Glossary

To help me in understand the key words mentioned in lectures and seminars I created a glossary of terms I was slightly unsure with. Using the Google dictionary as a source for my definitions 

A

Aesthetic- 

'Concerns with the beauty or the appreciation of beauty'. It is the visual appearance of something.

'Picture give the aesthetic pleasure' 

Giving or designed to give pleasure through the beauty

'The law applies to both functional and aesthetic objects'
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Arbitrary-

Based on random choice and personal whim rather than any reason or system 'an arbitrary decision.'

B
 

Bauhaus- 
Staatliches Bauhaus , commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was an art school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicised and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term Bauhaus —literally "house of construction"—was understood as meaning "School of Building".

Body copy-
The body copy is the main part of a piece of writing such as a advertisement or article, the first sentence should begin after the headline.

C

 Composition-
Is the manner in which some parts are combined or related to form a whole piece.

Consumerism-  

The movement seeking to protect and inform consumers by requiring such practices as packaging and advertising, product guarantees, andimproved safety standards.

Conventional-
Based on or in accordance with what is generally done or believed.

Corporate Identity-
A corporate identity is the overall image of a corporation, firm or business in the minds of diverse publics, such as customers, investors and employees.

Culture-

The ideas, customs and social behaviour of a particular group of 

people and society.

D

Denotation- 

The literal or primary meaning of a word, in contrast to the feelings or ideas that the word suggests.

'The action of indicating or referring to something by means of word, symbol, etc.

The object or concept to which a term refers, to the set of objects of which a predicate is true.

De Stijl-

De stijl a school of art that was founded in the Netherlands in 1917, embraced painting, sculpture, architecture, furniture, and the decorative arts, and was marked especially by the use of black and white with the primary colors, rectangular forms, and asymmetry.

E

Efficiency-
The quality or property of being efficient.

Erogonomics-
The applied science of equipment design, as for the workplace, intended to maximize productivity by reducing operator fatigue and discomfort. Also called biotechnology, human engineering, human factors engineering 


F   

Favella-
A brazillian shak or shanty town; a slum.                   
"rapidly growing populations in the favelas of the great urban centres"

Flux-
A conctant or frequent change, the action or process of something flowing out 

Form Follows Function-
Form follows function is a principle associated with modernist architecture and industrial design in the 20th century. The principle is that the shape of a building or object should be primarily based upon its intended function or purpose.

Futurism- 
A belief that the meaning of life and one's personal fulfillment lie in the future and not in the present or past.

An artistic movement originating in Italy around 1910 whose aim was to express the energetic, dynamic, and violent quality of contemporary life, especially as embodied in the motion and force of modern machinery.

G

Globalisation-

Ihe process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale.

 

Golden record-  

A golden record is a single, well-defined version of all the data entities in an organizational ecosystem. In this context, a golden record is sometimes called the "single version of the truth," where "truth" is understood to mean the reference to which data users can turn when they want to ensure that they have the correct version of a piece of information. The golden record encompasses all the data in every system of record (SOR) within a particular organization.

I

Icon-

Resembles the sign (Photograph onomatopic word)

A Image of representation.  

Iconography-

the visual images and symbols used in a work of art or the study or interpretation of these.

Ideology-

A system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy.

 

Index-

Direct link between sign and object e.g. smoke index of fire

Innovation- 

The act of introducing something new.

 

Immersion-

Focusing on one thing, your lost in the moment and foget everything else. (artifical) 

K

Kerning-

To adjust the spacing between (characters) in a piece of text to be printed.

Kinetic typography-

Kinetic typography refers to the art and technique of expression with animated text. Similar to the study of traditional typography of designing static typographic forms, kinetic typography focuses on understanding the effect time has on the expression of text.

L

Leading-

The amount of blank space between lines of print. The distance from the bottom of one line of type to the bottom of the next.  

M

Modernism-

A style or movement in the arts that aims to depart significantly from classical and traditional forms.

a movement towards modifying traditional beliefs in accordance with modern ideas, especially in the Roman Catholic Church in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Moodboard-

An arrangement of images, materials, pieces of text, etc. intended to evoke or project a particular style or concept.  

N

Naturism-

The worship of nature or natural objects.
  

P

Perceptive-

Having or showing sensitive insight.

Postmodernism-

A late 20th-century style and concept in the arts, architecture, and criticism, which represents a departure from modernism and is characterized by the self-conscious use of earlier styles and conventions, a mixing of different artistic styles and media, and a general distrust of theories.

Psychoanalysis-

A system of psychological theory and therapy which aims to treat mental disorders by investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the mind and bringing repressed fears and conflicts into the conscious mind by techniques such as dream interpretation and free association.

R

Realism-

The attitude or practice of accepting a situation as it is and being prepared to deal with it accordingly. 

The quality or fact of representing a person or thing in a way that is accurate and true to life. 

Reference-

The use of a source of information in order to ascertain something.

 

Representation-

The action of speaking or acting on behalf of someone or the state of being so represented.

the description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular way. 

Revolution-

A forcible overthrow of a government or social order, in favour of a new system. 

S

Semiotics-  

The study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation

Seminology-

another word for semiotics, theory of signs and symbols. 

Signifier-

A sign's physical form (such as a sound, printed word, or image) as distinct from its meaning

Signified- 

The meaning or idea expressed by a sign, as distinct from the physical form in which it is expressed.

Surrealism- 

A 20th-century avant-garde movement in art and literature which sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind, for example by the irrational juxtaposition of images.

Sustainability-
In more general terms, sustainability is the endurance of systems and processes. The organizing principle for sustainability is sustainable development, which includes the four interconnected domains: ecology, economics, politics and culture

Symbolism-

The use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities.

An artistic and poetic movement or style using symbolic images and indirect suggestion to express mystical ideas, emotions, and states of mind. It originated in late 19th-century France and Belgium, with important figures including Mallarmé, Maeterlinck, Verlaine, Rimbaud, and Redon. 

Syntax-

The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.

T

Theory-

A supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something, especially one based on general principles independent of the thing to be explained. 

Typeface-

A particular design of type 

W 

Whitespace-

In page layout, illustration and sculpture, white space is often referred to as negative space. It is the portion of a page left unmarked: margins, gutters, and space between columns, lines of type, graphics, figures, or objects drawn or depicted.