Visual communication
Encyclopedia
Visual communication as the name suggests is communication
through visual aid and is described as the conveyance of ideas and information in forms that can be read or looked upon. Visual communication in part or whole relies on vision, and is primarily presented or expressed with two dimensional
images, it includes: signs
, typography
, drawing
, graphic design
, illustration
, colour and electronic resources. It also explores the idea that a visual message accompanying text has a greater power to inform, educate, or persuade a person or audience.
images, there are other ways to express information visually - gestures and body language, animation (digital or analogue), and film. Visual communication by e-mail
, a textual medium, is commonly expressed with ASCII art
, emoticon
s, and embedded digital image
s.
The term 'visual presentation' is used to refer to the actual presentation of information through a visible medium such as text or images. Recent research in the field has focused on web design
and graphically-oriented usability. Graphic designers also use methods of visual communication in their professional practice. Visual communication on the World Wide Web
is perhaps the most important form of communication that takes place while users are surfing the Internet. When experiencing the web, one uses the eyes as the primary sense, and therefore the visual presentation of a website is very important for users to understand the message or of the communication taking place.
The Eye of Horus
is often referred to as the symbol of visual communication. It is said to be a representation of an eclipse, as the corona around the pupil is like the corona around the sun during a solar eclipse.
is highly regarded as one of the most prominent explorers of visual communication and sight-related theories. Becoming near-blind in his teen years as the result of an illness set the stage for what would make him one of the most intellectual people to have ever explored visual communication. His work includes important novels on the dehumanizing aspects of scientific progress, most famously Brave New World
and The Art of Seeing
. He described "seeing" as being the sum of sensing, selecting, and perceiving. One of his most famous quotes is "The more you see, the more you know."
Max Wertheimer
is said to be the father of Gestalt psychology
. Gestalt means form or shape in German, and the study of Gestalt Psychology show emphasis in simplicity, as its properties group visuals by similarity in shape or color and proximity. Looking for continuation, closure, and figure-ground principles in studied images is also intensively taught.
, aesthetics, natural reading patterns, design principles, semiotics
, persuasion, camera/filming actions and image-types, and so forth. Colleges for visual communications differ in their approach. Good schools share a variety of stylistic era's as well as current usage. Less effective college programs neglect technical writing as a base for creative brainstorming, creative group collaborations and client consulting for relevant actionable aesthetics that fit the clients needs. Skilled students may feel unchallenged without these studies inside the classroom and may find writing to better substitute their creative goals. If you are good with aesthetics you need conceptual and client skills to enjoy a long term career.
Visual communication is effected through pictures, graphs
and chart
s, as well as through sign
s, signals and symbol
s. They may used either independently or as an adjunct to the other methods of communication..
The course subjects includes -
Photography, Visual literacy, Film script writing, Film aesthetics and mechanism, Designing(2d, animation, flash, .html, photoshop, Coral draw, IT fundamentals, Film editing both in Pro and FCP, Television Production,Communications Models and theories, Human Communications, Research methodology, Media research Orientation, Semeotics.All these come under theory.
The Practicals include the photography(Topics give on various types like pattern,texture etc in the beginning,Fashion-wild life-geographical-travel etc and their sub groups later)Desging of logos,ad making,ad designing,Making short-films,News reading and news making,painting,News collection and news presenting both in electronic and Print media,Ad making,Acting,Campaigns on society related issues.
• Personal perspective:
When a viewer has an opinion about an image based on their personal thoughts. Personal response depends on the viewer’s thoughts and values individually. This might be sometimes in conflict with cultural values. Also when a viewer has viewed an image with a personal perspective, it is than hard to change the view of the image on the viewer, even the image also can be seen in other ways.
• Historical perspective:
An image’s view can be arising from the history of the use media. Through times sort images have been changed, because the use of different (new) media. For example: The result of using the computer to edit images (e.g. Photoshop) is quite different when comparing images that are made and edited by craft.
• Technical perspective:
When the view of an image is influenced by the use of lights, position and the presentation of the image. The right use of light, position and presentation of the image can improve the view of the image. It makes the image looks better than the reality.
• Ethical perspective:
From this perspective, the maker of the image, the viewer and the image itself must be responsible morally and ethically to the image. This perspective is also categorized in six categories: categorical imperative, utilitarianism, hedonism, golden mean, golden rule and veil of ignorance.
• Cultural perspective:
Symbolization is an important definition for this perspective. Cultural perspective involves identity of symbols. The uses of words that are related with the image, the use of heroes in the image, etc. are the symbolization of the image. The cultural perspective can also be seen as the semiotic perspective.
• Critical perspective:
The view of images in the critical perspective is when the viewers criticise the images, but the critics have been made in interests of the society, although an individual makes the critics. This way this perspective differs from the personal perspective.
Communication
Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
through visual aid and is described as the conveyance of ideas and information in forms that can be read or looked upon. Visual communication in part or whole relies on vision, and is primarily presented or expressed with two dimensional
Dimension
In physics and mathematics, the dimension of a space or object is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any point within it. Thus a line has a dimension of one because only one coordinate is needed to specify a point on it...
images, it includes: signs
Signs
Signs is the plural of sign. See sign .Signs may also refer to:*Signs , a 2002 film by M. Night Shyamalan*Signs , a journal of women's studies...
, typography
Typography
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading , adjusting the spaces between groups of letters and adjusting the space between pairs of letters...
, drawing
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
, graphic design
Graphic design
Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...
, illustration
Illustration
An illustration is a displayed visualization form presented as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that is created to elucidate or dictate sensual information by providing a visual representation graphically.- Early history :The earliest forms of illustration were prehistoric...
, colour and electronic resources. It also explores the idea that a visual message accompanying text has a greater power to inform, educate, or persuade a person or audience.
Overview
The evaluation of a good visual communication design is mainly based on measuring comprehension by the audience, not on personal aesthetic and/or artistic preference as there are no universally agreed-upon principles of beauty and ugliness. Excluding two dimensionalDimension
In physics and mathematics, the dimension of a space or object is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any point within it. Thus a line has a dimension of one because only one coordinate is needed to specify a point on it...
images, there are other ways to express information visually - gestures and body language, animation (digital or analogue), and film. Visual communication by e-mail
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
, a textual medium, is commonly expressed with ASCII art
ASCII art
ASCII art is a graphic design technique that uses computers for presentation and consists of pictures pieced together from the 95 printable characters defined by the ASCII Standard from 1963 and ASCII compliant character sets with proprietary extended characters...
, emoticon
Emoticon
An emoticon is a facial expression pictorially represented by punctuation and letters, usually to express a writer’s mood. Emoticons are often used to alert a responder to the tenor or temper of a statement, and can change and improve interpretation of plain text. The word is a portmanteau word...
s, and embedded digital image
Digital image
A digital image is a numeric representation of a two-dimensional image. Depending on whether or not the image resolution is fixed, it may be of vector or raster type...
s.
Web design
Web design is the process of planning and creating a website. Text, images, digital media and interactive elements are used by web designers to produce the page seen on the web browser...
and graphically-oriented usability. Graphic designers also use methods of visual communication in their professional practice. Visual communication on the World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
is perhaps the most important form of communication that takes place while users are surfing the Internet. When experiencing the web, one uses the eyes as the primary sense, and therefore the visual presentation of a website is very important for users to understand the message or of the communication taking place.
The Eye of Horus
Eye of Horus
The Eye of Horus is an ancient Egyptian symbol of protection, royal power and good health. The eye is personified in the goddess Wadjet...
is often referred to as the symbol of visual communication. It is said to be a representation of an eclipse, as the corona around the pupil is like the corona around the sun during a solar eclipse.
Important figures
Aldous HuxleyAldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Best known for his novels including Brave New World and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel...
is highly regarded as one of the most prominent explorers of visual communication and sight-related theories. Becoming near-blind in his teen years as the result of an illness set the stage for what would make him one of the most intellectual people to have ever explored visual communication. His work includes important novels on the dehumanizing aspects of scientific progress, most famously Brave New World
Brave New World
Brave New World is Aldous Huxley's fifth novel, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Set in London of AD 2540 , the novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology and sleep-learning that combine to change society. The future society is an embodiment of the ideals that form the basis of...
and The Art of Seeing
The Art of Seeing
The Art of Seeing is a 1942 book by Aldous Huxley, which details his experience with and views on the controversial Bates method, which Huxley believed improved his eyesight.-Huxley’s own sight:...
. He described "seeing" as being the sum of sensing, selecting, and perceiving. One of his most famous quotes is "The more you see, the more you know."
Max Wertheimer
Max Wertheimer
- External links :* * * * *...
is said to be the father of Gestalt psychology
Gestalt psychology
Gestalt psychology or gestaltism is a theory of mind and brain of the Berlin School; the operational principle of gestalt psychology is that the brain is holistic, parallel, and analog, with self-organizing tendencies...
. Gestalt means form or shape in German, and the study of Gestalt Psychology show emphasis in simplicity, as its properties group visuals by similarity in shape or color and proximity. Looking for continuation, closure, and figure-ground principles in studied images is also intensively taught.
Study of visual communication
Students studying visual communication are taught the basic physics of light, anatomy and physiology of the eye, cognitive and perception theories, color theories, Gestalt psychologyGestalt psychology
Gestalt psychology or gestaltism is a theory of mind and brain of the Berlin School; the operational principle of gestalt psychology is that the brain is holistic, parallel, and analog, with self-organizing tendencies...
, aesthetics, natural reading patterns, design principles, semiotics
Semiotics
Semiotics, also called semiotic studies or semiology, is the study of signs and sign processes , indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication...
, persuasion, camera/filming actions and image-types, and so forth. Colleges for visual communications differ in their approach. Good schools share a variety of stylistic era's as well as current usage. Less effective college programs neglect technical writing as a base for creative brainstorming, creative group collaborations and client consulting for relevant actionable aesthetics that fit the clients needs. Skilled students may feel unchallenged without these studies inside the classroom and may find writing to better substitute their creative goals. If you are good with aesthetics you need conceptual and client skills to enjoy a long term career.
Visual communication is effected through pictures, graphs
Information graphics
Information graphics or infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge. These graphics present complex information quickly and clearly, such as in signs, maps, journalism, technical writing, and education...
and chart
Chart
A chart is a graphical representation of data, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart"...
s, as well as through sign
Sign
A sign is something that implies a connection between itself and its object. A natural sign bears a causal relation to its object—for instance, thunder is a sign of storm. A conventional sign signifies by agreement, as a full stop signifies the end of a sentence...
s, signals and symbol
Symbol
A symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...
s. They may used either independently or as an adjunct to the other methods of communication..
The course subjects includes -
Photography, Visual literacy, Film script writing, Film aesthetics and mechanism, Designing(2d, animation, flash, .html, photoshop, Coral draw, IT fundamentals, Film editing both in Pro and FCP, Television Production,Communications Models and theories, Human Communications, Research methodology, Media research Orientation, Semeotics.All these come under theory.
The Practicals include the photography(Topics give on various types like pattern,texture etc in the beginning,Fashion-wild life-geographical-travel etc and their sub groups later)Desging of logos,ad making,ad designing,Making short-films,News reading and news making,painting,News collection and news presenting both in electronic and Print media,Ad making,Acting,Campaigns on society related issues.
Visual communication: Image analysis
Visual communication contains image aspects. The interpretation of images is subjective and to understand the depth of meaning, or multiple meanings, communicated in an image requires analysis. Images can be analysed though many perspectives, for example these six major perspectives presented by Paul Martin Lester:• Personal perspective:
When a viewer has an opinion about an image based on their personal thoughts. Personal response depends on the viewer’s thoughts and values individually. This might be sometimes in conflict with cultural values. Also when a viewer has viewed an image with a personal perspective, it is than hard to change the view of the image on the viewer, even the image also can be seen in other ways.
• Historical perspective:
An image’s view can be arising from the history of the use media. Through times sort images have been changed, because the use of different (new) media. For example: The result of using the computer to edit images (e.g. Photoshop) is quite different when comparing images that are made and edited by craft.
• Technical perspective:
When the view of an image is influenced by the use of lights, position and the presentation of the image. The right use of light, position and presentation of the image can improve the view of the image. It makes the image looks better than the reality.
• Ethical perspective:
From this perspective, the maker of the image, the viewer and the image itself must be responsible morally and ethically to the image. This perspective is also categorized in six categories: categorical imperative, utilitarianism, hedonism, golden mean, golden rule and veil of ignorance.
• Cultural perspective:
Symbolization is an important definition for this perspective. Cultural perspective involves identity of symbols. The uses of words that are related with the image, the use of heroes in the image, etc. are the symbolization of the image. The cultural perspective can also be seen as the semiotic perspective.
• Critical perspective:
The view of images in the critical perspective is when the viewers criticise the images, but the critics have been made in interests of the society, although an individual makes the critics. This way this perspective differs from the personal perspective.
See also
- AdvertisingAdvertisingAdvertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
- Art DirectorArt directorThe art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
- PhotographyPhotographyPhotography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
- FilmFilmA film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
- Graphic DesignGraphic designGraphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...
- IllustrationIllustrationAn illustration is a displayed visualization form presented as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that is created to elucidate or dictate sensual information by providing a visual representation graphically.- Early history :The earliest forms of illustration were prehistoric...
- SemanticsSemanticsSemantics is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata....
- Sign industry
- TelepresenceTelepresenceTelepresence refers to a set of technologies which allow a person to feel as if they were present, to give the appearance of being present, or to have an effect, via telerobotics, at a place other than their true location....
- TypographyTypographyTypography is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading , adjusting the spaces between groups of letters and adjusting the space between pairs of letters...
- Videoconference
- Visual cultureVisual cultureVisual Culture as an academic subject is a field of study that generally includes some combination of cultural studies, art history, critical theory, philosophy, and anthropology, by focusing on aspects of culture that rely on visual images.- Overview :...
- Visual design