The Rhetoric of the Image - by Roland Barthes


Activity 2a

For the first part of the assignment, we were asked to read ‘The Rhetoric of the Image’ by Roland Barthes. Whilst reading the text we were to try and make connections with what Barthes was saying and link this to our discipline. My discipline is Textiles, so I was looking out for ways to relate the text to Textiles.

On reading the text, I found it very difficult to understand. There were many sentences that I could not make sense of. I tried my best to understand it, so I took notes and tried to put the text in to my own words. Once I had read the text, I got together with my group to discuss what we understood from it and how it relates to Textiles.

Here are a few of the main points I gathered from the text;


The idea that images mean more than one thing (POLYSEMY) but that text fixes meaning.
Important questions raised –
• How does meaning get in to the image?
• Where does it end?
• And if it ends, where is the beyond?
In Advertising, the signification of the image is intentional therefore, advertisers get straight to the point and they know how to target us.
Messages within an image can be broken down.
Colours are significant - they can suggest meanings and stories.
What we see in a photograph is never the same as what we see in real life.
When we look at a photograph we assume the story within it because of who we are and our backgrounds, therefore everyone may see a different story to others when looking at a photograph.
Text is added so that people don’t ask the obvious through words.
Photography – having been there - which is called the spectational consciousness
Film – being there – fictional consciousness
Anthropological – study of people, society and culture.
Lexical – relating to words of a language
We as people cannot see an image without giving it a meaning
There are many connotations for one image - ‘abstract idea from basic meaning’, this connotation also relates to textiles.
Connotations can be rhetorical – ‘idea of ideology’
Images and their meaning can be altered depending on who, where and when they are looked at and what feelings that person has at that time.

So, how does the text relate to Textiles?

Throughout the text it refers to an image having several meanings. As a Textile student, images always mean more than one thing to me. In my sketchbook for example; I start by collecting first hand information. I then use this information to develop in to designs. So, looking at my first hand information, I see more than one possibility to translate on to fabric. The images in my sketchbook suggest several different translations for using on fabrics.

Also the text mentions a connotation of abstracting an idea from its basic meaning. This relates to Tetxtiles in the sense that we as designers, abstract information from first had sources and develop it in to something new.

Another indication I got from the text that as textile designer, in the future it is possible that I will have a different view on my finished products than my potential clients will. Also, because of my discipline I am prone to interpreting clients views in a different way from them. This therefore addresses me that for future reference I will need to think in the mind of a designer, but also in the mind of a client to be successful.