In my Unit 3 project, I focused on Soviet propaganda posters from the 1920s to the 1940s, exploring how graphic design influences viewers’ perception through visual form and composition, and how abstract ideological concepts can be understood as concrete information. At the final stage of the project, I attempted to share this research with an audience beyond the GCD course, including friends from non-design backgrounds and people who were not familiar with the history of Soviet design. By presenting the two parts of my outcome—a newspaper introducing the historical context and research materials, and a zine that analyses visual structures through case studies—I aimed to understand how this content might be interpreted by a broader audience.
During the sharing process, one interesting observation was that audiences responded differently to these two publishing formats. The newspaper was generally perceived as more informative and easier to understand. For readers who were unfamiliar with the historical background, the format—similar to a news publication—helped them quickly establish a basic understanding of Soviet propaganda design. In contrast, the zine tended to provoke more discussion about the images themselves. Many readers showed particular interest in the compositional analyses and diagrams, as these visual explanations helped them notice design elements they might not usually be aware of, such as diagonal structures, geometric forms, and visual hierarchy. At the same time, in today’s fragmented information environment, the relatively longer textual format of the newspaper also revealed certain limitations in maintaining readers’ attention.
Another observation that impressed me was that even when viewers did not know the specific historical background, they were still able to infer certain meanings from the visual forms. For example, when I presented El Lissitzky’s Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge, some viewers quickly understood the sense of opposition and conflict through the relationship between the red triangle and the white circle. This feedback further confirmed that form in graphic design is not only a means of visual expression, but also a structure capable of organising and conveying meaning. In the viewing process, audiences first receive visual messages, and through interpretation and perception these messages gradually develop into symbolic meanings, which are then understood as information.
At the same time, audience feedback also suggested several directions for further development. Some viewers expressed interest in seeing more comparisons between different posters, which could help them better understand how different designers employed similar compositional strategies. Others suggested that the connection between the theoretical framework and the visual examples could be expressed more directly, for instance through clearer diagrams that illustrate how visual structures guide the viewing path.
Based on this feedback, I hope to further expand the comparative analysis between different posters and refine the visual diagrams used to explain compositional structures in future development. In addition, I would like to further explore the relationship between these visual strategies and broader systems of visual communication, such as how states guide public ways of seeing through design and influence collective understanding and perception. Through these developments, the project can more clearly demonstrate that graphic design is not only a medium for transmitting information, but also a structural system that shapes perception and interpretation.
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