Multimodality

Multimodality is a key aspect of creating meaning-making in digital communication, particularly for large companies like Armani but also smaller companies like Cardiff Council. Multimodality is very common and has been for many years and it is used in a variety of different ways as a concept of meaning-making. Has this been achieved in both of these webpages?

According to Kress, an element placed in the middle is referred to as the central element when it has other elements around it. The central element of this webpage is the question 'What can we help you with?' Underneath are hyperlinks to certain categories and above are pictures in no particular order, just moving from left to right, but as the website is open to all, these may have more importance to certain people than others, depending on the individual. There is also a lot of high saturation colours on this website, as it needs to be welcoming to all yet not intimidating and easy to use. The pictures have probably been set up in the most equal way possible because they go from left to right and each topic has a different importance to each social group.  

In contrast to this would be the Armani website as on the left which is 'given' as Kress mentions is 'What's New', this is something the reader wants to know so the 'new' on the right are small pictures of new items to give the reader an idea what they should expect. Moreover, at the top in small writing is 'our services, discover them all' is at the top centre. It is probably not the first thing the reader sees as most people read from left to right but it is at the top centre so new customers can discover everything Armani has to offer.  The Cardiff Council welcome page has less images than Armani because its purpose is to give information and even though Armani needs to give information, the Cardiff Council welcome page needs to give a lot more information on certain subjects than the Armani webpage. 

In addition, on the left there is the text where it says 'discover the collection' with hyperlinks 'for her' and 'for him', as this would be already predictable information for the reader yet the large images are on the 'new' side for the reader as it is something unknown and new to the audience. Also, on the right hand side at the top is where you can log into your account if you have one. This would be for people who know the website well so it is on the 'new' side because new users probably would not have an account. According to Kress, this points to the social effects and structure of what is taken for granted by one social group is not taken for granted by the other. Plus, according to Kress, in an ongoing text each 'new' can in turn become 'given' for the next 'new' so it can become an ongoing circle. Therefore, people who know the Armani website well will know they can access their profile in the top right, so it is not new information for them but it is new information for people who don't know they can create an account. 

According to Jewitt, new technologies emphasize visual potentials of writing in ways that bring new configurations of image and writing on screen such as font, bold, italic, colour, layout etc and the Armani website does this well. Furthermore it can be seen in the screenshot below that the further down the welcome page you go they have things of of less importance like signing up the their newsletter and hyperlink prompts to other places on the website as this would not be a top priority for Armani's webpage.  This is similar to the Cardiff Council welcome page because as seen below they are a few more topics which would be of interest to local authorities but also tourist as there is an option to visit Cardiff. There is also a social media page which would be followed by local people to keep up with current affairs. 

In conclusion, it is evident that multimodality is a key feature in create meaning making especially on websites. It has been shown that many of the website adhere to the rules mentioned when discussing 'given' and 'new' information but also how what one social group takes for granted if they already have the information, another will not, therefore it is important. 

References: 

Kress G, Van Leeuwen T. 2019. Reading images: the grammar of visual design. 2nd edition. Routledge. 

Jewitt C. 2005. Multimodality, "Reading" and "Writing" for the 21st Century. University of London. Routledge.