Roland Barthes - The Rhetoric of the Image

I was asked to read 'The Rhetoric of the Image' by Roland Barthes as part of this weeks design studies assignment. We were told in the assignment brief that it would be a difficult read and that was an understatement. I found myself having to read over it several times and still coming away with very little understanding of what the essay was actually saying. The words and language used were unnecessarily complicated which make it extremely hard to follow as half the time I was trying to figure out what the words actually meant before continuing with reading!

After a classmate recommended I looked up summaries of the text online I began to get a better idea of what it was about :) I gathered that the text was mainly about how we interpret images. Barthes explains that there are 3 significant levels when visually analysing an image. The first is the linguistic message which is how the text affects the interpretation of the image in the picture shown in the essay, the style of the text helps towards portraying an Italian feel as well as stating the name of the company. The second is the coded iconic message which is the overall assumptions you make from the appearance of the image, from what I understand things that do not need to be stated by text as they are obvious, for example in the image the vegetables and pasta are ripe and fresh (wouldn't want to show rotten food). The third is the non coded iconic image which is simply what you see in the image, what is actually in it. There are implications when analysing an image, such as cultural differences, how one person might perceive an image might be completely different from another depending on aspects of their culture. Although the addition of text in an image can help to convey a clearer, more specific message when applied to the image.

After reading (and attempting to understand) the Barthes essay we discussed in a group what we thought about it and how and if it related to our discipline. We all agreed that it is very relevant to Graphic Design, after all visual communication is what it is all about, especially when it comes to incorporating text. I believe that text can make an image and by this I mean it can convey exactly what you want to say, which might not be clear with an image alone. Especially when it comes to advertising, it is important to obtain an instant visual comprehension and the inclusion of text is important in doing that. When an image is alone with no text it is free to the interpretation of the individual, they are free to take from it whatever they want which can potentially be different from one person to the next, but applying text also applies constraints, which is helpful in advertising as it is usually a very specific message that is trying to be conveyed.