Analysis of the Art Infusion Effect with a Different Type of Art – Illustrative Art

Abstract

Background: Art infusion has been tested in the context of visual art. This paper focuses on the exploration of art infusion with a form of applied art, namely illustration, to find out whether and how this effect is existing in this art practice, therefore referred as illustrative art. Method: Six semi-structured interviews were conducted with close resemblance to a focused interview. The interviews included a presentation of seven examples of advertising campaigns featuring illustrations to identify the viewers' impressions of the illustrations and their impact on the viewer. The illustrations included illustrations with different styles and functions as the researcher classified them. The interviews were analysed with the help a coding guideline, similar a qualitative content analysis. Three main categories raised from the content analysis and consequently, a combination of these resulted in the analysis of the art infusion effect. Findings: Perception of art varied among the participants, whereas traditional-style illustrations were perceived more directly as artwork than modern-style illustrations. Association with the illustration ranged from positive to negative, whereas many associations remained unclear. Impressions of the ad were assigned more clearly, as positive or negative. Discussion: The research findings indicate that an art infusion effect for illustrative art may exist. However, the effect may depend strongly on the viewer. The art infusion effect manifested itself in a perception of the illustration as art and a positive impression of the ad, whereby a negative association with the illustration did not prevent the supposed effect. Interestingly, the findings indicate that responses differed among the participants rather than between the illustrations, which might be due to individual differences in the perceptions as art among the participants.