Visual Grammar of the Mediterranean Landscape: Chromatic, Iconic and Object Identities

The paper deals with the enhancement of the Mediterranean identity in terms of visual communication starting from the landscape as the crucial aspect in creating a coordinated theme for the territory. In this context the landscape is read both as natural environment and as an extension and expression of the collective self (in anthropological and sociological terms), of a people’s culture and their way to relate with spaces. Therefore it is important – in the design approach – to isolate some identitary elements able to summarise the values, qualities and features of a territory. We are interested in communication design of Mediterranean visual identities and in the dynamics of building visual common codes. This research collects some case studies about the territorial communication field divided into three categories: Colours: in this category we can find those projects that are focused on the color as a visual code able to return the complexity of a place and its recurrent chromatic features. Icons: this category includes those projects that use the iconographical language to represent shapes and figures that are part of the collective imaginary and/or can be considered a possible “grammar of Mediterranean signs”. Objects: herein we can find those projects that connect the material culture present in the traditional handcrafted objects with the natural landscape in a mutual relationship of tangible and intangible values. From this critical analysis some interesting issues emerge: • the relationship between stereotypes and visual recurring themes in interpreting the system of values and creating the territorial identity; • the relationship between abstraction and description in choosing a communication style able to synthesise the soul and mood of a place. • the creation of a “grammar” of minimum elements of a graphic language mixing art and design.