Framing Multimodal Discourses About Place as Graphic Landscaping
Author: Robert G. Harland, and Alison Barnes
Date: November, 2022
OVERVIEW
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
TARGET AUDIENCE
RESULT
This paper reports on preliminary research that formulates an emergenttheoretical framework through the consideration of graphic design research inconjunction with the concept of semiotic landscape in place. The purpose of thisresearch is to extend our understanding of the current discursive modalities intypographic landscape/landscaping and semiotic landscape using the notion ofgraphic knowledge. It positions graphic design elements as possessing the semioticpotential to contribute to the interdisciplinary research of multimodal discoursesabout places. This research began with a review of the literature in relation tothe development of linguistics, semiotics and, latterly, typographic landscaping.This development links graphic knowledge from social semiotics, providing thefundamental connection between semiotic landscape and graphic design. A newtheoretical framework was established by combining urban graphic design andsemiotic landscape, and a new theoretical hypothesis of ‘graphic landscaping’ isproposed to refer to the discursive ability of graphic design elements in socialplaces.
This research briefly introduces five interlinked branches in linguistics and semioticsbased on a timeframe, from linguistic landscape to typographic landscaping. The researchhighlights the multimodal nature of graphic design that extends the emerging domain oftypographic landscaping to consider the semiotic potential of other graphic forms. There-fore, a theoretical framework is established through integrating the research emphasis ofurban graphic design and semiotic landscape to extend the discursive modality of typo-graphic landscaping. To do this, an interdisciplinary terminology - graphic landscapingproposes to emphasise a more inclusive and diverse domain. It considers all the graphicforms in urban settings that possess the ability of semiotic discourse, and all these formswould be considered as discursive modalities to contribute to the meaning-making of theplaces. In this ongoing research, the further inquiry will interpret the new terminology toalign these five areas.
we focuson the ways multimodal writing systems have increasingly been required to respond tothe needs of a rapidly urbanised and global way of life in the twentieth and twenty-firstcentury when there have been increased levels of migration that look set to continue.During this timeframe, graphic design has become increasingly recognised for its impor-tant role in the development of migration and globalisation.