Response to "Asterios Polyp"

Asterios is a heavy smoker, most likely thinking it heightens his appeal as an intellectual.

           Asterios Polyp conveys an entire story almost entirely without text. There is nothing to explain this novel except for the illustrations. It is as if watching a movie but page by page. The first few scenes depict a storm and then a lightening bolt that starts a fire. This begins the whole story and where Asterios begins his flashback, but during this storm, one may notice what he is watching: the tapes he had taken of him and his  ex wife whilst having sex (unbeknownst to her until much later). At this time, Aterios is already ruminating about the past, but the course of event causing him to abandon his old life. One could deduce this entire backstory by merely studying the images. If only reading the text provided, the reader wouldn’t understand the story, and is forced to rely upon the illustrations for further guidance. In the next scene, there is a stack of books— they read, “History of Architecture” which could lead one to assume he is an architect. Upon reading the text, the reader is to discover that yes, he is indeed an architect, and a celebrated one at that. With a limited color pallet, the illustrator is able to indicate the mood of the story. In the beginning, the use of purple, blue, and yellow, indicates it is more of a foreboding mood, while when it is daylight and peaceful, it is mainly hues of pink and yellow. This story has a lot of back-and-forth, which can lead it to be confusing, but to further clarify it is in the past, the Illustrator uses lighter, brighter colors. In addition to this, Asterios is depicted as blue with harsh edges, indicating his personality, which is very "sharp" in a sense. He has a very narrow view of the world and likes to view it from a distance. Whilst his wife, Hannah, is either depicted in red or pink. This indicates her passion-- she is by far more emotional than Asterios is. Whilst Asterios is all lines a geometric harsh edges, Hannah is rounded and wholistic. When they are near one another, they start to share parts of one another and eventually form the color purple. Hannah fills Asterios's void that was left upon the discovery of his dead twin brother. This was no accident, the author carefully thought this through-- how they compliment one another, but when together, their colors begin to mesh and fade-- in particular, Hannah's. 

Reading this graphic novel is highly relatable due to the nature of my work. Graphic Designers must convey a story in the most simple of fashions. It is communicating an idea, or story through the use of Typography, illustrations, and photographs.  We are not there to explain ourselves, or our work, and so, our work must explain for us. Recently, I was assigned a project that demanded I demonstrate the definition of a word in the most simple of fashions that still conveys the definition, but is pleasing to the eye. The real challenge of it, is how to display those items in a collage format, without being too predictable. And so, it is required to create a scene (the paused moment of a story) to portray our word. It is a difficult task, and isn't always successful, but if we can get on viewer to scratch their head and try to read our story, then maybe, it could be considered a success.