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Visual Communication
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Remote messaging: exploring graphic manifestations of human relationships to the terrain through site markers and cognitive mapping in Ladakh, India

Angela D. Norwood

York University, Ontario, Canada, anorwood{at}yorku.ca

This article explores the role of design in Ladakh, a remote region in northwestern India that was opened to tourism and trade only 35 years ago. The shift in the prevailing socio-economic structure is manifested within the region's forms of visual communication, spanning a continuum from photographic advertising to hand-painted wayfinding systems. One questions the cumulative effects these graphic artifacts have on local people's perception of the region and their identities integrated with it.

Workshops were conducted in which participants were introduced to the abstract visual language of maps then sketched their home villages. Content analysis of these externalized cognitive maps reveals a consistency of visual representation strategies across all participants. References to natural and man-made features reflect reverence for the land and an understanding of agrarian systems. Currently graphic design in Ladakh is in service to profit outside interests. The author seeks a role for design that values the local constituency as well.

Key Words: Buddhist statuary • cognitive map • ecotourism • environmental perception • Ladakh • signage • sketch map • visual culture • visual literacy • wayfinding

Visual Communication, Vol. 8, No. 3, 285-302 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1470357209106470
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