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How do we read?

When reading text, the human brain reads the shape of each word, without actually processing every individual character. (https://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/people/matt.davis/cmabridge/)

We relate what we read to preconceptions, personal ideologies and experiences, in order to create our perceptions or opinions on what it is we are reading.

The text in the ‘blm’ graphic is laid out in a way as to force the reader to acknowledge every individual character, this may have an increased effect in the memorability of the word/phrase/sentence. In this case: ‘Black Lives Matter’.

What do we see?

What we see isn’t just what enters our visions, it's what enters our field of vision, enters our focus and ‘grabs’ our attention, thus influencing our consciousness.

Once in our consciousness, our brain interacts with it in a way that is relevant.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi said it best in his book Flow.

*Driving down the highway, we pass hundreds of cars without actually being aware of them. Their shape and colour might register for a fraction of second, and then they are immediately forgotten. But occasionally we notice a particular vehicle, perhaps because it is swerving unsteadily between lanes, or because it is moving very slowly, or because of its unusual appearance. The image of the unusual car enters the focus of consciousness, and we become aware of it.

In the mind the visual information about the car (e.g., “it is swerving”) gets related to information about other errant cars stored in memory, to determine into which category the present instant fits. Is this an inexperienced driver, a drunken driver, a momentarily distracted but competent driver? As soon as the even is matched to an already known class of events, it is identified.

Now it must be evaluated: Is this something to worry about? If the answer is yes, then we must decide on an appropriate course of action: Should we speed up, slow down, change lanes, stop and alert the highway patrol? All these complex mental operations must be completed in a few seconds, sometimes in a fraction of a second*

If a complicated object/design was to enter our focus, it would force our brains to try and process what is in our field of view, attempting to relate the object/design to a previous version in memory, if the brain finds no comparison it is forced to employ ‘creative thinking’, in order to try and comprehend. Forcing these processes increases the memorability of the object/design especially when the object/design meets the following design requirements:

Appears to be entirely functional (without distortion)

Easy to view (not necessarily easy to comprehend)

Legible (again, without distortion)

Muted or few colours

Explore how this thinking manifested itself in the collaborative project titled ‘Cultural Decoding’