VISUAL PRINCIPLES

EDU 711

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 VISUAL LITERACY

• The ability to interpret visual messages

accurately and to create such messages
• Two routes to visual literacy:
o Input Strategies / Decode
• Read visuals / visual analysis skills
o Output Strategies / Encode
• Write visuals / expressions and communications

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If you can read maps, draw a diagram or interpret
these symbols, then you are visually literate.

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 EXAMPLE

Why use cutaway diagrams in the

classroom?
To show the key features of animals, which
are often hidden.
To show how engines, machines, or
equipment work.
To provide a vocabulary list of key terms
needed in an explanation (such as "How a
... works")
To write a report (such as "What are the
differences between birds, mammals and
dinosaurs?")

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 EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES

CRITICAL THINKING COMMUNICATION

• Heightened awareness • Support effective
of hyper-mediated visual teaching and learning
culture (media literacy)

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 LEARNING & INSTRUCTION

• Connection between visual imagery, sound,

memory & perception
o mind - cognition & senses – affective domain

• Theories about how memory works

o Information processing theory
o Dual-coding theory

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INFORMATION PROCESSING
THEORY – George A Miller

Sensory &
Working

Short Term Memory Visual & Auditory

Selecting
Organizing

Long Term Memory Visual & Language

Integration

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INFORMATION PROCESSING
THEORY – George A Miller

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 DUAL-CODING THEORY - Paivio

• Separate memory systems for different types of

information
o Verbal: language systems (auditory/speech)
o Imaginal: (picture, sound, taste, nonverbal
thoughts & imagination)
o Concrete (cat) vs. Abstract ideas/emotions
(fickle) – which is easiest to remember?

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DUAL-CODING THEORY

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ROLES OF VISUAL IN INSTRUCTION

1. Provide a concrete referent for ideas

 iconic i.e. more easily to be remembered as
compared to words

This visual image of an apple (elma in Turkish)

is the referent of the word ‘elma’ 11
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ROLES OF VISUAL IN INSTRUCTION

2. Motivate learners
 by attracting learners’ attention and
generating emotional responses

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ROLES OF VISUAL IN INSTRUCTION

3. Simplify information that is difficult to

understand

Imagine if there are no

pictures but just text

First….then….swing…..

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ROLES OF VISUAL IN INSTRUCTION

4. Provide redundant channel

 comprehend spoken and written information

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 EXAMPLE
Why use flow charts in the classroom?
To plan an explanation, a procedure
(instructions), a recount (such as a news
story), a narrative, or an argument. (More
about visual planning can be found here.)
To summarize an explanation, a
procedure, a recount, a narrative, or an
argument. (More about visual summaries
can be found here.)
Examples of topics that suit flow charts
include the water cycle, life cycles, how
products are made, where a certain food
comes from, preparation for a debate, how
machines work, and so on. Flow charts are
in fact one of the most useful and
adaptable visual texts in the
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Why use exploded diagrams in the
classroom?
To show details that are otherwise hidden
or hard to see in a normal (integrated)
diagram. Topics might include how toys are
made, how engines work, parts of a flower,
etc.
To name those parts (as a pictorial
vocabulary list).
To prepare a report or descriptive text
about a topic that has many hidden (or
partly hidden) details.
To follow instructions to assemble
equipment (such as a tent, a model plane,
etc.).
To follow instructions in order to build or
make something from separate pieces (as
in a craft activity, carpentry, dressmaking).
To illustrate instructions ("How to make a
model windmill") or explanations ("How 17
insects pollinate a flower")
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 DEVELOPING VISUAL LITERACY

1. Input strategies
 Help learners to decode (read) visuals
proficiently
2. Output strategies
 Help learners to encode (write) visuals to
express themselves and communicate with
others

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 VISUAL LITERACY:
INPUT STRATEGIES
1. Developmental effect
 How learners decode visual / information
depends on the age of development

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 VISUAL LITERACY:
INPUT STRATEGIES
• Younger
 Literal interpretation
 Parts instead of whole
• Older
 Summarize whole scene

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 VISUAL LITERACY:
INPUT STRATEGIES
2. Cultural effect

Usually thumbs up gesture means

positive or okay

But, for Balinese the thumbs-up

is part of a ritual way of showing
respect to someone of a higher caste

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 VISUAL LITERACY:
INPUT STRATEGIES
3. Visual preferences
 Teacher should select between the preferred
visual and effective visual
 Learner will not necessarily learn best from
the visual they preferred
 Eg colors, photos or line drawing, simple or
complex

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 VISUAL LITERACY:
OUTPUT STRATEGIES
• Learners create their own visual
presentation which help understanding
 using camera / camcorder etc.
 sequencing – ability to arrange visuals in
logical order

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 TYPES OF VISUALS FOR
CLASSROOMS USE
• Pictures
o Photographic or photograph-like
o Represent people, places and things
o Two dimensional
o Can be 3D by providing different angles
o Sequential pictures suggest motion

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 TYPES OF VISUALS FOR
CLASSROOMS USE
• Drawings
o Includes sketches and diagrams
o Arrangements of lines can represent person,
places, things and concept
o Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Smart Art

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 TYPES OF VISUALS FOR
CLASSROOMS USE
• Charts
o Representations of abstract relationships
o Chronologies, quantities, hierarchies
o Should express one major concept or concept
relationship

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 TYPES OF VISUALS FOR
CLASSROOMS USE
• Graphs
o Representation of numerical data
o Illustrate relationships among units of data
and trends over time
o Major types – bar, pictorial, circle and line

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 TYPES OF VISUALS FOR
CLASSROOMS USE
• Posters
o Images, lines, colors, words
o Intended to capture and hold the viewer’s
attention long enough to communicate a brief
message, usually persuasive appeal
o Must grab attention and communicate
messages briefly
o Purpose – stimulate interest, announcement,
promote social skills
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 TYPES OF VISUALS FOR
CLASSROOMS USE
• Cartoons
o Appeal to all ages
o Can be used to make or reinforce a point of
instruction
o Make sure the cartoons used are within the
experiential and intellectual range of the
students
o TooDoo

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 PURPOSE OF VISUALS

• Provide concrete referent for ideas

• Visuals are iconic
o They have some resemblance to what they
represent
o An easily remembered link to an idea

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 PURPOSE OF VISUALS

• Make abstract ideas concrete

• Motivate learners
• Direct attention (visual pointers)
• Repeat information
• Recall prior learning
• Reduce learning effort

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DESIGN DECISIONS

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 SERIES OF DESIGN DECISION

Visual Design Element Visual Design Pattern Visual Design Arrangement

Visual Element Verbal Element Add Appeals Proximity

Realistic Letter style Surprise Directionals

Alignment
Number of style Texture Figure-ground
Analogic
contrast
Shape
Capitals Interaction
Organization Consistency
Balance
Colour

Style
Size

Colour scheme
Spacing

Colour appeal

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 PROCESS OF VISUAL DESIGN

1. Elements – selecting the verbal/visual

elements to be incorporated into display
2. Pattern – choosing an underlying pattern
for the elements of the display
3. Arrangement – arranging the individual
element within the underlying pattern

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 PROCESS OF VISUAL DESIGN :
ELEMENTS
• Visual elements / categories
o Realistic
o Analogical
o Organizational
o Relational
o Transformational
o Interpretive

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 ELEMENTS : VISUAL ELEMENTS
1. Realistic Visuals
o Show the actual object under study

ABSTRACT REALISTIC

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 ELEMENTS : VISUAL ELEMENTS

• Realistic visuals
o The more realistic a visual is, the closer it is to
the original

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 ELEMENTS : VISUAL ELEMENTS

• Analogical visuals
o Convey topic by showing something else and
implying a similarity
o E.g. white blood cells fighting off infection with
an army attacking a stronghold

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 ELEMENTS : VISUAL ELEMENTS

• Organizational visuals
o Such as flowcharts, graphs, maps,
classification charts
o Show qualitative relationship among elements

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 ELEMENTS : VISUAL ELEMENTS

• Relational visuals
o Communicates quantitative relationships
o Bar and pie charts, line or pictorial graphs

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 ELEMENTS : VISUAL ELEMENTS

• Transformational visuals
o Illustrates movement or change in time and
space
o E.g animated diagram to show a procedure

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 ELEMENTS : VISUAL ELEMENTS

• Interpretive visuals
o Illustrates theoretical or abstract relationships
o E.g. the food pyramid
o Help build mental models of events or
processes that are invisible, abstract or both

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 ELEMENTS : VERBAL ELEMENTS

• Capitals
o Use lowercase letters
o Adding capitals when it is necessary
o Headlines can be in capitals but not more
than 3 words

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 ELEMENTS : VERBAL ELEMENTS

• Number of lettering styles

o Not more than 2 different type styles
o Limit variations (bold, italic, underline, size
changes) to four

Two roads diverge in a yellow wood

And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could

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 ELEMENTS : VERBAL ELEMENTS

• Colour of lettering
o The lettering color should contrast with the
background color
o Think about your audience..

4) Colour of lettering
 The lettering color should contrast with the
background color
 Think about your audience..
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LEGIBLE LEGIBLE

LEGIBLE LEGIBLE

LEGIBLE

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 ELEMENTS : VERBAL ELEMENTS

• Spacing between lines

o Letters should be not too cramped or too
widely separate
o Text is most legible when separation is 1 1/2
times average letter height

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 ELEMENTS : VERBAL ELEMENTS

• Spacing between letters

o Consider ‘optical spacing’
o Estimating approximately equal amounts of
with space between letters

LABWORK

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 ELEMENTS : VERBAL ELEMENTS

• Size of lettering
o Rule of thumb: make lower case letters ½
inch high for each 10 feet of viewer distance

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 ELEMENTS : VERBAL ELEMENTS

• Letter style
o It should be consistent and harmonize with
the other visual elements
o Straightforward and plain style

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 Typeface as an Expressive Form

Typeface as an Expressive Form 54

 ELEMENTS :
ELEMENTS THAT ADD APPEALS
• Surprise
o Think unusual metaphor, a dramatic change
of size
• Texture
o Use 3 dimensional visuals (if possible)
o It can convey clearer idea

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 ELEMENTS :
ELEMENTS ADD APPEAL
• No effect if you visual does not capture
and hold viewers attention
• Techniques to provide appeal:
o Style
o Surprise
o Texture
o Interaction

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 ELEMENTS :
ELEMENTS THAT ADD APPEALS
• Interaction
• R of the ASSURE MODEL
• Analyze learners
State objectives
Select instructional methods, media, and materials
Utilize media and materials
Require learner participation
Evaluate and revise

• Ask learners to respond visual displays by

manipulating materials on the display

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A noun names a person, place or thing.

Take a star and write your noun on it

and put it near the moon

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PROCESS OF VISUAL DESIGN :
PATTERN

Alignment Shape

Balance Style

Color Color
Scheme appeal

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 PROCESS OF VISUAL DESIGN :
PATTERN
• Alignment
o Balance alignment
o Same imaginary horizontal and vertical line
o Viewer expend little effort making sense out of
what they are seeing

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 PROCESS OF VISUAL DESIGN :
PATTERN
• Shape
o Put and arrange visual into shape that familiar
to learner
o Simple geometric figure – circle, rectangle
o Consider of the ‘Rule Of Thirds’

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 Rule of Thirds

 Place your important elements where these lines

intersect
 Good places to put things; third of the way up, third of
the way in from the left
 Duff places to put things; right in the middle, right at the
top, right at the bottom, away in the corner 63
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 PROCESS OF VISUAL DESIGN :
PATTERN
• Balance
o The ‘weight’ of the elements in a display is
equally distributed either horizontally or
vertically

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 BALANCE

• A psychological sense of equilibrium

• Achieved when the ‘weight’ of the
elements in a visual is equally distributed
on each side of the axis, horizontally or
vertically or both

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Horizontal Approximate Radial Asymmetry
symmetry horizontal symmetry symmetry

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 THREE TYPES OF BALANCE

Jarring,
Balance is dynamic, but
repeated on can be
each side – distracting –
highly best to avoid
symmetrical –
can be boring

Preferred – surprising but

not distracting or jarring –
rough equivalence of weight
but use of different elements
adds surprise 70
 BALANCE

• E-Learning
1. 3.
TEXT Graphic Graphic TEXT

2. 4.
TEXT Graphic

Graphic Text

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 PROCESS OF VISUAL DESIGN :
PATTERN
• Style
o Simple, uncluttered
o Primary color for children
o Realistic color for adult

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 PROCESS OF VISUAL DESIGN :
PATTERN
• Color scheme
o Consider the harmoniousness of the color –
color wheel

• Color appeal
o Consider ‘warm’ and ‘cool’ color
o Warm color – active learner, children
o Cool color – thoughtful learner, adult
o Consider cultural basis
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 The Color Wheel

Complimentary colors: any two colors

that lie directly opposite each other

Analogous colors: colors that lie

next to each other

Complimentary and Analogous colors may form

pleasing combinations when used together in a display
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 COLOR

Complementary Analogous Triadic

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 COLOR

• Colored words or images in a

monochrome display will draw eye.

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 COLOR

Effective combinations for background and images for PP slides and

computer screens

Background Foreground Images Highlights

and Text
white dark blue red, orange
light gray blue, green, black red
blue light yellow, white yellow, red
light blue dark blue, dark green red-orange
light yellow violet, brown red

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 COLOR

• Consider the harmoniousness of the colors you

choose
• Look at the color wheel

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 COLOR

How to choose colors

• Be inspired by art and nature
• Explore color palettes of templates
• Use psychological associations (color and
mood/meaning)
o Red: passion, bloodshed, power, zeal
o Blue: serenity, tranquility
o Green: growth, hope, disease, terror

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• Use cool color for background
• Highlight important cues in warm
color such as red and orange

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 PROCESS OF VISUAL DESIGN :
ARRANGEMENT
• Is equal to overall “look”.
• The ideas of establishing an underlying pattern
• To determine how the viewer’s eye will flow
across your display
• For PP, multipage handouts – consistent in
arrangement of elements
• Viewers will form unconsciously a set of rules
about where information will appear

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 PROCESS OF VISUAL DESIGN :
ARRANGEMENT
• Proximity
o Element that close to each other are related
and vice versa
• Directionals
o Can be used to direct attention
o Eye movement pattern
o E.g. arrow, bold, ‘bullet’

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 PROCESS OF VISUAL DESIGN :
ARRANGEMENT
• Figure-ground contrast
o Wording should contrast to the background
• Consistency
o Consistent in the arrangement of the
elements
o Place similar element in similar location
o Use same text for headlines

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 VISUAL DESIGN GUIDELINES

• Visuals selection or production is carried

out after you have determined students’
need, interests regarding the topic and
decided what objective(s) you hope to
achieve through the visuals

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