Abstract Shapes: The Importance of Visual Description
Purpose of Exercise: This exercise shows students the complex relationship between an object and the language we use to describe it. Students learn the importance of considering the audience’s reception of meanings in their word choice. This is useful in the drafting process of a visual analysis of any kind – even an ethnography when an author’s attention to audience in their descriptions of another group is vital.
Description: The class works in pairs to try and describe and draw a random abstract shape. A prize goes to the pair whose describers has best conveyed the description of the shape such that the drawer can most accurately recreate it, sight unseen. They will need paper and pencils, and you will need a whiteboard and marker.
Suggested Time: 20 minutes to a full class period
Procedure - Divide students into pairs. Ask the pairs to move so that one person is facing the whiteboard and one person is facing away from it (seated back-to-back). The person facing away from the board needs paper and pen/pencil. Once the people who are supposed to be facing away from the board are situated, draw an abstract shape (any combination of lines, arcs, shapes, symbols, etc.) on the board.
Let the student facing the board see the board and look at the picture for about 30 seconds. Then give them two minutes to describe it to their partners. The describers are not allowed to use their hands at all. The partners who are listening to the descriptions must try to draw what is being described to them. Once time is up, ask each pair to display their results to the class. If you want, you can be the judge and give the group that comes closest a prize.
Have group members switch roles and repeat this exercise with a new abstract image. Once the second round is over, hold a class discussion about the difficulties students encountered in either or both roles. Which job did they think was harder? Why did you ask them to do this exercise?
Use this exercise as an opening activity to start a conversation about how our language can seem effective to us but be confusing for our reader. You might also ask them to explain how the strategies they used and their speaking style considered who their audience was. Finally, you might ask what we can do as composers when what we think is a clear description is not being received clearly by our audience.
Adaptation: I've also seen this down through verbal/written descriptions (e.g., How to Make a PB&J sandwich) where the directions given are literally followed by the teacher/partner to question how we define and regard clear communication.