Principles of Visual Communication: 3

Stereotypes: Media

"Media plays a large role in creating social norms, because various forms of media, including advertisements, television, and film, are present almost everywhere in current culture." - Allison Lantagne

Typography: Serif

Serif: Used in the body of a text. This style has small brackets extended from the stem of the letter. Serif makes it

Visual Cues: Depth

Depth is associated with our eyes, because humans have binocular vision (or they are set slightly apart), we can see in three dimensions. Width Length Depth Depth has Eight Characteristics Space Size Color Lighting Texture Interposition Time Perspective

Visual Cues: Form

Dot: Within a framed space dots demands attention. A dot is the smallest unit of form.

Stereotypes: Social Life

In order to create a medium which is universal, understandable and acceptable for numerous and diverse recipients, senders very often use stereotypes, which fill the social life and evoke certain associations. -Malgorzata Wolska ·

Stereotypes: The Brain

People organize their knowledge about the world around them by sorting and simplifying received information.

Visual Cues: Shapes

Shapes are also a type of form and include: A combination of dots and lines forming patterns such as Parallelograms, Circles, and Triangles.

Vision: Sight

Sight involves the physical dynamic of vision and perception—how we understand and filter what has been sensed visually, so that we can identify or understand what we're seeing.

Stereotypes: Ethnicity

Stereotypes in ethnicity are simplified and often misleading representations of an ethnic group compose of what are thought to be typical characteristics. Gypsies: Swindlers Africans: Live in tribes Indians: Poor, rude Pakistani: Terrorists English: Tea drinkers

Visual Cues: Lines

There are several kinds of lines of which all have different effects as visual cues. A line is a continuous collection of dots and affects the eye depending on directional, shape, and scale. Horizontal lines are static Vertical Lines are more dynamic Diagonal Lines are the most active Curved Lines are playful

Stereotypes: Gender

Women wear pink, cook the dinner, and are passive and submissive. Men are portrayed as the bread winners, self confident, and rugged.

Ethics: Art's Response to Audiences

Pragmatic: has a purpose Objective: Creates a World Emotive: sensations and emotions Mimetic: mirrors reality

Visual Society: Martin Irvine

"In cultures so visually over loaded "culturally meaningful visual content appears in multiple forms, and visual content and codes migrate from one form to another." I Print images and graphic design TV and cable TV Film and video in all interfaces and playback/display technologies Computer interfaces and software design Internet/Web as a visual platform Digital multimedia Social Media Advertising in all media (a true cross-media institution) Fine art and photography Fashion Architecture, design, and urban design

Memory and Vision

"People tend to remember about 20 percent of what they read, and only 10 percent of what they hear. In comparison, the same studies have shown that people tend to remember an impressive 80 percent of what they see and do" (Byrom).

Leonardo da Vinci

"The eye, which is called the window of the soul, is the principal means by which the central sense can most completely and abundantly appreciate the infinite works of nature; and the ear is the second, which acquires dignity by hearing of the things the eye has seen." - Leonardo Da Vinci

Heather Beaumont on Visual Culture

"Visual Culture is a created or observed visual representation of our world. In all the ways we are human, we make ways to represent ourselves in a visual way. In the same way, visual culture is as different as we are different.

Why is Visual Communication Important?

"Visual communication plays an important role in everyone's lives, we all watch television, we read newspapers and magazines, and books, and we go to the movies. And we all live in an "information" society where much of the information we consider has a visual nature."

Visual Culture: Nicholas Mizroeff

"Visual culture is concerned with visual events in which information, meaning or pleasure is sought by the consumer in an interface with visual technology."

Visual Society: Instagram

30 billion photos were shared during the first four years of Instagram, the photo-sharing app.

Visual Society: Social Media and Images

53 percent of social media is image-based.

Typography: Picas

A pica is a unit in typography used in measuring the length of a line of type.

Visual Society: Pornography on the Internet

According to the advocacy group, GuardChild, "90% of children ages 8-16 have seen online pornography." In addition, more than 70% of girls and 67% of teens have posted sexually explicit content through social media. At the same time, 20% of teens have sent or posted nude or semi-nude photos or videos of themselves on the Internet or on smart phones.

Aestethics

Aesthetics is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and appreciation of art, beauty and good taste. It has also been defined as "critical reflection on art, culture and nature". Summary: Constructive viewers set about building a framework for looking at works of art, using the most logical and accessible tools: their own perceptions, their knowledge of the natural world, and the values of their social, moral and conventional world.

Aldous Huxley

Aldous (1949), author of Brave New World, believe seeing is a process that can be understood in three separate stages: Sensing Selecting Perceiving The more we see the more we know, the more we know the more we see." - Huxley Visual Communication Circle Dance Sense Select Perceive Remember Learn Know

Persuasion: Aristotle

Aristotle's Modes of Persuasion Ethos refers to your credibility. Pathos refers to emotional appeal. Logos refers to using reason. Kairos refers to the opportune moment. People are often more persuaded at different moments in time than others.

Ethics: The Principle of Respect for autonomy

Autonomy derives from Latin meaning "self-rule" We have an obligation to respect the autonomy of other persons. The principle of human dignity.

Design Principles

Balance: the distribution of visual weight on either side of a vertical axis. Symmetrical balance is perceived as orderly and stable, while asymmetrical or axial balance places and emphasis more to one side. Color: Color is extremely important in design because it has an impact on human emotions. In addition, color is used to direct the eye across the page or screen. Harmony: Refers to the overall flow and eye-pleasing composition of a design. Contrast: Noted earlier, contrast refers to the difference between light and dark, but it can also signify scale such as two elements that contrast in size or shape. Proportion: Refers to the spatial relationship between objects placed in a design. Proportion derives from mathematics and is found in nature. Basically, proportion states that 1/3 of a frame as a relationship to 2/3 of the frame as 2/3 relates to the whole. This is very much the essence of gestalt theory where the whole is always greater in meaning than the sum of its parts. Emphasis: Refers to the focal point of a design. It is the placement of an element that stands out from everything else

Design: Blue

Blue affects us physically and mentally * Calming and sedate * Cooling * Aids intuition

Design: Emotional Response to Color

Color responses are more tied to a man's emotions than to his intellect. In general. People do not respond to color with their minds. - Deborah Sharp.

Visual Society: Surveillance Cameras

Closed-Circuit television and webcams have helped cut down on crime, but in exchange there are few places we can go to escape them, especially in big cities. In Beijing, China currently has more than 450,000 surveillance cameras installed, according to the Beijing Security and Protection Industry Association (BSPIA). At Chicago's O'Hare airport there are reportedly some 1,000 CCT camera, and another 17,000 in the city. Chicago Public School also have the distinction of having the most surveillance cameras in the country with more than 4,000 installed.

Visual Cues: Color

Color is a visual attribute of things that results from the light they emit or transmit or reflect.

Design: Contrast

Contrast is a design principle which is defined by the difference between light falling on the dark areas of a scene and the amount of light falling on the highlight areas of a scene. Contrast is a dynamic part of any design

Design: Cooler Colors in Design

Cool colors induce relaxation and a soothing effect, whereas warm colors excite and attract attention.

Visual Cues are Sensory

Cues are SENSORY meaning attributes such as color, motion, depth or form stimulate the eye and cause us to focus on something. Sensory perception happens at the unconscious level. A "visual" cue is actually just one of several sensory cues. When we say sensory we are talking about all of our senses: taste, touch, seeing, hearing, and smelling. Visual cues are linked to perception through sensing, selecting, and perceiving. In the case of visual cues, the brain is attracted to these factors but not fully mindful of them yet. Basically, we are working on the sensing and selecting levels.

Design: Secondary Colors

Cyan, Magenta and Yellow

Design: Color and Computers

Designers are cautious with color because what we see on the screen with our eyes will not be what can be printed. A computer screen produces 16 million colors. A printing press can only produce 6,000 colors.

Design: Less is More

Designers are concerned with the most effective way to get the message our clearly and cleanly. This often means that for designers "less" is always more.

Ethics: Decision Making

Ethical decision-making "aims to help us determine what is the right or better thing to do in particular situations" (McKinnon).

Ethics: Definition

Ethics are a set of values or principles held by individuals or groups. Some definitions state ethics as: A system of moral principles and rules that becomes standards for professional conduct. Conforming to the accepted professional standards of conduct.

Visual Cues: Form as a visual cue

Form are visual attributes the eye distinguishes first such as DOTS, LINES, and SHAPES

Gestalt:

GESTALT Theory suggests Human perception is the result of all your sensory organs gathering. Information received by the brain is organized in patterns, selectively combine elements into a collective grouping. The core idea behind Gestalt theory is the Whole is greater than the sum of its parts. There are six Gestalt Principles" Figure/Ground Proximity Similarity Continuation Common Fate Closure

Graphic Design Definition

Graphic Design refers to the arrangement of visual elements on a page or screen that attracts and holds a viewer's attention for a specific purpose such as to inform, persuade, sell, or entertain. In this example you can see a preliminary design I made for a theatre poster. Graphic design is a process that takes into account visual elements, color, size, shape and weight.

Stuart Hall on Visual Culture

Hall believes, "Culture is concerned with the production and exchange of meanings - the giving and taking of meaning - between the members of a society or group."

Design: Color affects Emotion

Human perception of color is hardly a quantifiable element, linked as it is to individual experience and emotion.

The role light plays in vision

Light enters through the cornea which focuses the electromagnetic energy toward the back of the eye and onto the retina. Millions of light sensitive nerve cells collect the signals and channel it through the optic nerve to the brain where it processes in various regions.

Three Types of Visual Messages: 3. Mediated

Mediated: Refers to images created by someone such as in art, photography, motion pictures, or social medi

Three Types of Visual Messages: 2. Mental

Mental: Mental visual messages are images we hold in our mind such as dreams or fantasies. The visual world is an interpretation of reality but not reality itself. It is an image created in the brain, formed by an integration of immediate multi-sensory information, prior experience, and cultural learning.

Design: Monochromatic Color

Monochromatic color is the simplest approach to color harmony because it is constructed from different values of the same color.

How people respond to what they see.

People respond to the world in two very different ways. First, we think, feel and act toward the physical world through our senses -- something we call reality. Secondly, we also respond to these sensations by converting the things we see (visual messages) into abstract ideas and thoughts -- something we call imagination. T

Visual Perception

Perception is the process of becoming conscious of visual stimuli. Perception reveals how objects reflecting light into the eye makes us want to either be closer to something or run away from something. Somewhere along the evolutionary time line, human beings developed binocular vision that allows us to focus on one object for long periods of time.

Human Eye: Photo Receptors

Photoreceptors are neurons specialized to detect light. The detection occurs in the outer segment, a membranous structure where light absorbing proteins are embedded. There are two major types of photoreceptors in most vertebrate eyes, rods and cones.

Design: Primary vs. Secondary

Primary Colors: Red, Green, and Blue Equal amounts of red, green and blue light will produce white. (ADDITIVE) Secondary Colors: Formed by mixing RGB R + B = Magenta R + G = Yellow B + G = Cyan Complementary Colors: Any two colors that when mixed produce white light. M + G = W, C + R = W, Yellow + B = W

Design: Chiaroscuro

Refers to a style of painting that renders images using strong highlights and deep shadows. The renaissance painter Caravaggio is known for his use of Chiaroscuro in many of his greatest painting such as this one of St. Thomas and Jesus. At the same time this technique is commonly found in cinematography and photography.

Typography: Point Size

Refers to how the size of a letter is measured in points. There are 72 points in 1 inch. Most body copy is between 8-12 points, while display type runs between 18-35 or larger.

Design: Saturation

Refers to the intensity and purity of a color. Abstract artists such as Andy Warhol use a lot of saturation.

Design: Value or Luminance

Refers to the lightness or darkness of a color.

Typography: Readability

Refers to the overall clarity of the message in terms of type size, tracking, kerning, leading and line length.

Typography: Leading

Refers to the space between the lines of type. .

Typography: Kerning

Refers to the space between two letters.

Typography: Tracking

Refers to the uniform space between letters on a line of type.

Rods and Cones in the Human Eye

Rods are very sensitive but slow and their response saturates at light levels where cones function optimally. Rods capture on light in black and white. There are more than 118 million rods, which help with night vision Cones are less sensitive but are fast and can adapt to the brightest lights, being almost impossible to saturate. There are just 7 million cones, which are responsible for color. The cone cells have specific task which is to collect one of three colors - red, green, or blue. Combined RGB produces white.

Typography: Sans Serif

Sans Serif has no brackets on the stems and it is used to communicate messages at some distance such as posters or billboards. San Serifs are also called display type.

Visual Perception: Making Sense of Images

Sensing The act of seeing involves a response to light - the presence of light or the absence of light reveals "the substance by which man fashions and devises what he recognizes and identifies in the environment: elements: line, color, shape, direction, texture, scale, dimension, motion. Selecting To select is to focus and look at a specific part of a scene within the enormous frame of possibilities that sensing offers. Perceiving Sensing and selecting leads us to an intent to understand the things we are looking at. Visual perceptual means making sense of the things we see.

Visual Society: Stereotypes of Black Athletes

Stereotypes in the media are common, especially in the depiction of black athletes. In a recent study University of Missouri researcher Cynthia Frisby found 53 percent of stories involving black athletes were negative.

Design: Yellow

Symbolizes optimism, enlightenment, and happiness. Shades of golden yellow carry the promise of a positive future.

Ethics: Four fundamental ethical principles

The Principle of Respect for autonomy The Principle of Beneficence The Principle of nonmaleficence The Principle of justice

Visual Society: Emoticons

The Tears of Joy emoji was named the Word of the Year by the Oxford English Dictionary.

The act of seeing

The act of seeing is a process of discernment and judgment. At the same time, seeing and making images are interdependent. The act of seeing involves a response to light - the presence of light or the absence of light reveals "the substance by which man fashions and devises what he recognizes and identifies in the environment: elements: line, color, shape, direction, texture, scale, dimension, motion.

The Human Eye and Perception

The eye is an extremely complex organ. As light travels through the eye to the brain, the retina, a net of approximately 125 million photoreceptors, acts as a starting point for a series of chemical reactions in the image making process

How the eye scans a scene

The eye scans through what is known as saccades or rapid movement around a scene - noticing patterns, movement, color, contrast, and lighting. At the same time, stimuli can be focused on for a longer period through the process of fixation.

Vision

The human eye is the second most complex organ next to the brain in the body. It is estimated that the eye receives more than 36,000 visual messages per hour. Although 90 percent of all sensory information comes through our vision, we only make sense of 10 percent of it.

Visual Persuasion: Superiority Effect

The images that surround us affect how we think and how we act. Picture Superiority Effect - picture are more easily recognized and recalled than words.

Perspective

The most complex depth factor is perspective because it is part brain function and part learned behavior. For example, Trompe l'oeil is an art technique involving realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects exist in three dimensions.

Design: Red

The most emotionally intense color, red stimulates a faster heartbeat and breathing. It is also the color of love. Red clothing gets noticed and makes the wearer appear heavier. Since it is an extreme color, red clothing might not help people in negotiations or confrontations. Red cars are popular targets for thieves. In decorating, red is usually used as an accent. Decorators say that red furniture should be perfect since it will attract attention.

Typography: Definition

The style, arrangement, or appearance of printed letters on a page used in the production written material in print or the web.

Design: Hue

The term hue is derived from the ancient Gothic word hiwi, which means "to show." Basically, the term hue is interchangeable with color. It designates the color. Blue. Red. Turquoise.

Visual Culture and Visual Messages

The visual messages we received and send to each other shape the ways in which we interact, understand the world around us and express ourselves.

Typography: Type Styles

There are six different styles of Types that are used for different purposes. Serif Sans Serif Slab or Square Serif Script Novelty Black Letter

Why visual messages are important in social media and advertising.

There are three primary advantages to using visual messages over other forms of communication today. IMMEDIACY: "One of the primary benefits of visual communication over verbal is immediacy." SIMPLICITY: "Visual communication can also demonstrate the relationship between two entities or ideas in accessible ways." FLEXIBILITY: "Visual communication can also be more flexible in many ways than verbal communication. Visual communication not only can bridge geographic distance, it also can span cultural differences."

Design: Measuring Color

There are three ways to describe color: Objective: This is a measurement of the quality and quantity of light. We can measure light in Kelvin, a temperature scale. The higher the Kelvin temperature the cooler the light. For example, dayline is about 6,000 Kelvin, while a candle might burn at 1,500 Kelvin. In addition, a histogram on a camera displaying data on a digital scale from 0 or black to 255 of white is another type of objective descriptive. Subjective: Just like is sounds, describing color is a matter of how you see even when two people disagree on what color something might actually be. Comparative: Refers to the way people describe color in relationship to something else. For example, the fire engine is cherry red or the sky is robin's egg blue.

How Visual Communication Works

Visual Communication is done indirectly through symbolic means: words, and signs, and symbols. Matt Byrom contends, "Visual communication is described as the conveyance of information and ideas in forms that can be read or looked upon."

Visual Society: Video on the Internet

This year, 74 percent of all internet traffic with will be in video. More than 8 billion viewers watch video on Facebook daily.

Visual Society: Surveillance Culture

Today, we need to ask how surveillance intersects with visual culture. On one hand, government surveillance and policing practices impinge on privacy, while on the other hand its purpose is to make us feel more secure. In 2007, Careerbuilder. com reported 45% of employers use online search engines and social-networking sites to investigate potential employees. Your digital footprint is bigger than you think and it won't disappear easily or soon.

Visual Communication

Visual Communication refers to the conveyance and reception of visual messages from eye to brain. It is also a multi-discipline field of study that incorporate sensory experience, aesthetic appreciation, and perceptual analysis

Visual Cues: Definition

Visual Cues are ATTRIBUTES Associated with the things we select out such as form, movement, color and depth.

Visual Society: Messaris on Literacy

Visual Literacy is: 1) prerequisite for understanding visual media (2) general enhancement of cognitive skills (3) awareness of visual manipulation (4) the aesthetic appreciation of visual messages.

Visual messages and Memory

Visual Messages are part of a repertoire of memories. "Pictures weave themselves into your memory system, sometimes lying dormant for years. The brain deliberately sorts and selects images for long-term memory" (Optimal Environments).

Literal and Symbolic Visual Messages

Visual Messages can be produce meanings that are literal in one sense and symbolic in other ways. Literal Meanings: factual, plain, simple, exact, straightforward; unembellished, undistorted; objective, correct, true, accurate, genuine, authentic. Symbolic Meanings: figurative, representative, illustrative, emblematic, metaphorical, allegorical, allusive, suggestive; meaningful, significant.

Three Types of Visual Messages: 1. Direct

Visual Messages refer to three types of images: Direct: Anything we physically look at are considered direct visual messages. Light coming in through a window, sitting on the beach watching the sun set, or driving a car require vision and the ability to see directly.

What visual message represent in a cultural context

Visual Messages reflect: Cultural Values Ethnic Traditional Rituals and Rites Information Group and Self Identity Societal norms Authority and control

Visual Culture

Visual images are potent mediators of the "lived experience." The way in which a picture is described, explained or analyzed reflects the influence of culture on the individual. Further, we learn the language of the visual world through our experiences.

Visual literacy Definition

Visual literacy is the ability to create and consume visual messages through critical thinking, aesthetic appreciation, and common sense. People who understand the influence of visual messages on society are considered to be visually literate

Visual Society: Impact of Media Images on body satisfaction in women

Visual literacy makes us aware of the impact of media images on society such as studies showing how women and young girls are dissatisfied with body size after exposure cultural ideals in the media. A survey by the National Organization of Women (2011) found only 12.2% of women were satisfied with how they looked. Media often portray women and although body satisfaction is determined by multiple factors, visually mediated messages do affect how people feel about themselves

Design: Warmer Colors in Design

Warmer colors—yellow, orange, and red—are projective and tend to advance in a layout, while cool colors—green, blue, and purple—tend to recede.

Ethics: The Principle of nonmaleficence

We have an obligation not to harm others: "First, do no harm." Where harm cannot be avoided, we are obligated to minimize the harm we do.

Ethics: The Principle of Beneficence

We have an obligation to bring about good in all our actions. We must take positive steps to prevent harm.

Ethics: The Principle of justice

We have an obligation to provide others with whatever they are owed or deserve. In public life, we have an obligation to treat all people equally, fairly, and impartially.

Design: The Weight of Color

We often describe color in terms of visual weight or the way people respond to certain combinations in a design. Darker colors weigh more than lighter colors Larger objects weigh more than smaller ones. Primary Colors weigh more than secondary colors. More saturation in a color equals more weight. Vertical lines weigh more than horizontal. Diagonal lines and shapes more than vertical and horizontal. Color weighs more than black and white. More contrast more weight.

Design: Primary Colors

Yellow, red, and blue are the three primary colors; all other colors may be created from them.

Visual Persuasion: Motion Pictures

• May convince viewers that a subjective interpretation of events is and objective recounting of the facts • May desensitize people o violent or aggressive behavior Movies, American movies in particular, export western values around the globe • Movies can promote prosocial values • Movies persuade by promoting popular culture both within and outside the United States; cinema is a major vehicle for the dissemination of fads, fashions, and trends • Movies persuade by modeling behaviors - social cognitive theory • Movies persuade by promoting viewer identification • Cinema shapes public perceptions by fostering or perpetuating stereotypes

Visual Persuasion: News Photography

• Photographs can make powerful statements; they can affect people's perceptions of events; they can reach people on an emotional levels in ways that words alone cannot. • Photos can sum up social problems or controversies; they can document events in the ways that words cannot. • Owing to their iconicity, photographs cement themselves in the public's mind' they function as touchstones that capture entire events in our collective conscience.

Visual Persuasion: Shock Ads

• Shock ads, or "shockvertising" push the boundaries of taste and propriety; the goal is to sell products by being edgy; some shock adds are vulgar, erotic, humorous, or nauseating; "in you face" style of advertising • Shock ads seek to cut through media clutter by provoking controversy and garnering attention • Shocking content in an advertisement significantly increases attention, benefits memory, and positively influences behavior