Basics Design: Design Thinking

Visual metaphors

This new meaning implied by a visual metaphor is often created by the context in

which the visual device is present. As such, for a visual metaphor to work (for the

viewer to perceive a specific meaning, in other words) requires the presence of

shared knowledge or culture. The existence of a common pool of shared

knowledge allows the designer to place subjective clues or references within the

overall design and this can form the basis of the metaphor.

Visual metaphors

A visual metaphor refers to something it

typically does not denote in order to imply

a similarity to something else.

Medway Renaissance (above and facing page)

Pictured is a large-format book commissioned by Medway Renaissance in

England to convey the ideas of Sir Terry Farrell, lead architect and masterplanner

of a project tasked with uniting the five Medway towns (Rochester, Chatham,

Gillingham, Rainham and Strood). The logo is a visual metaphor for the five

towns and their area of influence and the distillation of their separate identities

into a single unit. The book was created with five different covers, featuring

portrait photography by Xavier Young of people from the five communities. These

photographs form metaphors for the towns they represent; the locations in which

they were photographed are instantly recognisable to the people from the region.

The logo for Five Towns Make a

Cityfeatures overlapping circles

that provide a visual metaphor for

unification.

Design Thinking

Refinement

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Title: Basic Design-Thinking

Client: QPL Size: 160mmx230mm

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