Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Th is thesis is about how to create communicative images. It
is mainly for landscape architects. With communicative
images, I mean images created with the purpose to
communicate a proposal or idea in a direct way to. By only
looking at the image, the viewer should get an idea of what
the proposal entails. A communicative image should also
create an interest in the proposal. I have chosen to write
about this topic because it is a big part of a landscape
architects profession and there are many diff erent aspects to consider. As a landscape architect create images as part of a context, and in order to communicate or develop an idea.

The pictures should show an imaginary future and is an
image of what a place is expected to become. It diff ers in this way, for example from an artist or a photographer's work, where the image itself is oft en the fi nal product. Landscape architect thus has diff erent requirements on what their images communicate.

The purpose of this thesis is to fi nd the tools to present
proposals and ideas through images. To achieve the purpose, I have formulated two questions:
• What is the purpose of a visual presentation of a design
proposal in landscape architecture?
• What is important to keep in mind when you want to
create a communicative picture?
The thesis is based on literature studies, interviews and
analysis of architects’ images. The literature studies and
interviews gave me a background to what is important to
think about when you present a proposal using images. It
also gave me knowledge and how to make the work of create
images eff ectively. I then summarized this background with a list of items to take into consideration when creating images.

To develop and customize the items to suit a landscape
architects work with images, I used them for the analysis of
images, taken from presentations of architect competitions in landscaping. Th e images are fetched from completed
competitions published at Swedish architects website. Th e
choice of images was based on whether the communicative
image from the contest presentation caught my interest or
not. Aft er the analysis, I came up with six tools that can be used to present proposals and ideas with the help of images.

To investigate how the tools work in practice, I use them as
help in the creation of my own perspective. I used a proposal I made earlier in the program. I created several
communicative image of this proposal and examined thus
diff erent ways to interpret the tools.

Th e tools I came up with are the following:
• Focus on the proposal - Let the proposal help to guide the
design of the image by always having the proposal in focus.
It is also important to understand the context in which the
image is created, where the target audience, stage and type of
projects are important aspects to consider.
• Space for imagination - Decide how much space the
viewer should to have to fi ll in with their own imagination.
In a perspective where everything is exactly reproduced and
anchored and where details and folklore are carefully
plotted, it is diffi cult to add your own associations. A
perspective with much empty space or details that are
diffi cult to interpret, it can be easy to fi ll in with their own
imagination, but diffi cult to understand what its author
intended.
• Viewing angle - Select a viewing angel that display the
proposal and highlights it in a positive way. Show parts that
are important for the proposal and select the angle based on
how much you wish shown in the image. A bird's eye view
gives such a large scale, with less opportunity to detail.
• Dynamics and balance - Place deliberately out various
details with the desired direction, to thereby create dynamic
or harmonic images. Images with even large areas give a
balanced perspective. Th e selected angle can also aff ect the
image dynamics and balance. Given directions can then be
reinforced or counteracted by the addition of details and
movement.
• Contrasts and color - Use contrasts and colors to create
eff ects and highlight desired objects. It provides a perspective
that draws attention.
• Details and scale fi gures- Th ink about how to use details.

An image with too much information and details can appear
cluttered and is easily misinterpreted. Remove anything that
takes the focus off what is to be communicated and select the details that fi ll a purpose in the image. Scale Figures in the form of people facilitates the understanding of the image, the features on the site and create atmosphere.