A composition Survey on Urban Billboards and Bridge Decks of Tehran (2015-2017)

Today, we are observing environmental propaganda bombardment all over the world, both in the metropolis and small cities. Every brand and service, whether new, reputable and familiar to the audience, uses a variety of visual media to introduce and promote their products and services; these media include billboards and bridge decks in the cities. Of course, with the trend of changing the face of cities as well as helping the environment, we are observing the use of electric billboards, digital billboards, and urban televisions more and more every day. But the use of printing media in urban environmental advertising as one of the beautifying elements in the urban environment is inevitable. Billboards and bridge decks belong to the family of posters; hence, we will define the poster scientifically only in terms of its function, because the expression of the physical and technical nature of the poster and its family is not appropriate to the subject of this study. The Canadian philosopher McLuhan has said that the poster is a collective image that sinks into the depths of a living society in space and time. This image gradually changes the audience's feelings to the extent that it motivates their creative imagination; thus, it somehow leads the audience to change social, economic, cultural, and political processes. One of the effective methods, which has special importance, is the use of attractive, diverse, and appropriate compositions to maintain the desired urban beauty and, of course, effectiveness, which ultimately leads to citizen satisfaction. In graphic media, the composition is a science. This science is based on determining the status of media elements within the frame so that it emphasizes the purpose of the message. Therefore, the relationship between the sizes and number of elements, their distances, their directions, their places, the emphasis on the importance of elements, their contrasts, and their color values ​​are examined and applied. In this regard, the internal forces and the interaction of the image components must be aware of the purpose of the message; which is a point that distinguishes composition in graphic works from composition in plastic arts. The graphic composition consists of two parts, image, and lettering. The image itself is created by the idea, composition, form, and color. Also in graphic works, the use of visual techniques with the help of the elements of the work is necessary to express the form that matches the content; in this way, the designer can be able to create various meanings with the help of visual techniques. In this research, we intend to investigate the type of composition and visual techniques and the appropriateness of their performance to be effective in urban printed static billboards and bridge decks. Also in graphic works, the use of visual techniques with the help of the elements of the work is necessary to express the form that matches the content; in this way, the designer can create various meanings with the help of visual techniques. We intend to investigate the type of composition and visual techniques and the appropriateness of their performance to be effective in billboards and bridge decks.The main question of this research is what is the type of composition and visual techniques used in urban billboards and bridge decks in Tehran (2014-2016)? And the sub-question is whether there is a trend of change in these three years.The main hypothesis: The types of compositions used in urban billboards and bridge decks in Tehran (2014-2016), although balanced, are mostly horizontal static and without expressive variety, so they do not create visual motivation in the audience. Sub-hypothesis: During the period of this research, the process of using composition and visual techniques has not changed significantly. The purpose of this study is to investigate the type of compositions used in urban billboards and bridge decks in the city of Tehran in the period from 2014 to 2016 from the perspective of diversity and balance of composition and also to study the visual techniques used in the compositions with emphasis on their effectiveness; to pave the way for creating more beautiful, expressive and effective works in the desired media. Related to previous studies according to this subject, it can be acknowledged that no research has been reported in the field of composition on billboards and bridge decks, and only one case of MA thesis entitled "The Importance of the Sharing of Image and Lettering on the Billboard" has been done under the guidance of Manavirad and Madari Mohaddes and written by Behnaz Arianfar at Al-Zahra University, which examines the strengths and weaknesses of lettering and the confrontation of image and lettering on Billboard design. The research method is descriptive-analytical based on a cross-sectional survey, which has been done about 404 printed billboards and printed bridge decks that were published in Tehran in 2014, 2015, and 2016. The choice of this period was not optional and was only due to our access to these works, which the cases studied in them can be observed and generalized at all times. For classification and information analysis, first, the works are examined from the perspective of types of composition, factors affecting the composition, and then the use of visual techniques. Finally, the frequency of each year is calculated separately and the average frequency of three years is calculated together, to avoid any doubtful results and to achieve a better understanding of the positive and negative points of the composition of the statistical community with the aim to examine its effectiveness. Because the evidence of the composition of a work, which affects the audience and their satisfaction and motivation, is concentrated in their subconscious.Overall, the result of this study suggests that, according to Gestalt theory, instinctively the first and most enduring visual contact, emotional and affective response of the audience to the work is its plastic composition. In graphics by using visual techniques, various compositions are made with the help of visual elements to convey beautiful and effective expressions that fit the desired content to the audience more clearly, explicitly, and more powerfully. A clichéd composition that is too unified bothers the audience with too much disorder. People are eager for diversity and unity i.e. any action is at a standstill position. The works of our statistical community have a moderate interest in terms of organizing the visual composition, although they are mostly balanced and have a relatively good gestalt, which is due to the visual knowledge of the designers; because they are mostly in a horizontal static position. Also, the visual techniques to create special compositions to emphasize and reinforce special expressions, that have particular importance in graphic works, except the use of high-frequency dispersion technique, has not been used much. So, this process may make citizens bored and the messages become ineffective. Because the advertising design is not just the form, color, image, etc., but it must convey a specific content and message to the audience and impress him. One way to provide this is to use a variety of compositions which is appropriate to the subject and also use visual techniques to create beautiful and effective compositions.