this, we realized that each person has different thoughts and ideas. This was a very interesting study.

To break stereotypes, one sometimes has to be very spontaneous. I felt this a lot in the Craft Workshop module, especially in the Silkscreen Printing Project and the Experimental Layouts Project.

​In the silkscreen printing project, I initially felt uncertain about diving into the process without extensive practice. However, this approach led to the creation of a unique and special poster. Similarly, in the Experimental Layouts project, although there was a predefined structure, I discovered that improvising by cutting and pasting elements spontaneously within that framework often resulted in unexpectedly strong ideas.

Through these experiences, I was able to gain a deeper understanding of poststructuralism. In design, this means viewing creations not as closed entities with singular meanings, but as open-ended sign systems that allow for multiple interpretations (Melahat Küçükarslan). By breaking away from fixed conventions, we can generate more open, unique, and distinctive ideas.

Word count: 274 words

References Link:

Theoretical Foundations of Post-structuralism in Discourse Analysis [Interactive Article] - Discourse Analyzer AI Toolkit

Dive into the post-structuralist contributions of Derrida, Foucault, Kristeva, Barthes, Baudrillard, and Lacan to discourse analysis, explor

"Theoretical Foundations of Post-structuralism in Discourse Analysis." Discourse Analyzer, 8 Apr. 2024,

The association of design semiotics and post-structuralism proposes not seeing the design as a closed entity, installed with certain meaning

Emiroğlu, Melahat Küçükarslan. "Design Semiotics and Post-Structuralism." Academia.edu,

Contemporary Art and Poststructuralist Theory: Exploring Intersections

Contemporary Art and Poststructuralist Theory and Exploring Intersections

Kheder, Ahmed. "Contemporary Art and Poststructuralist Theory: Exploring Intersections." Kheder Paintings, 5 July 2024,

[lettersbyjia]

Experimental Layouts

The point of this assignment was exploration in layouts and having the liberty to play with image and text.

We had to write a poem for the text.

Forest Floor:

A hungry python slithers across the floor,

Moss and water making it desire for more,

Tired in its pilgrimage about to weep,

It sees a human’s eyes closed with sleep,

And devours it in a nature so crude,

An interstellar event occurring for food.

-4:41 PM | 5-08-2022

Spiral

This piece of work is supposed to represent what I imagine an anxiety spiral would feel like. So many thoughts spiraling out of this one trigger. Here the trigger is conveyed through the word anxious and the multitude of thoughts are on the side is the overthinking that comes along with it. The first version of the layout had an imbalance in the negative space which was rectified after a senior pointed it out. The black diagonal in the middle is actually the 's' of the anxious increased in size. It was placed diagonally to create a sense of divide that one feels with themselves while anxious.

Nosedive

Here the layout is carried by the poem and its semantics. It was inspired by the first line of the poem. The whole idea of the poem is that its supposed to feel like being captivated by the tales of the python, somewhat similar to the effect of 'Kaa' from The Jungle Book. Therefore the layout is also in a way that it pulls you into the poem.

Nokia

The layout is inspired by the snake in game in old phones like Nokia. The poem has been arranged in the form of the snake and the black square(pixel) is the food of the snake. The image of python has been used on the top right corner where the name of the game used to be. It was originally Forest Floor, however the essence of python was lost by adding the name of the poem so I added the image in the top right corner.

Venomous

Here the idea of the layout is loosely inspired by two mythological stories: one of the Sindhi snake god 'Gogro' and the other of the snake from the Garden of Eden. The python represents the tree trunk and the leaves is made out of the poem. The trees in the background are also made of type with the leaves being made of the number '3' and the trunk being the character '|' or the vertical bar. The decorative font used is Eveleth Light.

Encrypted

This one is more inspired by python as in the coding language. The font used is OCR A Extended. The angular design of the font gives it the feeling of a written program. However the default font used in python is Courier New but I disliked the layout with that font.

Failures:

And there were many more iterations for each of the layouts.