Communication theory: LVL
Communication Theory in Design and Contemporary Art
Communication is not just about talking or writing; it’s a process of meaning-making that is vital in design and art as well. According to communication scholars, all definitions of communication converge on key features:
It is a process involving the exchange of messages. It uses verbal and nonverbal symbols to convey ideas. It occurs between at least two parties (a sender and a receiver). It leads to creating and interpreting meaning. It always happens within a context. It features feedback (the receiver’s response influences ongoing communication).
In other words, communication is continuous and relational: the designer or artist «encodes» a message into a design or artwork, and the audience «decodes» it, often in their own unique way. Personal experiences and cultural background can cause different interpretations of the same artistic message — much like how readers imagine a novel differently than its movie adaptation. Context plays a crucial role in this process: a message delivered in a gallery opening will be received differently than the same message shown on a social media feed. The setting, cultural environment, and audience expectations all shape how meaning is constructed when encountering a design or artwork.
Importantly, communication in design and art is symbolic. Designers and artists work with colors, shapes, images, and materials as symbols that carry meaning. This aligns with the semiotic tradition in communication theory, which views communication as the study of signs and how they produce meaning. A painting, a logo, or a piece of furniture can all be understood as sign systems: they stand for ideas beyond their literal form. For example, a minimalist geometric sculpture might symbolize modernity or «order» to its audience, depending on the cultural codes they bring to viewing it.
Communication theory also emphasizes that meaning is co-created socially, not just transmitted. The socio-cultural tradition sees communication as the creation of social reality through interaction. In the context of art and design, this means that a work doesn’t have a single inherent meaning; rather, meaning emerges through the interaction between the piece, viewers, and the cultural context. A contemporary art installation might spark different conversations — each viewer’s interpretation adds to the tapestry of the artwork’s meaning in society. Design, too, can shape social reality: think of how the design of a public space encourages certain behaviors and interactions. The socio-cultural perspective reminds us that communication (and thus design/art as a form of communication) is deeply influenced by cultural norms and can reinforce or challenge those norms.
Furthermore, design and art often aim to persuade or affect the audience, whether it’s persuading someone to feel a certain emotion, to adopt a new viewpoint, or simply to consider an object «beautiful» or desirable. This is where the rhetorical tradition informs our understanding. The rhetorical view treats communication as the art of persuasion. An advertisement design, for instance, is explicitly rhetorical — it uses visual and textual rhetoric to persuade you to buy a product. Even in fine art, a piece might be making a persuasive argument (for example, a political artwork persuading viewers to question something about society). Good communicators in the rhetorical sense will adapt their message to their audience and context, choosing the right strategies to achieve the desired effect. In design terms, this could mean tailoring a message differently if the piece is for a children’s museum versus a corporate office, much as a speaker adjusts their tone and examples for different audiences.
To summarize, communication theory provides a rich framework for understanding how design and contemporary art «speak» to people. A designer is like a communicator who must encode ideas (messages about function, feeling, identity) into a visual form. The audience, in turn, decodes those ideas, providing feedback (even if just through their reactions or purchasing choices). The process is contextual and symbolic: meaning depends on cultural context and the use of shared symbols. Different theoretical traditions in communication offer lenses to analyze this:
Semiotic tradition: Focuses on signs and symbols. In design/art, this highlights how visual elements signify deeper meanings (e.g., a red rose in a painting signaling love or passion). Designers consciously choose elements that will trigger the right associations in the audience’s mind. Socio-cultural tradition: Emphasizes how communication forms and reflects our social reality. A design or artwork’s meaning is shaped by social context — for instance, a minimalist design might communicate «elegance» and a certain social status within a culture that values minimalism. This tradition reminds designers/artists to consider cultural context and how their work might reinforce or challenge social norms. Rhetorical tradition: Sees communication as persuasive and audience-centered. Applied to design/art, this means crafting works intentionally to influence audience response — whether that’s an emotional reaction, a call to action, or an intellectual engagement. The rhetorical perspective encourages attention to audience adaptation: who is the viewer/user and how can the design best reach them?
These traditions (among the seven classic traditions identified by Craig) are especially pertinent to how design and art communicate. By understanding communication as a dynamic process of encoding/decoding meaning, shaped by context and culture, and directed by strategic choices, designers and artists can more effectively craft works that resonate with their intended audiences.
Presenting «LVL» to a General Audience
Imagine walking into a living space that feels like a calm, modern game world — not a cluttered arcade, but a serene «level», of a game brought to life. LVL is a new minimalist interior brand that does exactly this. It takes inspiration from the structure and aesthetics of video game levels and transforms real spaces into something both futuristic and inviting. For anyone who loves sleek digital aesthetics and modern minimalism, LVL offers a chance to «level up» your living space in a truly unique way.
At its core, LVL reimagines common interior objects as if they were artifacts from a stylish game universe. Picture a coffee table that looks like it could be a platform from an architecturally beautiful puzzle game, or modular wall shelves that stack like elements of a level layout. The design language is clean and geometric — every line and shape has purpose, much like in a well-designed game environment. Yet it’s not cold or abstract; it’s conceptual modern interior design that remains warm and livable. The materials are high-quality and the forms are simple, so even though the inspiration is digital, the feeling in your home is cozy and human.
What makes LVL special? It speaks to the child-at-heart and the design-lover at the same time. The brand knows that many people today grew up with video games and also developed a taste for contemporary design. LVL blends these worlds. The furniture and décor pieces are based on modular forms — think of building blocks or level tiles that you can rearrange. This means you aren’t stuck with one configuration; you can play with the setup of your space. In a sense, youbecome the designer of your own level, moving pieces around to suit your mood or your needs. It’s a playful approach, but also grounded in functional design. Each object serves a purpose as a table, a seat, a shelf, or a lamp, but looks like it was pulled from a digital landscape and refined into an elegant physical form.
official interior 2
The visual logic of game worlds is evident in LVL’s color and lighting choices too. The palette tends toward neutral tones with occasional bold accents, much like a minimal game might use a splash of color to guide you. Subtle LED lighting is used in some pieces (for example, a floor lamp with a soft glow along its edges) to mimic the ambient lighting of a virtual level and create a relaxing atmosphere. These are interiors that feel interactive even if they aren’t electronics — they invite you to engage, reconfigure, and imagine.
LVL’s target audience is people who appreciate this blend of digital and physical aesthetics. You might be a tech-savvy individual who loves the idea of your living room reflecting the sleek design of your favorite game or sci-fi film. Or you might be an art enthusiast drawn to conceptual, minimalist installations — the kind that make you think differently about space. Either way, LVL is accessible and user-friendly: it isn’t heavy theory or overly expensive art; it’s practical décor with a creative twist. The brand communicates in a straightforward, friendly tone, explaining its pieces in plain language. For example, a product description might say, «This is Level Table — a coffee table inspired by floating game platforms. Stack two to create a tiered effect, or separate them when you need extra surfaces.» Jargon is kept to a minimum, so anyone can grasp the idea and get excited about it.
official interior 1
Ultimately, LVL for the general audience is about transformation and imagination. It lets you see your home as something more than just rooms with furniture — instead, it’s like an ever-evolving level in a game, where you can change the layout and design. Yet it never loses sight of comfort and simplicity. The communication from LVL emphasizes how easy it is to incorporate these pieces into your life. No complicated setup, no garish gamer gimmicks — just clean lines, modular design, and a dash of digital-era magic. It’s an invitation to turn your personal space into a minimalistic game level that reflects you, providing both aesthetic pleasure and a sense of play. In short, LVL asks: why live on one level, when you can live on the next level?
Presenting «LVL» to a Professional Audience
home interior 1
LVL is positioned at the intersection of product design, spatial aesthetics, and digital culture — a convergence that offers rich discussion for curators, designers, and industry experts. In professional terms, LVL is an exploration of how game design principles can inform physical space-making. The brand’s collection of interior objects demonstrates a clear lineage from modular design systems and architectural minimalism, while also drawing conceptual influence from the logic of video game «levels.» By doing so, LVL bridges the language of digital environments with tangible furniture and décor, creating a hybrid design vocabulary.
LVL brand catalog 1
At a glance, the LVL line includes furniture and decorative modules that are deliberately minimalist in form — clean geometries, grid-informed structures, and a limited, cohesive material palette. This minimalism isn’t merely an aesthetic choice; it’s a functional one that resonates with modularity and adaptability. Each piece is designed as a module that can stand alone but truly comes into its own through combination. Much like components in level design that can be rearranged to create different layouts, LVL’s furniture elements can be reconfigured to suit various spatial needs. For instance, a set of cubic seating units can be clustered as a bench, separated into individual seats, or stacked to form a display shelf. This reflects a systems-thinking approach commonly found in both video game design and modernist architecture.
home interior 2
Materiality is another focal point of LVL’s design philosophy. The brand deliberately chooses materials that convey a blend of the tactile and the technological. Surfaces might be matte black metal, echoing the sleek feel of high-end electronics, combined with natural wood or stone that grounds the piece in physical reality. The contrast between, say, a smooth concrete tabletop and an illuminated LED accent line, exemplifies LVL’s aim to merge the virtual and physical realms. This attention to material interplay not only provides visual interest but also speaks to durability and quality — crucial considerations for industry experts assessing a new product line. The pieces are built to be both aesthetically refined and structurally robust, suitable for a gallery showcase or a designed commercial space as much as for a home.
LVL brand catalog 2
From a spatial aesthetics perspective, LVL’s products do more than fill a room; they shape the perception of space. Each object is conceived as part of a larger spatial composition. Designers will note the influence of architectural forms — cantilevers, terraces, and voids — which relate to how game levels are often layered and structured. Placed in an interior, these items create a sense of depth and progression. For example, a low table might have tiered planar surfaces reminiscent of platforms, creating subtle visual «levels» within a room’s layout. This gives interior designers a new palette of forms to play with, enabling designs that guide users through a space much like level designers guide players through an environment.
home interior 3
Crucially, LVL situates itself in digital culture as well. This is not retro gaming kitsch, but rather a sophisticated commentary on how digital experiences influence modern expectations of interactivity and personalization. The brand engages with the idea that contemporary audiences (and by extension, clients and end-users) are accustomed to environments that they can tweak and control — a legacy of interactive media. LVL’s modular and reconfigurable nature gives a user interpretive agency: a curator or designer using LVL pieces in a project can treat them almost like a toolkit for storytelling within a space. Each configuration can convey a slightly different narrative or function, depending on how the modules are arranged and used. In essence, the user becomes a co-author of the interior environment, which aligns with trends in participatory and adaptive design.
LVL brand catalog 3
When communicating LVL to a professional audience, the language naturally becomes more technical and conceptual. The brand story highlights how LVL draws from established design paradigms — one might reference the narrative qualities of space or the Elaboration Likelihood of design elements for different users, in theoretical terms — while also presenting something novel. For example, an LVL briefing for designers would discuss how the collection employs a central design metaphor (the game «level») to drive coherence across products, ensuring that the line is conceptually tight. It would also emphasize research and precedents: LVL builds on modular design principles seen in works ranging from the Bauhaus’s functional blocks to contemporary parametric design, yet it introduces a unique twist by explicitly integrating game-level logic as a design inspiration. The result is a product line that is intellectually intriguing for experts — touching on nostalgia for digital forms in a way that’s filtered through a rigorous design process rather than mere pastiche.
home interior 4
In terms of reception and usage, LVL invites professionals to consider how users engage with space. The concept of user interpretation is foregrounded. Rather than dictating a single use or meaning for each object, LVL provides a framework within which users (be it homeowners, interior decorators, or exhibition visitors) can project their own ideas. This aligns well with contemporary design discourse that values open-endedness and experience-driven design. A museum curator, for instance, might see in LVL an opportunity to let visitors physically interact with exhibition furniture, re-arranging seating like puzzle pieces, thereby breaking the passive consumption of space. Meanwhile, a commercial interior designer might appreciate how LVL’s modular units can flex to different floorplan configurations, future-proofing a space for changing needs.
In summary, the professional presentation of LVL underscores its position as a concept-driven design venture. The communication is richer in technical detail — discussing modularity in terms of design systems, material choices in terms of their sensory and symbolic impact, and the user experience in terms of interactivity and narrative. LVL is framed not just as a product line, but as a design approach that harmonizes elements of digital and physical design thinking. It stands at the cutting edge of a dialogue between disciplines: interior design, product design, and the influence of digital aesthetics. For industry experts, LVL offers a case study in how a clear communicative concept (the «level» metaphor) can drive both the creative process and the final user experience in a way that is innovative yet contextually aware of design heritage and contemporary cultural trends.
Theoretical Foundations in Developing the LVL Presentations
Both the general-audience and professional-audience presentations of LVL were deliberately crafted using principles from communication theory covered in the course. The differences between these two presentations are not random — they stem from conscious application of concepts like audience adaptation, message encoding/decoding, and context-sensitive communication. Here, we break down how specific theories and models informed the development of each version:
Audience-Centered Rhetorical Strategy
One of the first considerations was the rhetorical tradition — thinking of communication as a form of persuasive engagement tailored to the audience. Classical rhetorical theory (as discussed by Aristotle and the Sophists) teaches us to «identify the available means of persuasion for any given situation» and to adapt ideas to the context and audience. In practice, this meant analyzing the two target audiences (general public vs. professionals) and adjusting the tone, language, and content accordingly. For the general audience, the presentation uses an accessible tone, relatable imagery (e.g., imagining your living room as a game level), and emotional appeal — this corresponds to pathos and building ethos in a friendly way. For the professional audience, the presentation is more formal and information-dense, appealing to logic and expertise — aligning with logos and a credibility that assumes technical background. The five canons of classical rhetoric — invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery — were implicitly considered. For example, arrangement differed: the general version starts with a vivid scenario to hook interest (a narrative style opening), whereas the professional version begins with a clear positioning statement of the brand’s concept in design terms, since experts will want the thesis upfront. This approach echoes the Sophists’ idea of adapting to context and audience expectations, ensuring that the message is persuasive in each setting without coming across as «empty words.»Encoding and Decoding for Different Contexts
The act of crafting two presentations is essentially an exercise in encoding the same underlying message in two different codes. Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding model (though not explicitly in our text, it’s relevant) and the course’s communication basics highlight that senders encode messages and receivers decode them, potentially in diverse ways based on their backgrounds. We applied this by encoding the LVL brand narrative in one way for laypeople and another way for experts, anticipating how each group would decode the message. For instance, the general audience might decode mentions of «video game aesthetics» as something fun and trendy, whereas professionals might decode it in the context of design movements or digital art discourse. To avoid miscommunication, each presentation uses references and terminology that align with the audience’s existing knowledge and interests. This is a direct application of the idea that communication must consider the receiver’s frame of reference. The general audience text avoids jargon so that the encoding matches the decoding abilities of non-specialists — if we used terms like «parametric modularity» there, many might decode it incorrectly or not at all. Conversely, the professional text encodes messages with industry terminology (e.g., spatial aesthetics, materiality, narrative qualities) knowing that the intended receivers have the schema to decode those terms meaningfully. Feedback in a theoretical sense was also considered: although we don’t have immediate feedback in this written task, we incorporated an imagined feedback loop — for example, anticipating questions a professional might ask (like «what materials do they use?») and ensuring the text answers that proactively. This mirrors the communication model where feedback from the audience (even nonverbal or anticipated feedback) can refine the message.
Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)
The differences in detail and complexity between the two presentations were informed by Petty and Cacioppo’s Elaboration Likelihood Model of persuasion. According to ELM, a highly motivated and knowledgeable audience (like industry experts) is likely to use the central route to process information, engaging in deep, effortful consideration of the message. Therefore, the professional presentation provides substantive details, logical arguments, and explicit conceptual linkages — it invites central-route processing. We expect these readers to scrutinize claims (e.g., «does this really merge digital culture and product design effectively?»), so we included concrete examples and reasoning they can chew on. In contrast, the general audience might not be as motivated to analyze every technical detail; they are more likely to be influenced by the peripheral route, relying on overall impressions or cues like excitement, visuals, and trust in the brand. Thus, the general presentation uses more peripheral cues: an engaging narrative, imaginative descriptions, and an enthusiastic tone to create a positive association. We still included information, but we kept it at a high level («inspired by game levels, ” „modular forms you can play with“) without diving into theory. This approach aligns with ELM’s advice to match the message to the audience’s likely mode of processing — providing simple, concrete appeals to those less likely to scrutinize, and richer content to those who will delve deeper.
Narrative Paradigm
Walter Fisher’s Narrative Paradigm posits that humans are storytellers by nature and we find narratives more persuasive than dry logic. We consciously applied this in the general audience version by opening with and maintaining a narrative style. Instead of simply listing product features, we told a story of what it’s like to live in an LVL-designed space («Imagine walking into a living space that feels like a calm, modern game world…»). This was to ensure coherence and fidelity, the two criteria Fisher identifies for a compelling story. Coherence was maintained by having a clear, internally consistent vision of the brand in that scenario, and fidelity was addressed by relating that scenario to the audience’s own experiences and desires (the story rings true to what a gamer-turned-minimalist homeowner might fantasize about). The professional version, on the other hand, while more expository, still contains an underlying narrative — the narrative of design ideas evolving and converging. It frames LVL as a story at the intersection of trends, effectively telling the tale of how digital culture meets interior design. This subtle narrative approach makes the information more engaging and memorable for experts who, although focused on facts, also appreciate a coherent story of a brand’s development and philosophy. In both cases, leveraging narrative techniques helps in meaning-making: it contextualizes LVL in a way that pure data cannot, thus harnessing the persuasive power of storytelling as highlighted by the narrative paradigm (people are more influenced by a good story that resonates with their values and experience).Semiotic and Language Choices
Drawing from the semiotic tradition, we paid close attention to the signs and symbols embedded in the language and imagery of each presentation. Every word and analogy was chosen for the meaning it would signal to the respective audience. For example, in the general-audience text we use phrases like «level up your living space, ” invoking the familiar gaming phrase „level up“ as a friendly nod to the brand name and concept. This serves as a symbolic cue, sparking excitement and recognition — it’s a bit of cultural jargon from video games that this audience would decode positively (a fun improvement, an upgrade) without feeling lost. In the professional text, however, we use terms like „modular design systems“ or „spatial composition, ” which act as signs within the professional code that signal seriousness, expertise, and alignment with design discourse. This difference is essentially a semiotic code-switch. It reflects an understanding that meaning is not only in content but in form: the connotations of words matter. The semiotic perspective also reminds us that the visual or material references we include carry meaning. When describing materials (matte metal, concrete, LED glow), we’re invoking certain symbols: matte black metal, for instance, is a symbol of modernity and tech in design. By mentioning it to professionals, we communicate a lot about the style without a lengthy explanation — knowing that, in their interpretive code, that symbol aligns with a trendy, industrial-chic aesthetic. Thus, semiotic theory guided us to ensure the symbolic vocabulary of each presentation was tuned to the audience’s culture and expectations.Socio-Cultural and Contextual Framing
The socio-cultural tradition in communication theory emphasizes that communication is shaped by and shapes cultural context. Applying this, we framed each presentation in a context that makes sense for the intended audience’s social reality. The general audience presentation positions LVL in the context of everyday life and personal home decor aspirations — a context where the reader might be imagining hosting friends in a cool space or enjoying their hobby through interior design. It touches on the lifestyle and values (creativity, playfulness, simplicity) that are part of a broader cultural trend of blending geek culture with chic minimalism. In contrast, the professional presentation situates LVL in the context of design industry trends and conversations — referencing minimalism, modularity, interactive design, etc., which are culturally salient in professional design circles. We also considered the medium and occasion as part of context: implicitly, the general-audience text reads like a magazine blurb or a homepage introduction, whereas the professional text reads like a design article or a concept statement one might hear at a design expo. By doing this, we acknowledge that communication doesn’t happen in a vacuum; it fits into a genre and setting that the audience expects. This is a direct nod to context-centric theories (like socio-cultural and even the pragmatics of communication) which say a message’s effect depends on situational factors as much as on content.In developing these presentations, the Craig’s seven traditions framework provided a checklist of sorts to ensure we were considering multiple angles of communication. We explicitly drew on the rhetorical, semiotic, and socio-culturaltraditions as mentioned, but implicitly also touched on others: for instance, the emphasis on feedback loops and system thinking nods to the cybernetic tradition (communication as information processing with feedback and adjustment), and the focus on user experience and interpretation has a phenomenological flavor (communication as understanding through personal experience). Even though not all traditions were equally foregrounded, being aware of them enriched our strategy.
To conclude, the creation of the LVL brand presentations was grounded in solid communication theory. By leveraging concepts from audience analysis, persuasion models like ELM, narrative storytelling, semiotics, and the understanding of context, we were able to tailor two distinct yet authentic communications for LVL. This theoretical backbone ensured that each presentation was not just written intuitively, but strategically designed to communicate effectively. It’s a prime example of how bridging academic theory and practice can yield powerful results — the theory provided tools and insights (as highlighted throughout the course) that directly informed how we encoded the message of LVL for different audiences, hopefully resulting in clearer understanding and a more impactful connection with each group.
Craig R. T. Communication Theory as a Field — 1999 (дата обращения 13.12.2025)
Fisher W. R. Human Communication as Narrative: Toward a Philosophy of Reason, Value, and Action — 1987 (дата обращения 13.12.2025)
Petty R. E., Cacioppo J. T. Communication and Persuasion: Central and Peripheral Routes to Attitude Change — 1986 (дата обращения 13.12.2025)
Aristotle. Rhetoric — IV век до н. э. (дата обращения 13.12.2025)
Hall S. Encoding/Decoding — 1973 (дата обращения 13.12.2025)
AI-Generated Images. Created using advanced image
generation model Nano Banana, Midjorney — 2025
