Visual literacy reading notes: A bias toward visual information is not difficult to find in human behavior.

or. We seek visual reinforcement of our knowledgedirectness of the info, closeness to the real experience. Why do we seek visual reinforcement? Seeing is a direct experience and the use of visual data to report info is the closest we can get to the true nature of reality. When Apollo 11 landed on the moon, direct visual connection was impossible so they broadcasted a visual simulationstill preferred than a written or spoken report even though that would have been more accurate.

The False Dichotomy: Fine and Applied Art Human experience is primary in learning to understand and respond to the environment; visual info is the oldest record of human history Most frequently cited difference between the utilitarian and the purely artistic is the measure of motivation toward producing the beautiful Ruskin: Art is all one, any distinction between fine and applied art is destructive and artificial.Rafaelites: turned their backs on all machine made art, giving precedence to what is made by hand Morris-led Arts and Crafts group recognized impossibility of producing art without craftsmanshipa fact easily forgotten in the snobbish dichotomy between fine and applied arts Contemporary view of the visual artsnot so much about the polarities of fine and applied art, questioning subjective expression and objective functionfine arts is the creative expression; applied arts is the response to purpose and use Sullivans form follows function the final product is shaped by what it does Michelangelos fresco for the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel balance between pure artistic expression and utility of purpose; both fine and applied art? applied art functional; fine art without utility--- this snobbish attitude influences artists on both sides of the fence and creates an atmosphere of alienation and confusion Idea of a work of art modern; reinforced by the concept of the museum being the ultimate beautiful This attitude removes art from the mainstream, gives it an aura of being special and petty, reserves it for an elite, and so negates the true fact of how it is struck through our lives and our world

The Impact of the Photograph Camera has ended special talent, ability to draw, replicate env. as it appears In modern media, visual dominates; verbal augments Our language-dominated culture has moved perceptibly toward the iconic To see has come to mean understanding

Visual literacy: to expand our ability to see means to expand our ability to understand a visual message, and even more crucial, to make a visual message Vision more than just seeing or being shown; integral part of the communication process which encompasses all considerations of fine art, applied art, subjective expression, response to functional purpose

Visual Knowledge and Verbal Language Visualizing ability to form mental pictures; process of moving around in mental images in imagination is what frequently takes us to the point of breakthrough and solution What does literacy mean in the context of language and what analogies can be drawn from language and applied to visual info? Language means for a higher form of thinking than the visual and tactile modes Language and verbal literacy are not the same thing Spoken language evolves naturally; deep structure of language is biologically innate Verbal literacy, reading and writing, must be learned (symbols, designated sounds, alphabetindividual and combinations, meanings, etc.)

Visual Literacy Language of vision is so much more universal that its complexity should not be regarded as too difficult to be worthwhile overcoming Making and understanding visual messages is natural to a point, but effectiveness on either level can only achieved through study One of the tragedies of the overwhelming potential of visual literacy at all levels of education is the mindless, custodial-playtime function the visual arts serve in the curriculum and the similar state that exists in the use of media, cameras, film, tv Judgements of what is workable, appropriate, effective in visual communication have been abandoned to whim

An Approach to Visual Literacy There is visual syntax guidelines for constructing compositions, basic elements that can be learned and understood by all students of the visual media, and that, along with manipulative techniques, can be used to create clear visual messagesknowledge of all these factors can lead to clearer comprehension of visual messages

Scale All visual elements have the capacity to modify and define each other process is the element of scale Scale can be established not only through the relative size of visual clues, but also through relationships to the field or env

Visual results are fluid, not absolute; they are subject to so many variables of modification Measurement is an integral part of scale, but is not crucial; juxtaposition more important Most vital factor in establishment of scale measurement of man himself Golden Mean Corbus modular unit is based on the proportions of man Learning to relate size to purpose and meaning is essential in the structuring of visual messages

Dimension In photography, perspective dominates: lens one of its prime abilities is simulation of dimension Real dimension dominating element in industria design, crafts, sculpture, architecture, and any visual material in which the total and actual volume must be dealt with

Movement Implied than actually expressed Derives from our complete experience of movement in life Implied action is projected into static visual info both psychologically and kinesthetically persistence of vision true movement lies in the eye of the beholder through this Example: reading o Scanning o Projection of a light into the eye o Eye also moves in response to the unconscious process of measurement and balance through the felt axis and left-right, top-bottom preferences Action not only in what is seen, but also in the process of seeing Visual fast and can instantaneously express many ideas; proper understanding of their character and workings is the basis for a language that will recognize no boundaries or barriers

The Anatomy of a Visual Message We express and receive visual messages on three levels: o Representationally what we see and recognize from environment and experience o Abstractly kinesthetic quality of a visual event reduced to the basic elemental visual components, emphasizing more direct, emotional, even primitive message-making means o Symbolically vast world of coded symbol systems which man has created arbitrarily and to which he has attached meaning

Representation Photography is the most technically dependable means of representing visual reality Daguerrotype to flexible Kodak film to mass printing to film

Argument that the artists work is cleaner and clearer because he can control and manipulate it beginning of a process of abstraction Abstraction reduction of multiple visual factors to only the essential and most typical feature of what is being represented

Symbolism Abstraction toward symbolism requires ultimate simplicity, reduction of visual detail to the irreducible minimum Symbol in order to be effective, must not only be seen and recognized but also remembered and even reproduced; minimal info Must be simple; information-packed means of visual communication, universal in meaning

Abstraction No need for a relationship to actual symbol-making The more representational the visual info, the more specific its reference; the more abstract, the more general and all-encompassing it is Abstraction simplification toward a more intense and distilled meaning Design and construction of buildings abstract and possibly symbolic, but in no way representational; meaning lies in the substructure, in the pure elemental visual forces Abstract visual statement is profound; representational is just imitation and quite shallow in terms of depth of communication; but the abstract understructure is the composition, the design The abstract conveys the essential meaning, cutting through the conscious to the unconscious

To be visually literate, it is necessary that the creator of the visual work be aware of these indiv levels Each level has its own unique char but they dont conflict either Representational most effective level to utilize in the strong, direct reporting of the visual details of the environment, both natural and made Abstraction most useful in the process of uncommitted exploration of a problem and development of visible options and solutions; nature of abstraction releases the visualizer from the demands of representing the finished final solution Symbolic can reinforce message and meaning in visual communication Process of creating a visual message series of steps from a number of rough sketches toward a final choice and decision Interaction between purpose and composition, between syntactical structure and visual substance must be mutually strengthened to be visually effective anatomy of a visual message

 Verbal Language and 'Visual Literacy' Scale, Size and Perspective and Movement Symbolism as Abstraction and Abstraction itself (in regards to this text)