VisPo is an app that makes reading and interpreting poetry accessible. It is the result of a design research project exploring how visual communication design and screen technology can facilitate interpreting and enjoying texts in ways that printed media cannot afford.

Within the app is a series of poems each with their own set of visual devices.
These devices illuminate objective language techniques, and in turn, the thematic elements of the poem. Vispo is educational without being didactic, it respects that reading poetry is a personal experience. The visual devices serve as cues to further interpretation, rather than definitive answers

The brief was to engage in practice based research to discover how visual communications and screen technology can make reading and interpreting poetry more accessible and enjoyable. My visual research was then curated into a concept app. (VisPo).

The context for the project came from researching the changing experience of reading as we move from print to screen. I found the visual design of current e-books and reading apps to be (in many, but not all cases):
- Skeuomorphic and not truly celebrating the digital platform as a new visual experience. Or
- Visually over-the-top, using animation and interactions for novelty rather than for function or meaning.

From this observation I set the challenge to find ways for visual communication to serve a function in a digital reading experience. From this I saw the opportunity for it to be used as an educational tool.

To explore this, my strategy was to create ‘visual devices’ to facilitate learning. I define ‘visual device’ as an intervention on the original text in the form of colour, motion graphics or responsive interactions.

The challenge here would be in the execution of the visual devices;
Allowing them to communicate meaning without being too didactic or too subtle. I wanted the learning experience to be fun, so the devices should be playful but without falling into novelty and superficiality.

The visual devices are also to be supplementary to the text and avoid re-authoring it in anyway.

My intention was for the visual devices to facilitate learning without being didactic.

Students are more empowered and enriched when they are provided with the tools which enable them to think critically and formulate their own opinions. Thus I set the design constraints that the visual devices needed to:
- Serve as cues to multiple interpretations and not communicate definitive answers.
- Communicate objective meaning and information rather than the interpretations of a third party.
- Make the learning experience light and fun, thus the visual devices are to be playful but crafted with sensitivity to the original text.
- The learning experience should also be one of ease and calm, thus the design considerations around the interface and visual devices were to be simple and clear.
- The traditional experience of reading poetry is personal and contemplative¬– free of visual distractions. I felt it important to honour this and create a space within the app that poetry can be read without the intervention of visual devices.

As we are becoming an increasingly visual society, I thought it important to explore ways to communicate meaning without words but instead through purely visual diagrammatic forms.

Researching The Experience of Poetry:
Using myself as the demographic to begin this project I reflected on my experience of poetry. Though intrigued, I found it frustrating when the subject matter of the poem was too complex and inaccessible. I enjoyed it when I had a basic understanding, and felt satisfied when I figured things out on my own. Reading a poem that resonates with you is a beautiful experience. However- I knew most of the meaning was going amiss on me without the further instruction of a teacher.
I discussed my project with High-school Teachers and Librarians who expressed they were often looking for ways to ‘suspend student frustration’ and help them ‘stay with the literature’. They also expressed that the current generation of students were increasingly visual in how they process information. This reinforced my intention to create an app that was engaging (to encourage interest), but simple and clear to abate frustration.

Practice Based Research – Creating and Testing the Visual Devices:
I started by doing formal research on language techniques, reading “The Ode Less Travelled’ by Stephen Fry and ‘How to read a Poem’ by Terry Eagleton. Both provided a clear understanding of the mechanics and effect of specific language techniques.
I used this information to inform the ways in which my visual devices operated.
I created visual devices for many language techniques; symbolism, metaphor, alliteration and tested the reception of my visuals on a student user group. It came to light that visualizing metaphor and symbolism was problematic. Due to their subjective nature I was inadvertently framing the content through my interpretation of;
a) what words were metaphoric and symbolic and
b) what they could mean.

To allow a more neutral platform I decided to communicate only ‘objective’ language techniques (alliteration, assonance, repetition, etc), which focus on the mechanics of language rather than themes. On presenting these to the group, it turned out that illuminating the objective language techniques helped to spark thematic interpretations to the poem. I also used techniques of ‘Visual Abstraction’ outlined in Sadokierski and Sweetapple’s paper ‘Drawing out: How designers analyse texts in visual ways’ (2011). Whereby words can be represented by visual symbols. This technique reveals the rhythms and patterns in language without the distraction of content. Exploring these methods was a response to students becoming increasingly visual learners.

Considerations in Experience:
In translating the reading of poetry into a digital space I had to make considerations of what traditional experiences to carry forward. In a visual sense I deemed it important to maintain the original typesetting created by the poet. I decided that all poems be displayed in Perpetua Regular a clean serif font. I respected that poetry is a contemplative experience, thus the interface is also very minimal, allowing a relaxing experience with clear usability.

VisPo is valuable because it presents a fresh approach on educating audiences about an old art form. Previously word-heavy texts are lightened by playful interactions that make the content more accessible and the learning experience more engaging. It facilitates plural interpretations which is an important gift in today’s culture. Stephen Fry imparts that as a society ‘we are too used to the type of writing that contains a single message.’ VisPo counteracts this by creating the opportunity for one to view a poem through multiple visual lenses, affording many new insights. We are also too used to allowing Google to tell us the answer to our questions, Vispo encourages pondering and keeps intact the joy in figuring things out for oneself.

VisPo also taps into society’s increasing aptitude to learn visually. The techniques of visual abstraction, (communicating language without words) shifts the way we traditionally learn about texts, opening up another way of seeing. All of these methods in education attempt to enliven and revive interest in a valuable artform that has the capacity to teach us about human experience in a unique way.

One of the impacts of encouraging engagement with poetry is that it creates the opportunity for a pause from the impatient pace of today’s society. Stephen Fry also imparts that poetry is an artform that requires you to ‘take your time’. By making poetry accessible and enjoyable, it is likely that this The virtue of savouring a poem and slowing down will be experienced.

The context of my project changed in the early stages of research.
The broad area of study was the ‘changing experience of reading as we move from print to screen.’
I then formulated the question: ‘How can visual communication design enhance the experience of reading on digital devices?’. Reading in this context referred to reading for leisure.

My question later became: ‘How can visual communication design facilitate learning texts on digital devices’

The context of my project shifted from designing for a leisure experience to designing for education. This occurred as a result of assessing my initial visual experiments. I created visuals of the themes in the novel ‘The Book Thief’. These would appear spontaneously whilst reading. On assessing them, I questioned whether these hindered the experience of reading, what purpose are they serving? Does a leisure reader want the content communicated to them? I decided that a more appropriate user group would be students who are reading with the intention to learn from the content.

Properly understanding the contexts in which people read changed the design intentions of my visual devices and my overall design process. I adopted a stronger focus on the audience. I was now measuring the success of my visual devices based on user testing and whether they actually facilitated learning.

This also changed my understanding of my role as a visual designer. I now felt a responsibility to use my creative talents to serve a need and create something that benefits society.