{"id":98941,"date":"2014-11-13T14:37:54","date_gmt":"2014-11-13T22:37:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.openculture.com\/?p=98941"},"modified":"2017-10-20T09:44:54","modified_gmt":"2017-10-20T16:44:54","slug":"charles-ray-eames-a-communications-primer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/11\/charles-ray-eames-a-communications-primer.html","title":{"rendered":"Charles &amp; Ray Eames\u2019 <i>A Communications Primer<\/i> Explains the Key to Clear Communication in the Modern Age (1953)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"oc-video-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"oc-video-container\">\n\t<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/19906179\" width=\"640\" height=\"385\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\n\t<\/div>\n<p>\t<!-- \/oc-video-embed -->\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- \/oc-video-wrapper --><\/p>\n<p>You might think that a movie about infor\u00adma\u00adtion from 1953 couldn\u2019t pos\u00adsi\u00adbly be rel\u00ade\u00advant in the age of iPhone apps and the Inter\u00adnet but you\u2019d be wrong. <a href=\"http:\/\/vimeo.com\/19906179\"><em>A Com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtions Primer<\/em><\/a>, direct\u00aded by that pow\u00ader cou\u00adple of design <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eamesoffice.com\/eames-office\/charles-and-ray\/\">Charles and Ray Eames<\/a>, might refer to some hope\u00adless\u00adly quaint tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy \u2013 com\u00adput\u00ader punch cards, for instance \u2013 but the under\u00adly\u00ading ideas are as cur\u00adrent as any\u00adthing you\u2019re like\u00adly to see at a TED talk. You can watch it <a href=\"http:\/\/vimeo.com\/19906179\">above<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, the film made for IBM was the result of the first ever mul\u00adti-media pre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtions that Charles Eames devel\u00adoped for the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.uga.edu\">Uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty of Geor\u00adgia<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ucla.edu\">UCLA<\/a>. Using slides, music, nar\u00adra\u00adtion and film, Eames broke down some ele\u00admen\u00adtal aspects of com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtions for the audi\u00adence. Cen\u00adtral to the film is an input\/output dia\u00adgram that was laid out by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nyu.edu\/pages\/linguistics\/courses\/v610003\/shan.html\">Claude Shan\u00adnon<\/a>, the father of infor\u00adma\u00adtion the\u00ado\u00adry, in his 1949 book, <a href=\"http:\/\/raley.english.ucsb.edu\/wp-content\/Engl800\/Shannon-Weaver.pdf\"><em>The Math\u00ade\u00admat\u00adi\u00adcal The\u00ado\u00adry of Com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtion<\/em><\/a>. As the per\u00adhaps over\u00adly sooth\u00ading nar\u00adra\u00adtor intones, any mes\u00adsage is trans\u00admit\u00adted by a sig\u00adnal through a chan\u00adnel to its receiv\u00ader. While in the chan\u00adnel, the sig\u00adnal is altered and degrad\u00aded by noise. The key to effec\u00adtive com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtion is to reduce \u201cnoise\u201d (con\u00adstrued broad\u00adly) that inter\u00adferes with the mes\u00adsage and to gen\u00ader\u00adal\u00adly sim\u00adpli\u00adfy things.<\/p>\n<div class=\"oc-center-da\">\n<div data-fuse=\"22871471544\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<p>The issue of sig\u00adnal vs noise is prob\u00ada\u00adbly more rel\u00ade\u00advant now in this age of per\u00adpet\u00adu\u00adal dis\u00adtrac\u00adtion than it was dur\u00ading the Eisen\u00adhow\u00ader admin\u00adis\u00adtra\u00adtion. Every email, text mes\u00adsage or Buz\u00adzfeed arti\u00adcle seen indi\u00advid\u00adu\u00adal\u00adly is clear\u00adly a sig\u00adnal. Yet for some\u00adone try\u00ading to work, say on an arti\u00adcle about a short film by Charles and Ray Eames, they are def\u00adi\u00adnite\u00adly noise.<\/p>\n<p>The Eames use the terms \u201csig\u00adnal,\u201d \u201cnoise,\u201d and \u201ccom\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtion\u201d quite broad\u00adly. Not only do they use these terms to describe, say, a radio broad\u00adcast or a mes\u00adsage being relayed by Morse code but also the cre\u00adation of&nbsp;archi\u00adtec\u00adture, design and even visu\u00adal art.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The source of a paint\u00ading is the mind and expe\u00adri\u00adence of the painter. Mes\u00adsage? His con\u00adcept of a par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar paint\u00ading. Trans\u00admit\u00adter? His tal\u00adent and tech\u00adnique. Sig\u00adnal? The paint\u00ading itself. Receiv\u00ader? All the eyes and ner\u00advous sys\u00adtems and pre\u00advi\u00adous con\u00addi\u00adtion\u00ading of those who see the paint\u00ading. Des\u00adti\u00adna\u00adtion? Their minds, their emo\u00adtions, their expe\u00adri\u00adence. Now in this case, the noise that tends to dis\u00adrupt the sig\u00adnal can take many forms. It can be the qual\u00adi\u00adty of the light. The col\u00ador of the light. The prej\u00adu\u00addices of the view\u00ader. The idio\u00adsyn\u00adcrasies of the painter.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Of course, a paint\u00ading \u2014 or a poem, or a film by Andrei Tarkovsky \u2014 is a dif\u00adfer\u00adent kind of sig\u00adnal than an email. It\u2019s mes\u00adsage is mul\u00adti\u00adlay\u00adered and mul\u00adti\u00adva\u00adlent. And while a gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion of cul\u00adtur\u00adal the\u00ado\u00adrists would no doubt chafe at Eames\u2019s reduc\u00adtive, Mod\u00adernist view of art, it is still inter\u00adest\u00ading to think of a paint\u00ading in the same man\u00adner&nbsp;as smoke sig\u00adnals.<\/p>\n<p>The film\u2019s nar\u00adra\u00adtor con\u00adtin\u00adues:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>But besides noise, there are oth\u00ader fac\u00adtors that can keep infor\u00adma\u00adtion from reach\u00ading its des\u00adti\u00adna\u00adtion in tact. The back\u00adground and con\u00addi\u00adtion\u00ading of the receiv\u00ading appa\u00adra\u00adtus may so dif\u00adfer from that of the trans\u00admit\u00adter that it may be impos\u00adsi\u00adble for the receiv\u00ader to pick up the sig\u00adnal with\u00adout dis\u00adtor\u00adtion.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That\u2019s about as good a descrip\u00adtion of cable new pun\u00addits as I\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"http:\/\/vimeo.com\/19906179\">A Com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtions Primer<\/a>&nbsp;<\/em>will be added to our col\u00adlec\u00adtion,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/freemoviesonline\">4,000+ Free Movies Online: Great Clas\u00adsics, Indies, Noir, West\u00aderns, Doc\u00adu\u00admen\u00adtaries &amp; More<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Relat\u00aded Con\u00adtent:&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/01\/charles-and-ray-eames-introduce-polaroids-sx-70-instant-camera.html\">Design\u00aders Charles &amp; Ray Eames Cre\u00adate a Pro\u00admo\u00adtion\u00adal Film for the Ground\u00adbreak\u00ading Polaroid SX-70 Instant Cam\u00adera (1972)<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2013\/03\/charles_ray_eames_iconic_film_ipowers_of_teni_1977_and_the_lesser-known_prototype_from_1968.html\">Charles &amp; Ray Eames\u2019 Icon\u00adic Film&nbsp;<em>Pow\u00aders of Ten<\/em>&nbsp;(1977) and the Less\u00ader-Known Pro\u00adto\u00adtype from 1968<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2012\/12\/charles_and_ray_eames_ipowers_of_teni_the_classic_film_re-imagined_by_40_artists.html\">Charles and Ray Eames\u2019&nbsp;<em>Pow\u00aders of Ten<\/em>: The Clas\u00adsic Film Re-Imag\u00adined By 40 Artists<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Jonathan Crow<\/strong>&nbsp;is a Los Ange\u00adles-based writer and film\u00admak\u00ader whose work has appeared in Yahoo!, The Hol\u00adly\u00adwood Reporter, and oth\u00ader pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtions. You can fol\u00adlow him at&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/jonccrow\" target=\"_BLANK\">@jonccrow<\/a>.&nbsp;And check out his blog&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.jonathan-crow.com\/\">Veep\u00adto\u00adpus<\/a>, fea\u00adtur\u00ading lots of pic\u00adtures of&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.jonathan-crow.com\/\">vice pres\u00adi\u00addents&nbsp;<\/a>with octo\u00adpus\u00ades on their&nbsp;heads.&nbsp;&nbsp;The&nbsp;Veep\u00adto\u00adpus store is&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.etsy.com\/shop\/veeptopus\">here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding: 10px 0\">\n<div class=\"oc-video-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"oc-video-container\">\n\t<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/19906179\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\n\t<\/div>\n<p>\t<!-- \/oc-video-embed -->\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- \/oc-video-wrapper --><\/p><\/div>\n<p>You might think that a movie about infor\u00adma\u00adtion from 1953 couldn\u2019t pos\u00adsi\u00adbly be rel\u00ade\u00advant in the age of iPhone apps and the Inter\u00adnet but you\u2019d be wrong. A Com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtions Primer, direct\u00aded by that pow\u00ader cou\u00adple of design Charles and Ray Eames, might refer to some hope\u00adless\u00adly quaint tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy \u2013 com\u00adput\u00ader punch cards, for instance \u2013 [\u2026]<\/p>\n<div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[395,81,105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-design-2","category-film","category-technology"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Charles &amp; Ray Eames\u2019 A Communications Primer Explains the Key to Clear Communication in the Modern Age (1953)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/11\/charles-ray-eames-a-communications-primer.html\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jonathan Crow\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/charles-ray-eames-a-communications-primer.html#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/charles-ray-eames-a-communications-primer.html\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jonathan Crow\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5cb8afabedacbf82c145f1dc2c507d33\"},\"headline\":\"Charles &amp; 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