Irene Documentation Blog

Name: Irene Katakis

Title of Music: Fall Me To The Moon

Artist Name: Frank Sinatra

Concept and Design

This song is by Frank Sinatra, an old American singer from the mid-20th century. Simply put, Frank Sinatra’s “Fly Me to the Moon”, originally titled “In Other Words”, is centered on the singer being deeply in love. And the title is a metaphor which is based on how he feels about his significant other. Or “fly me to the moon” is a fancy way of saying that being with his lover (i.e. the addressee of this song) makes him feel euphoric. 

Since this catchy and creative title phrase sets the tone for expressing this reality, the singer sticks to this theme in the first verse by using celestial references to describe his feelings for his special someone. But as the song goes on, it takes a more down-to-earth turn. The singer gets real about how he feels about this lady. He talks about the simple joys of holding her hand and sharing kisses. His heart is so full of happiness that he passionately says he “worships and adores” her. With all of these emotions in play, he really wants her to stay faithful to their relationship.

In the end, the song wraps up with a simple and direct “I love you.” This heartfelt sentiment remains a constant thread running through the song’s lyrics, never wavering.

In my endeavor to create a sound visualization piece inspired by the song “Fly Me to the Moon,” I delved into the lyrics and their underlying meanings to subtly weave them into my artwork. The song’s title itself was a profound source of inspiration, leading me to explore imagery related to space and the moon. However, it was the lyrics, such as “let me play among the stars,” that truly set the tone for the visual narrative. 

The song’s lyrics not only conveyed a sense of longing but also exuded an aura of joy, cheerfulness, and love. These emotional nuances provided the foundation for my creative process. To mirror these sentiments and employ Gestalt principles effectively, I chose an abstract, aesthetically pleasing composition for my poster. The entire composition of my poster primarily features imagery of outer space and celestial beings.

The central focus of my artwork revolves around a large, black centerpiece, deliberately placed to adhere to the Gestalt principle of figure-ground. This central shape serves as a focal point, creating a distinct visual hierarchy. Surrounding this central shape, I strategically placed smaller black forms in opposing corners, employing the Gestalt principle of symmetry. These smaller shapes, resembling one another but not identical, were meant to illustrate the complexity of choosing a partner, thus exemplifying the principle of similarity in Gestalt theory. While couples may appear similar or compatible outwardly (i.e., how the shapes were positioned), they are internally still unique (slightly different shapes). They complemented each other without conforming to identical forms, a concept that demonstrates how two entities can harmonize without necessitating uniformity. The viewer’s eye naturally follows the flow between these contrasting shapes, aligning with the Gestalt principle of good continuation, much like the ebb and flow of a romantic relationship.

As for the larger central shape, I aimed to have it represent the unity of two individuals. This shape embodies the concept of unity, adhering to the Gestalt principle of closure. It is large and filled with various “planets” and “stars,” symbolizing the myriad opportunities and bright future envisioned by the couple in the song. Visually, it represents their shared journey through life, marked by possibilities and adventures, thereby embracing the Gestalt principle of similarity.

In addition, I incorporated imagery of “playing among the stars” by using letters to create a slide or jungle gym, alluding to the playfulness within the song. This playful addition was intended to capture the essence of joy and spontaneity found in the song’s lyrics.

To further underscore the unity of two individuals, I included two linear shapes at the corners of the central element, creating the impression of pushing or hugging the middle shape, thereby adhering to the Gestalt principle of symmetry. This symbolism conveys the idea that when two people come together, they can create something as magnificent as the universe itself, symbolizing the Gestalt principle of closure.

Process

Originally, I made a simple outline of how I wanted my piece to look without the use of typographic elements. I believed that incorporating typographic elements, while it would definitely add meaning and a story to my piece, was too much of a leap to start with. I began by simply designing the outline of my work, creating imagery of outer space and two individuals, with a very basic representation of stars and the universe. This allowed me to establish a solid framework for when I decided to add my typographical elements and served as a good foundation to build upon.

Next, my second draft was focused on replacing all shapes with typographic elements. My first task was to make the big shapes out of words. I took the letters “FLY” and cut them out to form the shapes I wanted to create. This made it so that it had a hidden meaning in the poster while still looking like how I originally intended and evoking the meaning I wanted. This left them with a double meaning, which I believed further encapsulated the song. Creating these shapes out of wording and making it in a way that I felt was meaningful (i.e., not just making a letter a shape to make a letter a shape) was very difficult. I really had to think about the wording, the meaning, and the purpose behind them. Apart from storytelling, technically, it was also hard to do. I had experience with Illustrator before, but it was so long ago that functions such as cutting were still a bit foggy for me. I believe if I had more time, I would be able to put more meaning and technical skills behind these shapes I made and make it more obvious to the audience, and not just me, the creator, of their hidden meaning.

Next, I worked on adding more obvious typographical elements for details, to further push my message. I did this through multiple methods, one of which was using letters to make stars. I believe this was such an essential touch that really added symmetry throughout the piece and tied it together. I did this by making stars out of the letter “V” and making circular stars with the letter “O.” I then added more symmetrical elements and continuing elements of text on the lining of the shape to further fill the blank space. I think this was super essential to the poster, as it made it look much more put together and “playful” as it curved and twisted. This further embodied the feeling of the song throughout the piece.

My last thing I wanted to do was create the planets and stairs. I started with adding the depiction of the letters “squeezing” together in the middle piece by inflating letters to create the effect. I added them to both sides to make it seem like it was part of each couple and to balance it out throughout the poster. I also added effects on the letter “L” to create the imagery of the stairs/slide in the middle section to convey the lyrics and meaning of the song.

Conclusion

Overall, I am quite happy with how it all came together. I believe my imagery of the song was effectively conveyed, and Gestalt principles were clearly represented. The intended message I was trying to convey came across as well. As I mentioned, I wish I had more time to delve deeper into the meaning and technical aspects of the central shapes I created, making their hidden significance more apparent not only to me as the creator but also to the audience. Additionally, I would like to enhance the quality of the actual frame I had to cut; despite multiple attempts, I struggled to achieve the desired outcome.

Image of my poster

In the drawing I made, I’m trying to explain how a seesaw works to an alien. I went for really simple pictures because these aliens don’t understand our language. From the story we read, we learned that the aliens mainly use images to talk to each other. Their bodies are built in a way that they don’t really get the whole left-right thing, so their language doesn’t use those directions either. Because of this, I focused on showing up and down movements in my drawing, since that’s something they’d get.

The drawing of the seesaw shows how it moves, using easy-to-get symbols to show the movement and how the weight on each side makes it work. I think that with these symbols and pictures, the aliens would get the general idea.

The aliens’ unique way of seeing and interacting with the world made it a bit tricky to explain something that’s pretty normal for us. But by using images and focusing on up and down movements, I tried to make a drawing that they’d understand. The seesaw, in its simplicity, became a way to show that even though we’re different, we can understand each other.

I was really thinking about how to get past the differences in how we communicate and experience things. The goal was to help them understand this simple but interesting piece of equipment that shows some basic physical principles. The seesaw, moving up and down, became a way to explore how we might talk to and understand different beings.

By focusing on simple concepts like balance and movement, I hoped to find some common ground. The drawing, in its simplicity, was meant to be a bridge between our worlds, showing that understanding each other is possible despite our differences.

In the end, making this drawing wasn’t just about explaining a seesaw. It was also about exploring how we might communicate with beings who are different from us. The seesaw, simple as it is, became a way to explore the idea of understanding each other. By using simple symbols and focusing on up and down movements, I hope the drawing can help explain how a seesaw works to beings who see the world very differently from us.

• How do the aliens’ language and communication styles in the story differ from human language (oral, pictographic, phonetic, etc.)?

The alien language is akin more so to our symobols. Just like how we have caution signs that tell a word without corresponding to actual words or spoken language, thats how the aliens spoke. They called it glottographic because it represents speech. Every human written language is in this category. However, the symbols we use is semasiographic’ writing, because it conveys meaning without reference to speech. There’s no correspondence between its components and any particular sounds. The aliens way of writing was not picture writing, it was something far more complex. It had its own system of rules for constructing sentences, like a visual syntax that’s unrelated to the syntax for the aliens spoken language. It was almost like a visual syntax. This written language also was not connected to how they spoke, it was almost like two different languages for whatever purpose they had.

• How does the physical structure of our body inform the way we communicate? How about the aliens?

The way our body is laid out determines how we read and see words to an extend. Our body’s physical structure profoundly shapes the way we communicate. It affects our ability to speak and produce sounds, convey emotions through facial expressions, use gestures and body language, establish eye contact, hear and interpret words, maintain personal space, and convey emotions through touch. From the way we talk to the expressions on our face, the posture we adopt, and even the distances we maintain during interactions, our bodies serve as a fundamental channel for human communication, influencing how we understand and connect with others. For aliens it seemed to defer. Their script wasn’t word-divided like ours; a sentence is written by joining the logograms for the constituent words. They join the logograms by rotating and modifying them. They would read a word easily no matter how it was rotated. Almost like if we could read a sentence with all the words scrambled and upside down. This was a consequence of their bodies’ radial symmetry:  their bodies have no ‘forward’ direction, so their writing doesn’t either