Evripides Zantides

Constructing Official Culture through Stamps: The Case of the Republic of Cyprus

Abstract This study addresses the official culture of the Republic of Cyprus as it has been promoted through the postage stamps released by the state between 1960 and 2013. The theoretical framework of this study is derived from relevant theories on the cultivation of official cultures, through visual communication, specifically postage stamps, in association with the social and political situation concerning the Republic of Cyprus. The corpus has been analysed using quantitative content analysis and the development of certain categories in relation to landmark dates for the country’s history has been studied. According to the findings, the official culture of the state has favoured topics that highlight the island’s long history and has accentuated the importance of religion as part of the official repertoire. Nonetheless, there are strong indications deriving from the analysis of the corpus that there has been a shift in the representation of the official culture since the country became a member of the EU.

Gendering the nation: A case study on the postage stamps of Cyprus

Abstract The current study addresses the gender roles and the stereotypes produced in the context of Cypriot society, through their representations on postage stamps produced by the Republic of Cyprus from 1960 to 2013. The theoretical framework employed derives from relevant theories on social roles’ divisions based on gender, as well as the way these roles and stereotypes are expressed through images. The corpus has been analyzed by means of content analysis and semiotic analysis was employed in order to explore how the theoretical framework complies with selected stamps from the content analysis in respect of non-verbal signs. According to the findings, the role of women on stamp representations seems to be secondary and tied with emotional qualities, while men seem to hold a more prominent position in the society. This fact is reflected both on the quantity of stamps representing each gender in the respective thematic categories, as well as, on the selected stamps studied with semiotic analysis. Nonetheless, there have been strong indications that the social roles of genders and therefore stereotypes have started changing as the society progresses through the years. This process however, does not seem apparent on the imagery used for the stamps of the Republic of Cyprus.

Looking inwards, designing outwards: national identity and print advertisements of the Cyprus Tourism Organisation

National identity is a person’s identity or sense of belonging to one state. It is the sense of a nation as a cohesive whole, represented by distinctive traditions and culture. The present work examines how these traditions, culture and other elements of national identity are presented in advertisements, promoting Cyprus as a tourist destination. Print advertisements of the Cypriot Tourism Organisation were collected in an effort to investigate the way the visual identity of the island is presented through nation branding. Ninety-three print tourist ads promoting Cyprus as a tourist destination since the establishment of the CTO were analysed using content analysis and semiotic analysis. The results indicated that national identity is mostly presented through the social characteristics of the people and their daily practices.

Semiotic Landscapes in Commercial Communication: A Preliminary Reading of Greek-Cypriot Shop Signs

Theanalysisofasampleofcharacteristiccommercialshopsignsintoday’sLimassol, Cyprus,assertstheiranchoragefunctionassyncretic/polysemiotictextsrelyingupon the synergy of semiotic systems, in their commercial and broader informational function. The study of intersemiosis, i.e. of the translation between pictorial and linguisticsemioticsystemsandtheirhierarchy,canprovidethebasisforanin-depth semioticstudyofthesocio-economicandhistorical-aestheticlandscapeofthecity. Thisstudyoffersapreliminarymethodologicalseparationofsignsystemsontheshop signsinLimassol,showingupthewaysintersemiosisremainsthestandardhistorical communicationmethodofshopsignssincetheadventofmasscommerce. KeywoRdS Graphic Design, Intersemiosis, Semiotic Landscape, Shop-Signs, Translation

Communicating content: development and evaluation of icons for academic document triage through visualisation and perception

ABSTRACT This work seeks to identify key features and characteristics for the design of icons that can support the tasks of information seekers in academic document triage interfaces. Such icons are meant to act as visual links to the specific elements or sections in an academic document. We suggest that icons in triage interfaces are better able to communicate information, provide feedback and enable faster user interactions than text, particularly in mobile-based interfaces. Through investigation of visualisation and perception processes, we are able to propose five primary icon categories, the two most dominant being iconic and symbolic: iconic representations mostly apply to graphically and spatially distinct document elements (i.e. Title, Abstract, Tables and Figures), externalising the elements’ surface propositions. Symbolic representations are largely associated with elements of greater semantic value (Introduction, Conclusion, Full text and Author), drawing upon the elements’ deep propositions.

Redesigning the User Interface of the InterLearning Software - Graphic Design Meets Computer Science

In this paper we present the redesign of the user interface of the InterLearning software. InterLearning is an in-house developed e-learning software that has been in use for the last 3 years at our College. The software was developed by a team of computer scientists. InterLearning has been evaluated by both students and faculty since its development, in terms of the functionality that it offers. It has subsequently been enhanced based on the feedback of the users. The software has only started to be used by some Design faculty and students this year. Our experience from its use within this Department has revealed the need for redesigning its interface. Both students and faculty have expressed some negative views with regards to the screen layouts, menus, icons, colours, textual representations and fonts used. Based on this feedback, we have redesigned the interface taking also into consideration feedback obtained during the redesign stages from some Design faculty members and Design students. This paper presents the results of the evaluation of the existing interface by faculty members and students and describes the new interface designed by a team of graphic designers based on the feedback obtained