Research on Digital Media Installations of Emotional Interaction Based on Visual Communication Design

Many studies have highlighted how digital media installations encourage sensory engagement, fostering emotional connections with audiences. However, scant literature delves into the profound emotions within these installations or whether viewers can extract emotional worth from the visual components. Consequently, this study aims to explore the emotional interaction between digital media installations and viewers and how viewers can derive emotional value from them, based on the perspective of visual communication design. This study encompasses two primary objectives: firstly, analysing digital media installations that can be experienced in person, focusing on the visual elements in the installations to capture emotional interaction and value; secondly, probing the correlation between the level of visual design and the emotional interplay between viewers and the underlying concepts intended by the artist's creation. Data collection employed three techniques, with participants categorized based on artistic and non-artistic backgrounds. Firstly, using cyber ethnography on the Instagram platform, posts and comments related to the target digital media installation of the study were observed to analyse their sentiments towards the corresponding work. Subsequently, 10 local London participants were recruited on WeChat for an on-site experience of the digital media installations, followed by semi-structured interviews conducted by the researcher to explore their assessments of emotional interactions and values elicited by specific visual elements within the installations. Finally, participants engaged in a drawing workshop, providing a more direct avenue to visualize emotions and delve deeper into the emotional value of the digital media installation from the viewer's perspective. The findings reveal that visual elements in digital media installations can help viewers understand the concept of the work and interact emotionally, with generating emotional value depending more on whether the conceptual mood of the work preset by the artist is positive or not. This essay provides a comprehensive literature review concerning the connections among digital media installations, visual communication design components, emotional interactions, and emotional values. In addition, Chapter Three describes three methods of research design and data collection: cyber ethnography, semi-structured interviews and drawing workshops. Chapter Four describes the main research findings while Chapter Five merges these findings with theoretical literature for a critical discussion and analysis. Finally, Chapter Six summarises the main findings, limitations and recommendations for future research.