PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION

Learning from Home Series 2021 – 2022

Lesson 2:
Visual Communication - Evaluating Types
of Visual Texts

Plug in and Chat…

Interactive Lecture. Participate in the discussion of the key concepts about visual
communication.

What Is Visual Communication?

From eztalks.com 2020
Visual communication is something that can be achieved through sight. It can be anything like eye contact,
map, chart, facial expression, signals, and poster. You can also include the graphics, books, animation,
illustration, painting, interactive web design, advertising, and the short film. All these come with a message
in a beautiful way. These can be more impressive than the words.
Definition of Visual Communication
Visual communication is a way of the communication that people get through the reading or seeing. As
mentioned earlier, it can be anything that shows a message. It expresses an idea and gives a piece of
information with the use of the different signs, gestures, postures, and anything that can be expressible. It
comes with an impressive power to inform and educate a person or groups. Just imagine while driving on
an unknown road, we keep asking the people about the destination. But if you have a medium of visual
communication like a map, you can simply find out the way without any help. You can say that visual
communication can be anything that expresses the things in a beautiful and understandable manner.
People rely more on the different forms of visual communication than the verbal communication as they
get all the details with the signs and symbols.
History of Visual Communication
The history of visual communication can be traced back to a time when the writing was not invented. During
that phase, people were relying on the paintings preserved in the caves and rocks. It dates back more than
40, 000 years ago. It was a part of the life of the people who were unknown to the writing and alphabets.
In brief, it can be said that visual communication is an integral part of the human existence. Before the
invention of the writing, people were relying on this traditional method of the communication to
communicate with each other.
The invention of the alphabets created a new history in the ear of communication. It really made easier for
the people to communicate with each other in a written way. After that, the books were being published
and then we entered into an area where many technologies are incorporated to make the communication
much easier than ever, this is the era of computer. In this area also, visualization has also a great role to
play.
In the history, you will get many signs of visualization. These were mostly available in the rocks and caves.
When Cro-Magnons arrived in Europe 40, 000 years back, they have bought sculptures, body
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ornamentation, engravings, and many more things that reflect the origin of the visual communication. They
had also the paintings of the wild animals and many abstract paintings that reveal the thought process of
the human being of that period.
They also used the graphical symbols or the Ideograms to express their emotion. They used these symbols
to express a particular incident and to show any emotion. They were more comfortable with this medium
of the communication as they were not familiar with the alphabet and languages. They communicated
through the gestures, painting, signs, and symbols.
Conclusion
Visual communication is a good combination of words, pictures, photography, symbols, and signs. These
are more expressive and can be used both in the personal and professional levels. There are many
advantages of visual communication in business in the current world. In fact, now these mediums are
widely used in different types of the industries. People are using these tools to promote their business and
to express their view in a unique and beautiful manner. It has been widely used in different communication
tools including traditional and modern. Moreover, you can start a career with this communication medium
and start to earn a huge due to its better-earning potential.

What Is Visual Text?

Visual texts are images or pictures that don't move. They may or may not have words that add to the
meaning. Visual texts are texts that are mediated through film, video, advertising, gaming and the Internet.
The ability to interpret and make meaning from color, line, format, light, texture and shape is important.
Types of Visual Texts
An advertisement is paid, non-personal, public communication about causes, goods and services, ideas,
organizations, people, and places, through means such as direct mail, telephone, print, radio, television,
and internet. An advertisement aims to change the thinking pattern (or buying behavior) of the recipient,
so that he or she is persuaded to take the action desired by the advertiser. When aired on radio or
television, an advertisement is called a commercial. (Business Dictionary)
A billboard is large outdoor advertisement (usually 12 feet x 25 feet) for which rent is charged according
to three factors: (1) the amount of traffic that passes its location, (2) its visibility, and (3) its size. (Business
Dictionary)
A poster is a large, usually printed placard, bill, or announcement, often illustrated, that is posted to
advertise or publicize something. (The Free Dictionary)
A painting the final work of product of the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a
solid surface called the "matrix" or "support" (Merriam-Webster). The medium is commonly applied to the
base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and airbrushes, can be used. The
support for paintings includes such surfaces as walls, paper, canvas, wood, glass, lacquer, pottery, leaf,
copper and concrete, and the painting may incorporate multiple other materials, including sand, clay,
paper, plaster, gold leaf, and even whole objects.
A drawing is the art or technique of producing images on a surface, usually paper, by means of marks,
usually of ink, graphite, chalk, charcoal, or crayon. Drawing as formal artistic creation might be defined as
the primarily linear rendition of objects in the visible world, as well as of concepts, thoughts, attitudes,
emotions, and fantasies given visual form, of symbols and even of abstract forms. (Encyclopedia
Britannica)
A comic strip is a series of adjacent drawn images, usually arranged horizontally, that are designed to be
read as a narrative or a chronological sequence. The story is usually original in this form. Words may be
introduced within or near each image, or they may be dispensed with altogether. The comic strip is
essentially a mass medium, printed in a magazine, a newspaper, or a book. (Encyclopedia Britannica)

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A cartoon is a type of illustration, sometimes animated, typically in a non-realistic or semi-realistic style.
The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or
series of images intended for satire, caricature, or humor; or a motion picture that relies on a sequence of
illustrations for its animation.
An infographic is “a visual representation of information or data” (Oxford English Dictionary). In essence,
an infographic is a form of visual communication meant to capture attention and enhance comprehension
(columnfivemedia.com). It is a collection of imagery, charts, and minimal text that gives an easy-to-
understand overview of a topic. An infographic uses striking, engaging visuals to communicate information
quickly and clearly.
A meme is an amusing or interesting item (such as a captioned picture or video) or genre of items that is
spread widely online especially through social media (Merriam-Webster).

Formal Visual Analysis: The Elements and Principles of Composition

From John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Formal analysis is an important technique for organizing visual information. In other words, it is a strategy
used to translate what you see into written words. This strategy can be applied to any work of art, from any
period in history, whether a photograph, sculpture, painting or cultural artifact.
In any work of art, all of these elements and principles will be present, but some will be more obvious than
others. When engaging in formal analysis, students should select the elements they feel are most strongly
represented in the piece they are analyzing.
A good place to start formal analysis is to look at a work of art and take note of how your eye moves around
the object. Where does your eye go first, and why were you attracted to that part of the image? What
colors, textures, and shapes appear in the image? What did the artist include in the composition to guide
your eye or to direct your gaze to a certain part of the image?
The Elements
The elements of formal analysis are building blocks that can be combined to create a larger structure.
▪ Line is the most basic building block of formal analysis. Line can be used to create more complex
shapes or to lead your eye from one area in the composition to another.
▪ Value is the degree of light and dark in a design. It is the contrast between black and white and all the
tones in between. Value can be used with color as well as black and white. Contrast is the extreme
changes between values.
▪ Shapes are created when lines are combined to form a square, triangle, or circle. Shapes can be
organic (irregular shapes found in nature) or geometric (shapes with strong lines and angles such as
circles, triangles, and squares).
▪ Forms are three-dimensional shapes with length, width, and depth. Balls, cylinders, boxes and
pyramids are forms.
▪ Space is the area between and around objects. Increasing or decreasing the amount of space around
an object affects the way we view that object.
▪ Color differentiates and defines lines, shapes, forms, and space. Even black and white images have
a huge number of different shades of gray.
▪ Texture is the surface quality that can be seen and felt. Textures can be rough or smooth, soft or hard.
Textures are often implied. For instance, a drawing of a rock might appear to have a rough and hard
surface, but in reality is as smooth as the paper on which it is drawn.

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The Principles
Notice how the following principles integrate the elements of formal analysis and build on one another.
▪ Balance is created in a work of art when textures, colors, forms, or shapes are combined harmoniously.
▪ Contrast is the use of several elements of design to hold the viewer's attention and to guide the
viewer's eye through the artwork.
▪ Movement is the way a viewer's eye is directed to move through a composition, often to areas of
emphasis. Movement can be directed by lines, contrasting shapes, or colors within the artwork.
▪ Emphasis is created in a work of art when the artist contrasts colors, textures, or shapes to direct your
viewing towards a particular part of the image.
▪ Pattern is the repetition of a shape, form, or texture across a work of art.
▪ Proportion is created when the sizes of elements in a work of art are combined harmoniously.
▪ Unity is created when the principles of analysis are present in a composition and in harmony. Some
images have a complete sense of unity, while some artists deliberately avoid formal unity to create
feelings of tension and anxiety.

How To Analyze a Print Advertisement

From Understand Media 2021

Print advertisements are everywhere around us. Whenever we read a newspaper or a magazine, or go
outside and see a billboard, print ads are obvious and unavoidable. Analyzing the ad to discover its true
meaning is important to understand its intended impact and intention.

Here are some things to look for when analyzing a print advertisement.

1. What does the text say? The text was carefully crafted to create a consistent message about the ad.
If there is a headline, how does it grab our attention? What does the main text tell us about the product or
service? Does it directly reference the product or service's benefits and factual attributes? Or does the ad
prefer to sell the reader on the product's lifestyle benefits instead (telling you how cool you'll be when using
the product, for example)? How does the text relate to the images?

2. What does the image say? Pictures are worth a thousand words, and this is very true for print
advertisements. How does the photograph grab our attention? Is the picture depicting the product by itself,
or being used by someone? Does the photograph show us a lifestyle associated with the product
(essentially telling us how the product would make our life better)? How do the images relate to the text?

3. Who is the print ad’s target market? Would someone from a different demographic (someone of a
different gender, someone older or younger than you, someone who made more or less money than you,
someone with different political values, someone of a different race) interpret the text and imagery
differently? What values does the ad contain (is it young, hip, mature, playful, exciting)?

How To Analyze a Television Commercial

From Understand Media 2021

98.1% (1) of American households have a television, while 99% of people in America can read (2). This
means that being able to read barely beats out having a television in your home. Most of us were taught
to read when we were very young, but did we ever learn how to watch television?

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We watch our television shows, and many of us get annoyed when a commercial interrupts our program.
But what if we stopped to consider for a moment, that maybe we have it all wrong. Maybe the television
show is an interruption to the commercial? This is because the main way for a television station to make
money is to sell commercial time.

We're exposed to these commercial every day, but we rarely realize their true impact on us. They can
influence us to buy things we don't need, to vote a way we might not normally vote, and to desire a lifestyle
that we wouldn't necessarily agree with.

This is why analyzing television commercials is so important. Below are some things to consider to help
us better understand the messages in television commercials. Since commercials are more complex than
many other types of media (including the addition of motion mixed with sound), there are more things to
consider.

1. What is the product or service being sold? Can you easily figure out what the product is?

2. What is the general mood or feeling of the commercial? Since we know the product or service being
sold, what methods are the advertisers using to make us interested? How do they portray the product or
service in a positive light?

3. How does the soundtrack play a role in your interpretation of the commercial? Is the music cheery,
dreary, suspenseful, whimsical, fun, or exciting? Does the music affect our perception of the mood? Is
there a voice-over of someone telling us something? What is the voice over trying to tell us? Does the
person speaking coincide with the overall mood of the commercial? Would our perception of the voice
change if the voice was of a different gender or race?

4. How do the actors playing the characters affect your interpretation of the commercial? Would
your interpretation change if the characters were of a different race or gender? What if the characters
dressed differently or spoke differently? How would that change your perception of the character?

5. How does the commercial try to get your attention? Does it use flashy graphics with fast music?
Does it alter the way we see the world, either through the use of special effects or through the story line?

6. Who is this commercial aimed towards? Is it you or someone like you? How do you know? Why do
you think the advertiser created this commercial the way they did? Would it have been as effective if it was
just black and white text on the screen? Why or why not?

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