Sequential Narrative and Information Design Solutions : part one

(alternative title: the Grand Comics Unified Theory of Awesomeness)

Over the next few weeks I'll be putting up a research essay I made earlier this year for my Design class. I thought it might be neat putting this up on U.N. since it allows images and links, which makes for an interesting read versus a stuffy old essay paper.

Theres alot of ground to cover so lets get right down to the nitty-gritty. Part One deals with the Thesis, introduction to terms and the first arguement.

...............................................................................................................................................................

The legitimacy of comic books has in recent years been a topic of much heated debate. This has been further compounded given the mass media attention and growth in the variety of content and talent in the field. This essay does not attempt to defend or stake the claim of the medium as being Art, to say nothing of comics as being simply worthy of academic study. Instead the intent of the following pages is to examine the similar solutions that are found both in the medium of comics and the discipline of graphic design.

By examining the core problem inherent in both comics and graphic design, and then by citing analogous solutions offered by Edward R. Tufte’s, Envisioning Information and Scott McCloud’s, Understanding Comics, the argument ‘ Comics and Graphic Design Utilize the same solutions’ will be proven true. An analysis of Tufte’s solutions will draw direct comparison to McCloud’s comics theory, specifically, ‘Small Multiples’ and Blood in the Gutter, ‘Layering and Separation’ and Show and tell and finally, ‘Micro/Macro Readings’ and the complete comics package. These principals will be demonstrated to be evident in the case study of Alan Moore’s, Watchmen, with accompanying examples provided by Jeff Smith’s, Bone and Paul Pope‘s Escapo.

Definitions

It would first prove useful to establish the terms that will be used throughout the paper. The concern here is to define what comics and graphic/information design is, so that the common links between them can be found.
Comics
Scott McCloud spends much of the 215 page work, Understanding Comics defining the medium. The extensive examination breaks down comics into its various parts, which will then be discussed in the following pages. For the purposes of defining ‘what is comics’ McCloud provides this description:
comics - juxtaposed pictoral and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce and aesthetic response in the viewer ( pg 9, McCloud )

It should be noted that McCloud includes the written word, or language as image as well - branding type as a kind of ‘icon’ (pg 161. McCloud). McCloud neatly summarizes the above explanation for comics as ‘Sequential Art’.

Graphic Design/Information Design

Graphic or Information Design is described as visual communication, choosing and making marks on a plain to communicate a message. The marks may be letterforms (typography) or of other media such as illustration or photography.

The two definitions suggest that both disciplines involve communication through the use of word and image - it is this shared link that ties both graphic design and comics together. If it can be said that the essential end goals are the same - then the problems that they face in reaching the objective should be the same as well.

Problem

According to Tufte, there is ultimately only one problem that the graphic designer must face, ‘escaping flatland’ (Tufte pg 12):

Escaping this flatland is the essential task of envisioning information - for all the interesting worlds, (physical, biological, imaginary, human) that we seek to understand are inevitably and happily multivariate in nature. Not flatlands. (Tufte pg 12)

Tufte refers to the single plain that a designer faces either working on the page or screen. The problem in other words, is how to display information on a surface - whilst being clear, efficient, but more over than that to connect with the viewer and relate to the complexities of life. Articulating this information is the responsibility of the graphic designer.

The same problem exists for those who wish to create comics. The writer and artist (sometimes the same person) must also work towards escaping the flatland of the printed page. The comics creator attempts to construct all the components that compose form our lives, just as Tufte suggests, ‘physical, biological, imaginary, human’ to which we might add power and fantasy, emotion, architecture as well as anything else that can be placed into comics. Interestingly enough, comics creator Paul Pope describes the medium as being a design container, in which a multitude of things can be placed. (Pope pg 14)

Broadly speaking, to bestow a piece of design or a work in comics with a sense of life and humanity requires adding a greater sense of dimension then the singular flatland of the page. The goal is to add a sense of depth and form to the page, not through illustrating proper perspective, but by utilising the tools that are unique to design and comics offered by Tufte and McCloud, which the following will further discuss, starting with Small Multiples (Tufte) or Blood in the Gutter (McCloud).

Small Multiples or Blood in the Gutter

If the problem that both Graphic/Information Design and Comics share is that of, ‘how to display dimension and time to flatland’, then one of the possible solutions suggested in the early chapters of Tufte’s, Envisioning Information, ‘Small Multiples’, is a useful starting point for discussion. ‘Small Multiples’, can be favourably compared to McClouds chapter ‘Blood in the Gutter’ in, Understanding Comics.

This is an example of what Tufte describes as, ‘Small Multiples’, he goes on to describe the concept as a large body of possibilities (Tufte 68). Repetition and consistency are key in relating one image to the next, a necessity to orient the viewer. This repetition also serves to exaggerate the small differences from panel to panel, muting the constant forms and highlighting the variations. These differences are often small, incremental changes. The example not only is the kana character demonstrated in progressive steps, but also shown from an alternate view point - the above showing the character’s creation (an example of how the characters should look) but also another perspective to indicate the required pressure necessary to execute the letterform. A collection of options that when strung together show progress - ‘small multiples’.

Similarly, McCloud in chapter 3 of, Understanding Comics discusses what is at the heart of comics, panel construction or rather the space between, ‘Blood in the Gutter’.

McCloud offers six variations on how to parse out panel to panel transitions. Movement to Movement(1) and Action to Action(2) most immediately resemble Tufte’s kanna example. The following transition categories closely resembles Tufte’s, ’small multiples’ : subject to subject, scene to scene, aspect to aspect and the non-sequitur offer a variety of perspectives and options on the same information (or specifically in the case of comics, narrative) which in turn generate a greater understanding of the larger work. This will be explored further in the final section, the culmination of all of these principals entitled , ’Micro/Macro Readings’.


In chapter 8 of Alan Moore’s, Watchmen, entitled ‘Old Ghosts’ the same panel layout is used to establish a sense of rhythm, or to situate the reader. Much of the comic utilizes a nine panel grid, ‘Old Ghosts’ adheres to this format with the exception of the above selected sequence, instead adopting a six panel grid that accompanies a large ‘wide-screen’ panel at the bottom of the page.




This format continues for seven consecutive pages, each time, the above, cramped panels contain the confined claustrophobic life of tired city dwellers, and more appropriately, the restricted living situation of prison inmates. Each of the larger panels describe the events of the two ’larger than life’ heroes, and the fantastic air craft which will soon assist in liberating one of their imprisoned comrades. ‘Small Multiples’, are at work by first acclimatizing the reader to the mundane squalor of life in the grim, futuristic New York, and then accenting or interrupting this rhythm with the grand super-heroics of the larger panel. According to McCloud’s panel to panel transitions, this sequence would fit under category four, ‘Scene-to-Scene’:

Deductive reasoning is often required in reading comics such as in these scene-to-scene transitions, which transport us across significant distances of time and space. (McCloud 71)

The use of time and space is a required component if design and comics are to escape flatland - small multiples or the six categories of panel to panel transitions is just one of the ways in which the solutions resemble each other for comics and graphic design.

......................................................................................................................................................................

OK! Well thats it for this post, stay tuned in the following weeks for part two: ‘Layering and Separation’ and 'Show and Tell'.