Behind the Men in Black
If advertising images are to catch our attention, they must play on our senses and confuse us with visual tricks and illusions.
has become. Every day, thousands of advertising messages vie for the
little bit of attention that we still have left. Who
wants to be perceived, must play with our perception. Our
The most important sense in this game is sight, because: The eye sits
before reason, as the editor Thomas Rempen writes in the foreword
of "eye tricks", and rightly so.
From the thesis to the book
Thomas Rempen is not just anyone. He is an experienced advertiser. And
Professor at the University of Essen. There he teaches
communication design. Of course, he also has to check theses.
For example, "I don't see anything you don't see" by a certain Uwe
Stoklossa. This Stoklossa wanted to use advertising as an example of the phenomena of
to get to the bottom of perception. He collected and analyzed,
dissected, sorted and organized thousands and thousands of successful ads in order to
to reveal the secret of their success.
The thesis has the potential for more, said Professor Rempen. Therefore
he submitted it to a publishing house specializing in typography and graphic
has specialized. He is known for particularly elaborate books,
fortunately said yes - and the thesis became a book.
What's more: a compendium for anyone who wants to know how successful
visual communication; a textbook for all those who want to learn
want what we see and how we see it.
Learning the principles of seeing
Perceptual psychologists, physicians, biologists, physicists and artists
have long been concerned with how we perceive images. In the
In the past, communication design was considered talented if it was good, stimulating and
was ultimately successful. Uwe Stoklossa doesn't quite see it that way, because
For him, the principles of vision can be learned, at least up to a certain point.
certain degree. He proves this in ten chapters, from "Figure and Ground"
to "On the spot" with around 500 examples that often reveal their secret.
only reveal themselves at second glance.
While these ten chapters show how we are seduced, the
Chapter "Out of sight - into mind", how these gaze tricks
function - technically sound and yet easy and exciting to
even the layman understands how optical tricks and illusions can be used with
play with our sense of sight. This knowledge is all you need to prepare for the
the power of the second glance and thus sensitize the
to attract their attention. At least for some
a few seconds.
Roger Hausmann
