Visual communication
From Wikipedia, the free 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 solely 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.
The evaluation of a good visual design is mainly based on measuring comprehension by the audience. However, personal aesthetic and/or artistic preference may also effect the meaning of the image, as there are no universally agreed-upon principles of beauty and ugliness. Excluding two dimensional 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, emoticons, and embedded digital images.
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.
[edit] Important Figures
Aldous Huxley 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.
[edit] 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 Psychology, aesthetics, natural reading patterns, design principles, semiotics, persuasion, camera/filming actions and image-types, and so forth.
[edit] See also
- Advertising
- Sign industry
- Electrical signs
- Visual culture
- Visual design
- Graphic Design
- Art Director
- Illustration
- Communication
- Typography
- Illustrations
- Semantics
- Semiotics
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