Generating Emotion through text

Text is a great way to change the meaning of an image. You can change the focus point of an image and you can also generate great emotion.
Gillian Wearing is a perfect example for this. She did a project called "Signs that say what you want them to say and not Signs that say what someone else wants you to say". She took photographs of normal people, got them to write down their feelings or an issue they had with the world and took a photo of it. It was very successful and this idea rubbed off on a lot of people. The idea spread because it works. It completely changes the photograph by putting a bit of text on a piece of paper. Its real documentary photography.

This photo changes the emotion of the photograph. The sign reads, "I have been certified as mildly insane!"
Without the text on this photo it would just be an image of a random guy in the street however, by adding type you are generating emotion. You are adding a story to the image, taking the viewer on a journey. You feel sorry for the man. It just goes to show that you shouldn't judge anyone in life. That is what the visual arts are about, teaching people, understanding people, sending out a message and taking people on a journey. I love being able to make people feel how I want them to feel. 
If you can make someone feel an emotion while they are looking at your art, they will remember it, it will stick into their memories and they may relate to it.

How does text effect the meaning of an image

As soon as you add text to an image, straight away you change the effect it will have on your audience. Maybe for the best or visa versa. Generally, we use text on an image to give information. To inform the viewer of what is happening, or happened. Also visual heir achy comes into play. What do you want the viewer to pay attention to, the image or the text?
How big is the text?
What colour is the text?
Is it bold?
Is it subtle?
All of these have a different effect on the overall outcome. It isn't just the case of slapping a word in the corner. It is thought through. However, be real with it. Shocking images generally don't need any text, it will be pretty straight forward as to what is already happening.

The type on this image effects the image in a way in how it helps the viewer relate to it generating emotion. It brings meaning to the photograph. Whatever you put on the photo, that is going to be the story the viewer looks in to. Nothing else. So I look at this image and I feel sorry for the poor guy, he just wants to forget something. I only know that because of the type, without the type I would probably be jealous of him. He is in a beautiful location, by the sea, he seems to be free from issues, bills etc! Nothing between him and the great ocean. So by adding type, you are restricting the viewer from seeing a bigger picture. Good thing or a bad thing? Well it completely depends on what you want the viewer to see, as a Visual artist, this is your power. Superman can fly, Spiderman can make webs and catch bad guys, Johnny Bravo can pull extremely hot cartoon chicks! We can make people see what only we want them to see.

Selfish??

I don't think so.

Getting rid of Assumptions

Some people say the best designers are mad. They have outrageous ideas that will never work. Is this true? Or is it simply thinking outside the box and being different?
There are a number of ways in which to "break the rules"! Whatever your subject is, look at similes, metaphors to try and branch out and try and get that spark. These are different thinking strategies that will definately help to generate more ideas, yes, they will be more wacky and out there than your normal everyday ideas, if someone plays a word association game for example, take the word black, the first word you will say back is white. Keep going, say other words, Im going to say what is popping up in my huge brain associating with black.... Evil, Dark, Night, Stars, Badger. You get the idea, without taking the first idea, you get a wider range of ideas, fun ideas, strange ideas. Most of them won't work but you may get one idea that will make it.
An artist I like that uses this style is, Yuko Shimuzu.
She takes very known pieces of work, e.g The Great Wave. She incorporates different elements into the image which changes the meaning completely. Notions of Originality fits into this as well.

By changing the elements in the image, it reflects on the audience and changes the target audience.

It is different, a little disturbing but it works. If you break down her work methodology, you can see how she got to the idea by doing simple word associations, not going with the first ideas, think outside the box. Being different is very important. Unless she has very long hair in real life, then it isn't that impressive however, I am sure this isn't the case. She probably has no hair. Bald even. Who knows! None of the less, it works!