Part 1: The Connection Between Spirituality and Visual Communication

Designers are able to make the unseen visible and make the visible unseen. As we influence reality with images and text, deeper questions emerge.

Aesthetics (Philosophy of Art, Theory of Art or Aesthetic Theory) in western art explores philosophical notions of art appreciation and beauty. For centuries, it has been debated whether these ideas emanate from the object/image being observed or from the viewer. Part of the reason for this conundrum is everyone has a POV that influences their perception. In addition, we perceive objects/images in relation to other things. For example, a picture of fire may be no big deal for many people. But for someone who was burned severely by it, their reaction may be very different. Art challenges us with its notions of beauty, ugliness, goodness, evil, etc. These have always been philosophical and religious ideas since art is an extension of the human spirit.

Before the digital revolution, a picture brought to mind something that was absent or past. For example, it could be a loved one who lived far away or a past travel experience. But today, the internet has brought us images on demand which means the high school reunion is not fun anymore. In addition, websites and social media provide free filter and image manipulation tools that can enhance images making them look better than the actual subject/object in real life. Social video gaming has capitalized off of this kind of desire by providing Real Time Strategy (RTS) battlefield experiences that simulate the real thing. Shouldn’t these tools and experiences raise new questions about reality? What is real or what is not? Does it matter? Digital natives now have the ability to try on new online identities which are less restrictive than their offline identities.¹ For this to be explored properly, Metaphysics (what is real), Epistemology (what we know) and Religion (purpose and significance) must be explored to answer these questions. Yes…I said Religion.

As English art critic John Berger says in his book, seeing comes before words.² Seeing allows for proactivity and reactivity to one’s reality to determine what is true and right. For example, does one have a moral responsibility to alleviate injustice if it can be observed? How would you answer this question in relation to the video showing Eric Garner telling a NYC police officer he could not breathe as he was placed in an illegal chokehold that led to his death? Is video a proper arbiter of truth and reality?

Graphic Design is a form of visual communication. The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) defines it as the art and practice of planning and projecting ideas and experiences with visual and textual content. But for the designer who is influenced by what is real, what we know, purpose, significance and beauty, it is much deeper than that. The ability to make the unseen visible and the visible unseen is a science and an art. (Illusionists, performing and visual artists know this very well.)

One of the fundamental ways for visual artists to learn to see is through traditional drawing. Drawing is not simply about replicating what one sees. It is also about how to perceive an object/image. Understanding how light, composition and texture affects the perception of  an object/image takes patience, repetition and nuance. This helps one to discover and utilize drawing techniques that express a reality that others do not easily see. Designer and educator Inge Druckrey emphasizes this very idea in her short documentary Teaching to See.  She introduces her students to seeing via drawing and speaks of graphic design as a way of envisioning an idea differently. As a sophomore at the University of the Arts graphic Design Dept. in the late 1980s, I constantly questioned my ability as a designer since I graduated from a public school and was one of very few African American graphic design students. However, as I practiced the fundamentals of art and design, my confidence in my designer’s eye slowly grew. I started to see what non-designers ignored or weren’t trained to see (such as proper kerning). New ideas started to blossom.

Visioning is a very powerful thing. However, I still found it difficult to see myself as a growing competent designer.  This began to change because I received regular encouragement from Christians at my church. They gave me a positive vision for my future and provided room for me to use what I was learning. They were invested in my overall well being in a way my design professors were not. As a professor, I have learned that there is a difference between perception based on cognitive and technical abilities and perception based on self esteem and grit. I often teach students who are very intelligent but have very little resilience. Although I am not completely sure that professors can fully enter into the life of their students, I can create an atmosphere of creative learning showing how what they are absorbing in class intersects with their lives. I am desperately trying to help them to see themselves differently. As far as I am concerned, this is a moral issue because I am attempting to awaken the student to what is real and assumed.

Some visual artists and designers have taken some of these types of moral dilemmas even further using optical illusions (Anamorphosis, Surrealism, Cubism, etc.) to encourage the viewer to question what is real. Recent advances in photographic processes and computer animation have contributed to expanding our idea of reality in films like Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings and Marvel films. But The Matrix trilogy pushed the boundaries deeper with mind bending storytelling that combines metaphysics, epistemology, religion, film and CGI effects.

“The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us, even now in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes; it is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.”

–Morpheus

The Matrix is a massive simulated virtual reality construct of the 21^st century world created by AI (artificial intelligence) machines. The goal is to control the minds of humans without their permission and knowledge as they serve as a power source. Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) is a part of the Resistance who seeks to help humans understand the true reality. He views this as a moral conviction that he is willing to die for. The movies are loaded with religious and philosophical symbolism and ways of thinking that prompted academics to write books on them.

Over the centuries, philosophy and religion has also challenged us with moral questions about reality. Even though it is common for the science fiction, fantasy and dystopian genres to explore a world without religion, they still explore the religiousness of humans within their archetypes (Messiah figure) and narrative arcs (sacrifice). Before film became the primary form of storytelling in the modern era, Graphic Design covered some of the same territory as printing processes improved. From the occult symbolism of the Thule Society on Nazism’s logo and message to the competitive symbolism representing knights in English heraldry, fusing graphics with an epic narrative in print and presentation had a similar effect as film. Now, read that sentence again and don’t think about religion. Think about the modern branding efforts of Nike, Google, Amazon and Apple. How does their consistent symbolism and message influence their audience?

The Religiousness of Humans

Although we live in a very secular post-Christian technologically advanced society, humans are still incurably religious. In the West, modern religion is increasingly viewed as a private affair or a nuisance that needs to be isolated from public and civic life. However, modern anthropologists who study religion globally, show that this has never been a normative practice in the history of humankind. In Jacob De Roover’s academic paper Incurably Religious? Consensus Gentium and the Cultural Universality of Religion, he states that anthropologists are confident that religion was present in all early human societies and to different degrees. Why? Because, the curiosity of humans in every society asked three important questions:

1. Who/What created this world?
2. Why was it created?
3. What is my/our purpose?

Modern anthropologists study the rituals and visual culture of a society to find out how they answered life’s questions. For example, ancient people responded to the movement of the sun by worshipping it as a deity and building altars. In our naiveté, we assume that they were primitive and immature. But this assumes that religiousness was wholly created by humans to explain the world. Is it possible to believe that this is simply a reasonable response to the unexplained? In this way, they believed that they were not alone. And if they are not, what is the proper acknowledgment of this truth? For some, a faithful response is St. Augustine’s (Bishop of Hippo) monotheism or Herodutus’ (Greek historian) polytheism. For some like Carl Sagan (an astronomer) who believed in extraterrestrials, it is cosmology. For others like Deepak Chopra who see spirituality in everything, it is pantheism. And still for others like Richard Dawkins who believe there is nothing out there, it may be to only trust the observable world (scientism). Christian Theologian J.H. Bavinck calls this response a form of communion where humankind answers and reacts to the mysteries that surround us. Even with the advances in technology and science, the unexplained has not gone away. From a theological perspective, this is where religion and spirituality make themselves known. There may be a scientific explanation for love that talks about brain chemicals and endorphins but even the writer of the Book of Proverbs (and the Song of Solomon) marveled at the mysteriousness of love.

Hard science cannot explain the ‘why’ as it pertains to human flourishing nor should it.

Award winning journalist Cora Daniels and distinguished scholar and University of Pennsylvania professor John L. Jackson, Jr. describe religion as an attempt to answer all of the most important questions in life; to understand the impossible.³ (However, they also acknowledge that there is no one definition for religion among anthropologists.)

Four centuries of enlightenment thinking and increasing secularism in the U.S. has not diminished the pursuit of the three questions above although trust in religious institutions has eroded. There have been some massive changes in politics, religion and culture in Europe and the United States over the last 150 years that have impacted visual communications. (Unfortunately because of white supremacy, the contributions of people of color to visual communication, design and the visual arts have been ignored. Learn more about unsung designers and artists of color.)

Technology and modern laws favorable to the individual have provided additional choices to pursue meaning and purpose beyond religion in areas such as materialism (consumerism/media), identity (gender, class, etc.), public life (politics/business), entertainment (film/internet/sports), leisure (civil religion/technology/money), etc. Although religious believers have never been the only ones asking these questions, religion has always provided a digestable theological framework to think through them. Anyone involved in reaching an audience through design and marketing is forced to grapple with these questions But what kind of framework is being used to answer them?

Coming Soon: Part 2 – Perception in Religion, Gestalt Psychology and what is the connection to Graphic Design