COLLECTION NAME:
Graduate Thesis Collection
Record
Title:
Unveiling the Ideology Behind a Message Through Information Design
Creator:
Yang, KuangTa
Subject:
Thesis (M.F.A.) -- Graphic Design
Subject:
Savannah College of Art and Design -- Department of Graphic Design
Rights:
Copyright is retained by the authors or artists of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Abstract:
Edward Bernays, one of the Public Relations theorists, promoted the idea of controlling the
public by understanding the mechanism and motives of the group mind. In one of his wellknown
works, “The Freedom of Torches,” one can clearly see how the strategy of this theory,
Public Relations, manipulated the public’s perceptions of the issue of women smoking at the
time (The Century of the Self, Part One: The Happiness Machines). Since then, such strategies
have been broadly used in both cigarette advertising and anti-smoking campaigns. It is clear that
the messages on both sides of the tobacco war consist of distorted relationships among visual and
verbal elements. Richard Saul Wurman said, “Public means that the simple basic questions in the
minds of the American people are easily, readily, and clearly answerable. It is our right to
question and get answers” (Understanding Numbers, Understanding USA). While the audience
is receiving these skewed messages from both sides of the tobacco war, how many have
questioned the biases of the groups sending these messages? My thesis will show how the
strategy and approaches of information design can help audiences discover the hidden ideology
of these messages.
public by understanding the mechanism and motives of the group mind. In one of his wellknown
works, “The Freedom of Torches,” one can clearly see how the strategy of this theory,
Public Relations, manipulated the public’s perceptions of the issue of women smoking at the
time (The Century of the Self, Part One: The Happiness Machines). Since then, such strategies
have been broadly used in both cigarette advertising and anti-smoking campaigns. It is clear that
the messages on both sides of the tobacco war consist of distorted relationships among visual and
verbal elements. Richard Saul Wurman said, “Public means that the simple basic questions in the
minds of the American people are easily, readily, and clearly answerable. It is our right to
question and get answers” (Understanding Numbers, Understanding USA). While the audience
is receiving these skewed messages from both sides of the tobacco war, how many have
questioned the biases of the groups sending these messages? My thesis will show how the
strategy and approaches of information design can help audiences discover the hidden ideology
of these messages.
Publisher:
Savannah, Georgia : Savannah College of Art and Design
Date:
2012-08
Format:
PDF : 33 p. : ill.