A Ritual Approach to Communication

In the 1975 essay ‘A Cultural Approach to Communication,’ communication theorist James Carey introduces ‘the ritual view of communication,’ this project’s theoretical premise. Carey defines communication under this ritual view as a symbolic process whereby reality is constituted and maintained.

This project examines the practical implications of adopting a non-dominant theory of communication as an editorial design premise. It investigates what becomes visible within design practice when communication is treated as the primary phenomena of experience. The material output represents an attempt to structure participation within three culturally organized systems of meaning through form.

This project treats communication as responsible for the production and maintenance of social reality, a premise that has direct implications for the promotion of sustainable development, sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality and a culture of peace and nonviolence. This project suggests that the ritual view has value as a diagnostic lens through which designers can clarify the consequences of their formal decisions and reveal dimensions of design practice that may otherwise remain obscured.