The experience and design of stereotype

Our everyday life is influenced by an overproduction of images and by an iconogenic surplus that is connected to the proliferation of media. These contribute to both the quality and quantity of communication, but simultaneously amplify the knowledge gap between an audience that is able to critically process messages and another that is affected uncritically by prejudices and stereotypes. The need for a critical ???media education??? (Bellino 2010) is required to address this gap by encouraging the development of students' critical thinking and social awareness. In this paper we will discuss the results of a didactic experiment in which visual communication design students explored the potential of metaphor to critique the role of media in perpetuating cultural stereotypes. Where stereotype simplifies reality, metaphor extends beyond the simplification of reality toward the discovery of new communicative opportunities; here the link between ethics and esthetics is reinforced. To support the learning process of the participating students we assumed that the model of experiential learning (Kolb 1984) and the appeal to experiential metaphors (Lakoff & Johnson 1980) are the best way to deal with reality, its comprehension, its representation, and its transformation. Students were required to explore the potential of metaphor through the development of viral / guerilla communication campaigns that highlighted the role of the media in perpetuating stereotype.