Theses and dissertations (Arts and Design)
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Item The use of graphic design materials as a resource to address the issue of literacy acquisition in rural schools of the Eastern Cape(2014-01) Somlenze, Mzomhle; Pratt, Deirdre DeniseCurrently, literacy acquisition is one of the major problems facing South African education. Despite tremendous efforts made to deal with this problem over the past few years, literacy acquisition remains a major challenge in South African schools particularly for those schools in rural areas. These problems are caused predominantly by poor infrastructure, lack of good reading habits, inadequate support of literacy activities and illiteracy at home. It is the position of this study that literacy acquisition programmes should expand beyond traditional methodologies by making use of visual strategies such as this one, as in different cases, the use of visual images proved more effective; for example in health campaigns. This dissertation, then, sets out to investigate how graphic design materials could be used as a resource in an attempt to address the issue of literacy acquisition in rural schools of the Eastern Cape. This was achieved by studying how learners responded to the use of graphic design materials which were designed specifically for this investigation; it could then be seen how the learner’s responses to these materials might affect the acquisition of literacy. An in-depth investigation with the Grade Six learners from three rural schools (two from the Eastern Cape and one from KwaZulu Natal) was conducted as part of a phenomenological research process to provide variations and comparable research outcomes, and was carried out from within both the emic and etic viewpoints. This meant that the researcher was privy to both the participants’ world (from his own childhood background in the Eastern Cape) and his (more recently acquired) researcher’s point of view. Findings include a reflection on learner’s experiences as well as on the context or the conditions of the learners’ everyday lives. The goal was to focus on participant’s experiences as they experienced them in their lived world. The research outcomes are discussed in terms of how the current schooling conditions affect literacy acquisition in rural schools, and, to counter this, what effect learners’ responses to the visual images, in particular, might have on literacy acquisition. In all these three schools, the study suggested that the use of these graphic design materials has amongst other things, made reading fun and easy to understand. This study concludes by reflecting on the research outcomes and offering suggestions as to how graphic design materials could be used to address some of the problem identified by this investigation. It is thought that the originality of the research lies in the starting point and focus of literacy acquisition being the visual aspect of storytelling, rather than the verbal, and in moving from the visual to the verbal, using narrative as the bridge exploiting the connection between the two.Item How citizen camera-witnessing has been incorporated by Health-e : an investigation into the integration of citizen generated news into the traditional news cycle(2019-04) Cross, Sheetal; Thakur, SurendraRecent rapid technological development has driven mass communication growth through the use of digital and social media platforms. Easier global new access has resulted in a multitude of changes within the media industry. These extend to include the influence of traditional media houses over the communication agenda as well as the manner in which news is produced, disseminated, and consumed. The historic relationship between news media and its audience was a one-way communication stream. However, evolving trends in technology and digital influence has prompted a paradigm shift in favour of a more interactive communication model. In this context, the audience is provided with the opportunity to respond to news information in real-time in an online space. The rise of mobile journalism has also promoted greater access to information with a shorter turnaround time for exposure. This expedition of media sharing has led to an influx of information access not previously afforded to the ordinary citizen. Through the influence of information and communications technologies (ICTs), the audience is no longer merely a consumer of news, but participates actively in the process of news gathering, dissemination, promotion, and consumption. The rise of technologies that support audience participation ushered in the emergence of citizen journalism and citizen camera-witnessing as a phenomenon that challenges several conventions inherent to traditional methods of media reporting. However, little is known about how such developments have affected the manner in which news is produced and consumed in the South African setting. Therefore, a need has arisen to understand how citizen journalism and citizen camerawitnessing have been incorporated as part of the news reporting cycle in the local environment. In response to this research challenge, a qualitative interpretivist study was undertaken to explore how citizen journalism and citizen camerawitnessing have been incorporated by Health-e as part of the news cycle in South Africa. Toward this end, thematic analysis, guided by the Media Synchronicity Theory as a theoretical lens, was performed on the qualitative data obtained from the semi-structured interviews that were conducted with management and staff members at a local organisation named Health-e News. In conclusion, this study provided novel evidence on how (such) changes have been incorporated into a more formal setting within the media industry, where traditional journalists and citizen journalists are employed in a more collaborative partnership. In addition, this study observed the news media watchdog element regarding government regulations where health is concerned, and regarding some of the challenges that arose when news coverage on serious health crises were left uncovered.Item Connecting technology and sensory design : a collaborative approach to designing university learning environments in a digital age(2018-11) Parker, Megan; Reynolds, Michelle C.; Gaede, RolfThis study explores how technology-enhanced learning (TEL) environments may be designed to stimulate the human senses. The research examines how interior designers can improve the design of learning environments to integrate seamlessly with emerging technologies, focusing specifically on how to provide students with an embodied and improved learning experience. The research challenges the notion that a need exists to connect technology and sensory design. The aim was to discover how a collaborative design approach could be used to assist interior designers to overcome the challenges they face when accommodating technology and the senses in university learning environments. The study followed an action research approach, situated in the interpretative inquiry paradigm. The sample population was comprised of various professional specialists from South Africa and the United States of America. Online interviews, focus group discussions, reflection questionnaires and an academic research journal were used to gather data. The findings describe and illustrate the challenges which interior designers face when designing learning environments in the digital age. To connect technology and the senses effectively, interior designers need to find a balance between integrating technology, stimulating the senses and encouraging collaborative learning. The study makes a strong case for a collaborative design approach when designing TEL environments, as the wider range of knowledge and skills leads to more informed decisions.Item Teaching digital natives : integrating blended learning in creative design for fashion(2019-01) Mdletshe, Fezile Lungelwa; Madhoo-Chipps, Nirma Dolly; Roome, JohnResearch suggests that current generation students are high-end users of emerging technologies, such as mobile devices and other new communication tools. The generation has been described as being “digital natives”, since their lives revolve around sophisticated modern technology. As a young educator appointed by the Department of Higher Education as a New Generation Academic Lecturer within the Department of Fashion and Textiles at Durban University of Technology (DUT), how do I harness the digital competencies within these “digital natives” in the teaching and learning context of Creative Design (I) for Fashion? In this report, I therefore present a conceptualisation of how blended learning could possibly be integrated into a Creative Design (I) classroom. This study has been developed through an action research methodology whereby the conceptualisation of the first stage of the action research was influenced by my observations as a lecturer, student feedback, theoretical frameworks and the reviewed literature. In this conceptualisation, Blackboard as a digital learning platform was integrated within the teaching and learning process of Creative Design (I) as a method for enhancing the cognitive, social and teaching presence within a Garrison Community of Enquiry and Problem Based Learning framework. This study therefore contributes towards innovations in teaching and learning using digital media in the Creative Design classroom at first year level within the Department of Fashion and Textiles.Item The accessibility of further education and training colleges to South African sign language users in KwaZulu-Natal(2018) Sawula, Nqobile Lovable; Makhubu-Badenhorst, R.L.; Pratt, Deirdre DeniseAfter twenty-four years of democracy, the predicament of people with disabilities has finally become part of the transformation agenda. There has been a growing acceptance that people with disabilities can play active roles in both transforming their own lives and contributing to society. For this to transpire, access to proper education and training opportunities is fundamental. There is thus a need for higher educational institutions to divest themselves of all forms of discrimination against those with disabilities. This requires that people with disabilities be given equal opportunities to enter higher education programmes and to succeed in them. Despite the strong legislative and policy framework for addressing disability in the education sector, access to higher education for disabled students, particularly the South African Sign Language (SASL) users, is believed to be limited. Using the Social Model of disability, this study seeks to investigate the accessibility of Further Education and Training (FET) Colleges to SASL users in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). In this investigation, a total number of fifty South African Sign Language users filled in questionnaires and two representatives from Further Education and Training (FET) Colleges in KwaZulu-Natal were interviewed. This study targeted SASL users who were out of school and wanted to further their studies at higher education institutions. The participants were recruited by inviting all d/Deaf and hard of hearing people from the four selected Deaf organizations/associations in KwaZulu-Natal to participate in the study. The study undeniably reveals that FET Colleges are not accessible to SASL users in KwaZulu-Natal. This is because FET Colleges in KwaZulu-Natal do not provide access services like SASL interpreters for the d/Deaf community, which violates d/Deaf people’s right to education and is a barrier to the d/Deaf students who want to further their studies. Furthermore, this research identified that the Deaf community in KwaZulu-Natal is not well informed about devices that can be used to assist them in classrooms in order to access information.Item Divergent masculinities : a visual rhetoric study of masculinity on Tumblr(2018-06) Nair, Yoshen; Kethro, Philippa; Van Der Merwe, ErnestThis study is motivated by the need for visual communication designers or graphic designers to research changes in social identity that emerge on social media. Visual communication designers must deal with transforming and proliferating social identities in order to communicate effectively with their audiences. Social media are regarded in the study as highly influential on social identity changes. This study deals with divergent masculinities as an exemplar of these social identity changes, on the social media site Tumblr. To examine divergent masculinities, the study adopts a visual rhetoric perspective on Tumblr as one social media site of masculinity diversification. The literature review draws together social media perspectives with theoretical themes of reflexive social identity, gender, and fashion as the visual representation of masculinity. The resulting theoretical integration yields two guiding visual rhetoric concepts that inform inquiry into masculinity diversification on Tumblr: performativity and reflexivity. A Tumblr research setting is then demarcated by observing how the Social Network Site facilitates rhetor performativity of 'fashioned' masculine image posts, and audience reflexivity to these image posts. The roles of rhetor and audience are found to switch in the transaction of visual rhetoric, where image posts are audienced and further shared from one Tumblr user wall display to another. Meta-data on Tumblr makes extensive user activity around particular images evident, so that significant indications of diverging masculinities can be discerned. An analytical sampling strategy is then created by combining quantitative Tumblr meta-data with the theoretical themes of fashioned masculine performativity and reflexivity. This leveraged functional/theoretical analytical sampling strategy allows diversifying masculinities to be systematically identified. Five diverging masculinities are illustrated. These are regarded as exemplars of an ongoing process of masculinity diversification. It is suggested that the research design and methodology of the study can be used to investigate other forms of changing social identity besides masculinity. This is important for visual communication designers, who need to monitor changing social identity mores and their visual expression on social media.Item A semiotic investigation of the graphic imagery by pioneer tattoo artists in KwaZulu-Natal with special reference to the Ramesar brothers(2018-11) Van As, Rory; Gaede, Rolf; Ravjee, LathaThis study focuses on the graphic imagery of tattoo artists in KwaZulu-‐Natal with special reference to the Ramesar brothers. Various visual communication practices and theories are drawn upon to explain the imagery created by them. The literature review chapters of this study cover a brief history of primarily Western tattooing practices, as well as a discussion of the meaning of tattoos from a visual semiotics perspective. The fieldwork component of the study involved conducting and analysing a series of qualitative in-‐depth interviews with interviewees who were either tattooed by, or are family members of, the Ramesar brothers. The purpose of the interviews was to explore the personal experiences and motivations that contributed to the work of these tattoo artists. The study contributes to visual studies in South Africa in the sense that the empirical data confirm the pioneer status of the Ramesar brothers as graphic artists.Item First Things First at University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) : analysing visual materials and first-year students’ perceptions of a HIV-related campaign(2018) Mungroo, Melissa; Peppas, Mikhail; Smith, RenéThe study focuses on the First Things First campaign and the responses of first-year University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) students to the campaign posters. The campaign is a project of the Higher Education and Training HIV and AIDS Programme (HEAIDS) that emphasises counselling and testing to reduce HIV and AIDS prevalence amongst students. The First Things First campaign posters encourage students to get tested and know their HIV status. The research seeks to determine if first-year students at UKZN understand campaign messages depicted in the posters. Stuart Hall’s encoding-decoding model (1980) provides a theoretical framework to analyse the campaign, its context and communication patterns. Semiotics is used to analyse the posters. The students’ perceptions about the campaign are explored in relation to the campaign posters and pamphlet specifically while UKZN Health Clinic Support Unit staff and UKZN Journalists’ interpretations about the campaign are also explored. Focus groups with first-year students and interviews with UKZN Health Clinic Support Unit staff and UKZN Journalists were conducted at the University. The data generated was subjected to interpretive semiotics and thematic content analysis. The majority of participants understood the campaign messages, which they cite as ‘get tested’ and ‘know your HIV status’. The findings indicate that students accepted that the posters encourage them to test for HIV but that stigma, personal fears and the social environment could deter them from testing. Considerations related to the effective formulation of messages and the First Things First campaign material are outlined. Enhanced publicity and visibility of campaign posters on UKZN campuses at libraries, cafeterias and on notice boards is suggested. The campaign would benefit from the posters being prominently displayed on the UKZN Facebook page and also on a First Things First Facebook page linked to the campaign.Item Modelling pedagogy for work-integrated learning in a South African tertiary graphic design programme(2018-10) Kalala, Frank Bisaba; Kethro, Philippa; Carey, PiersThis research case study investigates the efficacy of a Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) pedagogy that simulates a professional design studio in a graphic design programme at a South African tertiary institution. The overall aim is to develop a model for future pedagogical development of the WIL approach under study. The researcher is one of a team of third-year level WIL teachers, so the study is positioned as educational practitioner research. The review of literature establishes three learning theory links with the WIL pedagogical approach under study. These are: a) learning integration, b) learning transformation, and c) learning transfer. Integrative and transformative learning in WIL study needs to be transferred to graphic design graduates’ design agency working roles as integrative and transformative capability, if WIL pedagogy is to be considered effective. The effective transfer of student learning to the workplace is also considered to be affected the fact that some aspects of pedagogical practice are implicit rather than explicit. Fourteen graphic design graduates currently employed in graphic design agencies were each interviewed twice regarding their working experience. The first round of initial unstructured interviews found that integrative and transformative capability in design agencies was connected with problematic issues of design agency professional capability: collaboration with colleagues, client relations and time management. The second round of semi-structured interviews established these themes as both confirming and disconfirming WIL learning transfer. Upon reflection on the account of WIL pedagogy given in the literature review, design agency collaboration, client relations and time management are implicitly connected to the integrative and transformative intentions of WIL pedagogy. This may compromise learning transfer. An analytical model of these pedagogical concerns was then constructed, to allow for development of the WIL pedagogical approach. Recommendations for such development are offered, and indications made for future research.Item Analysing visual culture in selected Pentecostal church advertisements in Nigeria : a case study(2019) Agbede, Grace Temiloluwa; Makombe, Rodwell; Mheta, GiftUsing a multimodal framework, I analyse and appraise discursive and visual elements used in billboard and poster advertisements by Pentecostal churches in Nigeria. Pentecostalism is one of the most rapidly growing movements in Nigeria with approximately 40 million adherents. It is also amongst the most radical denominations which divorces followers from the cultural and spiritual ties which bind them to African societies. Some scholars believe that the phenomenal growth of Pentecostal churches in Nigeria poses a challenge to mainline churches in the country. This is why it is important for academic studies to be undertaken to investigate this movement’s strategies of disseminating the gospel. The study employs a qualitative case-study approach to examine the language (written and visual) of church advertisements in Nigeria. Since Christianity is a belief system based on Biblical teachings, this study also investigates how the Christian belief system manifests itself in the language of advertising. Purposive sampling was employed, and data were collected from posters and billboards. The linguistic and visual elements of the selected data were analysed in relation to the cultural context of church advertising in an attempt to determine the role of such sociocultural influences on communication. The study shows that Pentecostal churches employ different strategies to convey their messages to target audiences. These include the use of extensive visual multimodal techniques; brevity (fewer words and more visuals); prophet-centrism; problem-solving as attraction; Biblical allusion; use of sociolinguistic features; the exclusion of women as advertisers; and the use of computer language. Importantly, as a new contribution to knowledge, the study proposes an Afrocentric model for analysing visual culture in church advertising – a model which is a first of its kind. The Bible and Jesus Christ, as focal points for Christian belief, constitute the foundation of church advertising. Other strategies for advertising derive from this foundation, although each advertisement differs depending on how each church and/or man of God interprets specific Biblical teachings.