نشریه هنرهای زیبا - هنرهای تجسمی
سال بیست و نهم شماره 4 (پیاپی 100، زمستان 1403)

Design thinking is introduced as a method to achieve innovation in conditions with high uncertainty and complexity. This feature has led this method to innovations welcomed by companies operating in unknown and turbulent markets. Nevertheless, the development of theoretical knowledge about design thinking has not been accompanied by its accelerated use and has created a lack in its sustainable implementation; A problem that has led to the superficial and cross-sectional implementation of this approach. In the meantime, the place of design thinking in knowledge-based innovation is one of the fields that, despite some studies, remains unknown. Considering the development of knowledge-based innovation in recent years, it is necessary to explain the effect of innovation models on it. Based on an exploratory approach, this research has tried to explain the mechanism of the effect of this method through the development of analytical, synthetic, and symbolic knowledge bases by analyzing the orientation of four kinds of design thinking to knowledge-based innovation. For this purpose, design thinking experts who have had a significant experience in connection with innovative companies implementing this approach were consulted, and information was collected with the help of open and semi-structured interviews. According to the research structure of multi-case study, the data were monitored through cross-case analysis to identify recurring views among the results of the interviews. Also, to achieve more accurate and reliable estimates of the results, the collected data were triangulated. The findings of the research about the impact of design thinking on knowledge-based innovation were presented in the form of four discussed types. The mechanism of the effect of design thinking on knowledge-based innovation can be expressed on two levels. At the first level, it is design thinking methodology that enables intuitive and speculative behaviors to identify what can be possible in four different approaches. By relying on the logic of abduction, design thinking develops a different form of encountering the surrounding world, which is different from conventional analytical approaches. This form can strengthen the exploratory capabilities of the organization. At the second level, design thinking with the ability to develop all three analytical, synthetic and symbolic knowledge bases through different types, affects the innovation of the knowledge base. Our findings showed that while the user-oriented type mainly enriches the analytical knowledge base, two types of acceleration and creative trust cause the development of the combined knowledge base. Finally, the innovation of meaning has a direct relationship with the development of knowledge of the symbolic base. The summary of the results shows that while design thinking has the capacity to influence knowledge-based innovation through different types, due to the limitations caused by the process structure, this view is not able to explain and guide the capacity of all the mentioned types in the path of innovation and needs to be revised. Considering the current research that tries to redefine design thinking through the lens of dynamic capabilities, we suggest expanding the studies of this theoretical current to overcome the mentioned lack.

Despite the belief of the orthodox schools of semiotics, which emphasize the fundamental difference between visual (iconic) and linguistic (symbolic) signs and do not consider visual pictures as channels for conveying implicit and linguistic meanings due to imitation or objective similarity with reality, investigating the ratio of linguistic and pictorial signs has been one of the important topics of semiotics studies for more than half a century. Some structuralist semioticians, such as Roman Jacobsen, Roland Barthes, Yuri Lutman and Umberto Eco have taken advantage of modeling the symbolic system of language and its communicative roles to study systems, texts, media and non-verbal signs such as photographs, due to the increasing importance of the issue of visual representation in contemporary culture, especially the abundant use of photographs in the web space and virtual social networks. This issue has been interpreted in the context of a great transformation, which William J.T. Mitchell refers to as "the pictorial turn". One of the concepts that have not been addressed in the semiotic equilibrium of language and picture is "semantic markedness" which allows us to examine the semantic components of a photograph, in "referring" to reality or "deviation" from it. The present essay, assuming the similarity of "semantic markedness" and "connotation" in photographic rhetorical researches and bringing evidence of this similarity, while rereading the theory of markedness in linguistic studies of literature, has used this theory for the first time in the study of Duane Michaels's narrative photographs. According to the results of this research, which was carried out by an analytical-comparative method, on the one hand, Michaels' photographs are based on "straight photography" devices, such as conventional perspective, wide depth of field, substitution of grays equivalent to the degree of familiar colors that we know from objects in nature, imitation natural vision by adopting eye-level point of view, and relatively classic compositions, which are used to pretend to be real and on the other hand, they escape from reality by adding some arrays, such as multiple exposures, slow shutter speed to induce movement, and creating blurred and ghost-like figures. He In the meantime, by adding some semantic components and by creating a distance between the signified and the referent, both in the axis of paradigmatic and in the axis of syntagmatic, makes the "unmarked" reality marked, and creates new connotations. Where the objectivity of the photographs does not reflect the similarity of the signified and the referent, Michaels resorts to a special type of markedness, i.e., "subjunctive markedness", which is imposed on the photographs from a cognitive system. This cognitive system and implicit meanings in Michaels' photographs originates from poetry, stories, legends, myths, Eastern mysticism, and of course religious and psychological beliefs, and allows his selections not to be based solely on formal and semantic similarities with reality.

Performationism is the theory that a human being is completely preformed in a very small size from the very beginning of conception and only grows in size and physical dimensions from the time of birth until adulthood. In neurology, it is used to describe the map of sensory neurons in each part of (somatosensory homunculus) the brain. For many centuries, scientists believed that the performationism, which means a small, fully formed human, is present in a man's sperm and then takes place in the ovum during fertilization and grows only in size and quality until adulthood. Based on this view that dominates the intellectual atmosphere of that time during the Middle Ages, children were considered as small adults. In the Middle Ages, it was believed that a child was the same as an adult with smaller organs and less physical strength. In those days, as soon as a child could live without the constant help and care of his mother, he started to be a member of the society of elders. In the social life of the Middle Ages, children were treated like adults. Children in medieval artwork were painted in adult clothing. With this belief, if children wore the clothes of adults, they were expected to behave alike. Believing in this theory made artists to show children in their paintings with the images, clothes and appearance of adults but on a smaller scale, or draw them in situations other than what is expected of the child. As many paintings in the Middle Ages and Iranian paintings show children with the body and characteristics of adults. Signs of belief in this idea can be seen in the works of Iranian painters. One of the most important of these examples is the paintings containing the child in the Haft Aurang Jami version in the Ferrier Collection. Moreover In the works of Kamal ud-Din Behzad in the edition of "Persian Poetry Program", the work of "Woman and Child" by Reza Abbasi, a picture by Mirza Ali in Panj Ganj Nizami, the picture "Babie's testimony to the innocence of Yusuf (PBUH)" attributed to Mohammad Sabzevari, the picture of "Yusuf (PBUH) Shepherding" from the collection of Yusuf (PBUH) and Zulikhai Jami related to the Safavid period, are evident examples of children's pictures which are drawn with different proportions of adults.The present writing was done in a historical-descriptive way and data collection was desk-based, and its purpose is to express the theory of performationism children's paintings in the paintings of Haft Aurang Mahfouz in the Ferrier collection. For this purpose, in this research, this question is answered; how did this theory manifest in Haft Orang Jami? The results of this research show that the theoretical expression of performationism in these paintings is evident in the facial expressions, clothing, positioning, body scale and the difficulty of distinguishing the gender of the characters. Children in the illustrations of this version are drawn in a way as they are adults.

Legends have been included and decorated with various images, since long ago. These images have both decorative and narrative aspects. Understanding the components and their relationships in images to understand the structure is one of the ways to obtain meaning. Repetition of symbolic elements from very distant times to recent times requires an explanation of how it was formed. The iconography method in the interpretation of works of art tries to show the connection between the image and the text after the detailed description of the image with a comparative method and to analyze the meaning of these images by revealing the repeated structural pattern in different cultures."Demons" are beings with surreal characteristics, whose unique characteristics and powers have made them special in Persian legends, literary works, paintings, and illustrations. Their abilities and their powers such as: flying, turning into a human or a bird, the ability to change shape, etc. The book "One Thousand and One Nights" by Abdul Latif Tasuji or "Thousand Tales" is originally one of the old Pahlavi texts, which was translated into Arabic after Islam and by adding legends to it, it became known as "Alf Laila and Laila" or “Arabian Nights”. This book is illustrated by Abul Hasan Ghafari who is often known as Sani al-Mulk. Indeed, He supervised the illustration of a famous "One Thousand and One Nights" manuscript, which can be viewed today in Tehran in the Golestan Palace Library. Common to all the editions of the Nights is the framing device of the story of the ruler Shahryar being narrated the tales by his wife Scheherazade, with one tale told over each night of storytelling. This book includes various symbolic features in the context of legendary narratives both in the narrative and in the illustrations presented.The following research, using the iconography method in descriptive-analytical research, investigates the visual and surreal characteristics of the “Div” -demons- in the legends of One Thousand and One Nights and the degree of fidelity of the illustrator of the book (Sani al-Mulk) to the text. In this regard, after identifying the visual and surreal characteristics of demons in pictorial and fictional examples, we will compare and classify them; Then we try to investigate the expressive relationship between the supernatural characteristics of “Div”-demons- and the behavioral characteristics of demons in the framework of the theoretical foundations of the research. Also, we intend to evaluate (positive and negative) legendary creatures like demons based on their symbolic identification by referring to visual and verbal evidence. The results of this research show that demons, giants, monsters, goblins, and fairies are all considered to be from the same family, and their positions change according to different situations. The appearance of these creatures does not have the same characteristics in any narrative; These legendary creatures have the ability to change their faces, and the interesting thing is that none of the available evidence indicates the completely negative characteristics of these creatures.

Grotesque is an artistic and literary form that has appeared in contemporary art, having a history as long as the 16th century. According to Mikhail Bakhtin, a 20th-century literary theorist, a critical approach is formed in the official space of society, which is connected with the values and ways of human social behavior in the contemporary world, and literary, visual, and cultural studies can provide the basis for planning and understanding the dimensions of artistic life. Bakhtin’s perspective regarding the Carnival of the Middle Ages led to the creation of a humorous culture within an informal domain. In the history of literature and art, as well as in cultural and social situations, classical laws, standards, and proportions have always contrasted with the grotesque, and any pre-determined conceptual frameworks are abandoned. This critical attitude develops in the formal space of the community, which is related to free emancipation and the formation of a new personality. Also, the grotesque attitude motivates community members to engage in social debate and discuss issues of form and identity change. Grotesque represents conflict, fear, exaggeration, laughter, change, or confusion in the creation of artistic or literary work. The new approach toward social life can be portrayed as a way that everything overpowering, dry, and serious is overturned and mocked to adapt to the surroundings and people. The concept of a grotesque body proposed by Mikhail Bakhtin serves as the theoretical foundation for this study. In a grotesque body, inconsistency, and ambiguity are caused by the reflection of abnormal things in the body and face, resulting in the abandonment of established standards in the representation of the body and face and deform them into something weird yet familiar. The current research began by asking how the visual characteristics of the grotesque body appeared in Iranian theater and movie posters in the 1390s. What are the concepts expressed by the reflection of the grotesque body in 1390s Iranian theatrical and movie posters? The current research aims to analyze the visual features of Iranian theater and movie posters of the 1390s and grotesque features, to convey a novel definition and concept to provide a deep communication with the audience. The descriptive research method includes content analysis and library information collecting methods, through note-taking and image reading. The data analysis method has been qualitative and sampling has been goal-oriented. The results of this research suggest that the idea of grotesque in modern Iranian cultural posters refers to the illustration of a human being in connection with nature and an inverted life, expressing an ambiguous element. Also, it covers human disturbances, transformations, and phobias, which have found a critical and societal function. Individual life experiences in the world, combined with an aesthetic model influenced by Bakhtin's viewpoint, have resulted in the construction of an indeterminate border in the works, which creates the distinguishing element of the grotesque in Iranian theater and film posters in the 1390s.

One of the ways to achieve creative design is to use the practice base method. In the practice base method, the designer is a researcher who consciously and freely identifies design issues from within the subject of his order and chooses and combines diverse methods appropriate to the subject to create a creative work.The artistic product resulting from this type of research is innovative and has a theoretical framework, and due to the fact that all the data, ideas and stages of its creation are documented, the work and knowledge resulting from it can be understood, thought and expressed and can be evaluated, criticized and discussed for the target community. Creating a research and creative work with this method can increase experience, awareness and knowledge in the field of design and help promote culture, develop visual literacy and social awareness of the value of the place and role of art in society.This article, with the aim of "visualizing the components of contemporary art" and "developing creative graphic flows" in the sign design, deals with the combined methodology and design process of the Isfahan "Didar Gallery" logo and it seeks to answer the question of how to design a creative sign based on the "components of contemporary art" and the "name" and "leading activities" of Didar Gallery. In this research design, the author has used four cognitive fields: "Graphics and Sign Design", "Process Design and Triz's Theory of Creativity" (The four basic pillars of Triz: “Contrast”, “Ideality”, “Function” and “Resources”; The eight principles of Triz: “Consolidation”, “Nesting”, “Prior Action”, “Periodic Action”, “Mediator”, “Replacement of Mechanical Systems”, “Homogeneity” & “Phase Transition”), "Contemporary Art and Galleries" (Applying seven features of Contemporary Art: “innovation and experimentation” in the unconventional design process, “using Multimedia as a new tool” in logo design, “conceptual-critical and questioning approach” which has deconstructive features, “process oriented design”, “Multiplicity of meaning”, “Multidisciplinary approach in sound engineering and image engineering” and “Social action and interactivity” through collaboration with different people for sign design) and "Structuralist & Post-Structuralist Philosophy" (Concepts such as “the metaphysics of presence”, “the priority of speech (parole) over writing (language)”, “endless chain of significations” ,“the trace of meaning”, “the Play of presence and absence”, “deferral of meaning”, “difference”).In designing the final logo of Didar Gallery, the designer paid attention to the histogram of the recorded sound of saying the word Didar, instead of a purely written or visual approach, taking into account selected theoretical principles in the four cognitive fields and while visualizing the sound, he redesigned the letters with deformation in its geometry.As a result, in the final design, the designer has increased the creative and thoughtful aspect of the logo by making changes in the design tools and design approach, and by deepening the design -by finding ideas from philosophical propositions (especially Derrida's deconstruction)- to the extent that the gallery logo, in addition to the status of its functionality can be considered as an artwork.

Andrea Kowch, a contemporary American artist, has gained recognition for her unique style that blends symbolism and a kind of magical realism. Her art often takes on a narrative quality, delving into the realms of memory, personal concepts, and inner reflections. She is particularly known for her ability to create enchanting works of art that convey a profound sense of meaning and emotion. The main element of her works are women who interact with each other as well as with other non-human elements. Along with these women, Andrea Kowch has used the symbols of her native nature. One of the recurring symbols in her art is the raven, a bird that she draws from the natural landscapes of her homeland. In this research, the aim to analyze and interpret the symbolism of the raven in Andrea Kowch's painting titled "Soiree." It will utilize Erwin Panofsky's iconology method, which involves a three-step approach: pre-iconographic description, iconographic analysis, and iconological interpretation. The primary question this research seek to answer is: What is the meaning and significance of the raven as a symbol in Andrea Kowch's works?Firstly, we start with a pre-iconographic description. In "Soiree" the raven is featured prominently, and it is surrounded by various elements that create a sense of intrigue and wonder. The painting invites audiences to contemplate the role of the raven in this context. Nest step is the iconographic analysis. The raven, in the context of this painting, appears as a powerful symbol. It is not merely a bird but rather a representation of something deeper. In many cultures, the raven carries connotations of mystery, magic, and even foreboding. However, in Andrea Kowch's works, the raven takes on a different role. The artist's unique perspective is influenced by her deep connection to the indigenous cultures of her homeland, particularly the Native Americans. For her, the raven symbolizes benevolence, positivity, and guidance. It serves as a guiding light, offering support for personal transformation and change. In the context of "Soiree" the raven is not a harbinger of doom but a beacon of hope and a catalyst for personal growth. Moving on to the final stage, the iconological interpretation, it must be understood that the meaning of the raven in Andrea Kowch's works goes beyond a mere visual representation. It is deeply rooted in her personal experiences, beliefs, and cultural connections and reflects her respect for the natural world and the wisdom of indigenous cultures. In "Soiree" the raven's presence signifies a harmonious relationship with nature and a celebration of the cyclical nature of life. It encourages viewers to embrace change and personal growth, just as the raven symbolizes the artist's own journey of cultural discovery and self-realization.

In Iranian cultural society, the rose and the nightingale symbolize lovers. The rose and bird, or rose and nightingale, are integral to Persian painting, with roots traceable to pre-Islamic times. This combination has been examined as a symbol. The nightingale is considered as a transformation of "Zandav" in Zoroastrian thought, and the rose symbolizes Prophet Muhammad, seen as a transformation of the lotus. The bird, according to mystical texts, represents the soul of the seeker, and the lily symbolizes Anahita in the subconscious of the Iranian artist. In the late Qajar era, special attention was given to painting, particularly the rose and the bird. During the Qajar period, we encounter works where a hand holds a single flower, known as "the beloved's hand." This hand is a distillation of a larger pattern, which this research presents in three hypotheses: the initial pattern is two lovers, seen as a lover giving a flower to the beloved; the second is an angel holding a flower, heralding the birth of Jesus, reflecting a Christian motif in Persian painting; and the third is the offering pattern, where a prince appears to give a flower to an invisible person.By proposing these hypotheses, this research seeks to prove whether "the beloved's hand" can be considered a transformation of the sacrificial pattern as initiation rites. The specific aim of this research was to interpret the meaning of the "beloved's hand" painting. After examining the Painting descriptively and analytically and gathering information from library documents using iconology, the classification and transformation of the motif from the pre-Islamic times to the Qajar period were analyzed. The resulting meanings, in relation to the entire work, indicate the intertwining of the concept of "love" in both pre-Islamic and Islamic periods. This pattern became a political symbol to display the power of rulers across the Islamic world, showcasing their piety and divinity.Previously, in paintings from Bozghalegh, Manichaean princes are depicted holding a flower, seemingly participating in the "Bema" festival. This image aligns with the Iranian tradition of Nowruz, celebrating the spirits of ancient Iranian ancestors at the beginning of spring, symbolizing power and blessing. During the recitation of the Yashts and the "Barsom" ceremony, Iranian kings offered plant sacrifices and made covenants with their deity. The oldest remaining pattern is the marriage ceremony of Tammuz, found in Sumerian myths and Akkadian tablets, where Tammuz marries Inanna. Tammuz, the shepherd god, was associated with spring, plant growth, and the fertility of the land by the people of Mesopotamia. The revival of these patterns in the Qajar period is directly related to the Qajar kings' inclination towards antiquarianism and the influence of Western culture. The Qajar era's fascination with antiquity and Western influences is evident in their art and cultural practices. This period saw a resurgence of ancient motifs and symbols, reinterpreted through the lens of contemporary aesthetics and political needs. The beloved's hand, as a motif, encapsulates this blend of historical reverence and modern reinterpretation.