SCAN: Look/See
An Approach to Graphic Design from the Quick Glance to
the Close Examination
MFA Graphic Design Thesis Abstract, Rhode Island School of Design, 2007

At first my observations took an abstract and generalizing turn. I looked at the passengers in masses, and thought of them in their aggregate relations. Soon, however, I descended to details and regarded with minute interest the innumerable varieties of figure, dress, air, gait, visage and expression.
—Edgar Allan Poe, The Man of the Crowd

We need to give the act of scanning a second look. Scanning is integral to everyday experience in our culture. We scan, more than we read, text; we scan people as they walk by; we scan whatever scene lies before us—cars on the highway, a room full of people, piles of paper on our desks.

“Scanning,” in its most common definition, means “to glance at or over/ or read quickly: as in, to scan a page.” Quite surprisingly, the word’s original meaning is, “to examine closely.” With a consideration of these polarities in meaning, I adopt a range of scanning methods as a metaphor for the different levels that audiences engage with graphic media— from the quick glance to the close examination. In addition to these two kinds of scanning, this thesis employs three additional uses of the word: scan as survey; scan as search; and the mechanical scan. This spectrum of definitions —quick glance, survey, search, mechanical scan, close examination—serves as the structural framework for my thesis.

I propose an approach to design that addresses the spectrum of ways that we as a culture see, read or otherwise engage with media as seen through the lens of the metaphor of scanning. This thesis acknowledges the need to design for audiences that have varying degrees of participation with graphic work. More specifically, this body of work responds to the fact that people move through or by any given design at varying speeds—spending varying amounts of time with it, obtaining varying amounts of information from it and walking away with varying depths of understanding. Ideally, this approach will capture the interest of members of its audience in the “once-over” stage and bring them, over time, to more deeply engaged readings.

SCAN: Look/See
An Approach to Graphic Design from the Quick Glance to
the Close Examination
MFA Graphic Design Thesis Abstract, Rhode Island School of Design, 2007

At first my observations took an abstract and generalizing turn. I looked at the passengers in masses, and thought of them in their aggregate relations. Soon, however, I descended to details and regarded with minute interest the innumerable varieties of figure, dress, air, gait, visage and expression.
—Edgar Allan Poe, The Man of the Crowd

We need to give the act of scanning a second look. Scanning is integral to everyday experience in our culture. We scan, more than we read, text; we scan people as they walk by; we scan whatever scene lies before us—cars on the highway, a room full of people, piles of paper on our desks.

“Scanning,” in its most common definition, means “to glance at or over/ or read quickly: as in, to scan a page.” Quite surprisingly, the word’s original meaning is, “to examine closely.” With a consideration of these polarities in meaning, I adopt a range of scanning methods as a metaphor for the different levels that audiences engage with graphic media— from the quick glance to the close examination. In addition to these two kinds of scanning, this thesis employs three additional uses of the word: scan as survey; scan as search; and the mechanical scan. This spectrum of definitions —quick glance, survey, search, mechanical scan, close examination—serves as the structural framework for my thesis.

I propose an approach to design that addresses the spectrum of ways that we as a culture see, read or otherwise engage with media as seen through the lens of the metaphor of scanning. This thesis acknowledges the need to design for audiences that have varying degrees of participation with graphic work. More specifically, this body of work responds to the fact that people move through or by any given design at varying speeds—spending varying amounts of time with it, obtaining varying amounts of information from it and walking away with varying depths of understanding. Ideally, this approach will capture the interest of members of its audience in the “once-over” stage and bring them, over time, to more deeply engaged readings.