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Design & Visual Communication

This document provides an introduction to visual communication, including its definition, history, and theories. It explains that visual communication is one of the primary ways humans share information through symbols and imagery. The earliest forms include cave paintings from 40,000 years ago. As societies advanced, pictograms were developed for basic communication between groups speaking different languages. The printing press in the 600s allowed visual information to be widely reproduced. The document then outlines several visual theories, including Gestalt, Constructivism, Ecological, Semiotics, and Cognitive theories. It concludes with a description of visual analysis and eight ways to understand an image.

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Nik Ahmad Faiq
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69 views

Design & Visual Communication

This document provides an introduction to visual communication, including its definition, history, and theories. It explains that visual communication is one of the primary ways humans share information through symbols and imagery. The earliest forms include cave paintings from 40,000 years ago. As societies advanced, pictograms were developed for basic communication between groups speaking different languages. The printing press in the 600s allowed visual information to be widely reproduced. The document then outlines several visual theories, including Gestalt, Constructivism, Ecological, Semiotics, and Cognitive theories. It concludes with a description of visual analysis and eight ways to understand an image.

Uploaded by

Nik Ahmad Faiq
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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TMD2153

DESIGN & VISUAL


COMMUNICATION
Chapter 1 – Introduction to Visual Communication
Objective
◦ Explain the meaning of visual communication in both design and
real life.
◦ Explain the early history of visual communication.
◦ Explain and define Visual Theories and Visual Analysis.
What is Visual Communication?
◦ Visual communication is one of the most important ways that people communicate and share
information. It is the transmission of information and ideas using symbols and imagery.
◦ It is one of three main types of communication, along with verbal communication (speaking)
and non-verbal communication (tone, body language, etc.).
◦ Visual communication is believed to be the type that people rely on most, and it includes
signs, graphic designs, films, typography, and countless other examples.
Brief History
◦ Visual communication it is the oldest form of communication. For example, in regions around
the world there are cave paintings from thousands of years ago, some dating back as far as
40,000 years. 
◦ Cave paintings are a primitive form of communication that were drawn or etched into cave
walls and ceilings. Though their exact purpose is not clear, these paintings include
representations of, among other things, animals, landscapes, and sacred spaces, and act as a
kind of prehistoric documentation.
Brief History
◦ As societies became more advanced, travel brought people that spoke different languages into
contact with each other. In order to communicate, people developed pictograms around the 4th
millennium BC as a way to communicate. 
◦ Pictograms or pictographs are images that represent physical objects and were used to share
ideas or ask questions.
◦ For example, if you were in a foreign country and wanted to buy a tree, you could use a
pictogram of a money sign and a tree to indicate your interest.
Brief History
◦ When people began printing with woodblocks around the year 600, the ability to communicate
visually blew wide open.
◦ The printed word and other symbols allowed for ideas and information to be reproduced,
shared, and preserved in a non-verbal way. Once these documents were translated into other
languages, they were capable of traveling around the world.
Visual Theories
◦ In visual communication we deal with different theories.
◦ There are two types of visual theory:
i. Sensory
◦ Sensory or sensual are raw data from nerves transmitted to brain.
◦ The brain sees - the visual cues of colour, form, depth, and movement – but not how the mind
considers them.
ii. Perceptual
◦ Perceptual are meanings concluded after the stimuli are received. It is drawn from prior
experiences comparison with other senses, stored images etc.
◦ Concerned with the meaning that humans attach or associate with the images they see.
Sensory
Gestalt Theory
◦ It deals with how our mind is capable of mentally assembling separate objects into a
seemingly logical new whole. When parts are identified individually it has a different
characteristics to the whole.
◦ Four ways in which we make these associations:
i. Proximity: The closer objects are to each other, the more likely they will form a larger whole.
ii. Similarity: The more objects resemble each other, the more they will assemble.
iii. Continuation: Our eyes are inclined to follow lines and curves, so if objects are arranged along
paths then we perceive a larger construct and also a sense of movement.
iv. Closure: In the process of trying to identify things we’re looking at, our brains will close
incomplete shapes and patterns.
Proximity
Similarity

Continuation Closure
Sensory
Constructivism Theory
◦ When we look at anything, we have to piece it together. We do this through a series of rapid
eye movements that assemble a blueprint of what we’re looking at, while at the same time
comparing the results to memory and past associations. So, in effect, we construct images out
of many narrowly focused observations.
◦ Julian Hochberg, psychology prof. (Columbia Uni.), 1970, found that human eyes are
constantly in motion as they scan an image. Emphasizing that the viewer constructs the scene
with short-lived eyes fixation, the mind combines into a whole picture. This finding helped to
explain how the mind perceives difficult images.
https://youtu.be/qpPYdMs97eE

https://youtu.be/ubNF9QNEQLA
Sensory
Ecological Theory
◦ We interpret what we see through spatial properties in the environment: Surface layout,
composition, lighting, motion, gradation, shape, size, solidity and scale.
◦ Light - the way it reveals the three dimensionality of objects, and scale - the way objects
diminish as they recede from us - are the two most important properties that we use to
interpret space.
Perceptual
Semiotics
◦ The science of signs and symbols. A sign is simply anything that stands for something else.
◦ For something to be sign, the viewer must understand its meaning.
◦ Three types of signs:
i. Iconic: To be like or to seem as something. It most closely to resemble the thing they represent. E.g.:
photographs, realistic statues, maps.
ii. Indexical: Have a logical, common sense connection to the thing or idea they represent rather than a
direct resemblance to the object. E.g.: hand gestures, clues.
iii. Symbolic: Symbols that have not logical of representational connection between them and the things
they represent. Symbols more than the other types of signs, have to be taught. E.g.: languages,
numbers, alphabets, abstract trademarks.
Indexical

Iconic Symbol
Perceptual
Cognitive Theory
◦ Perception is not just the result of visual stimuli, but involves a series of mental processes in
which we compare what we see to our catalogue of memories and perceptions and use those to
interpret and analyse. In other words, we understand what we’re looking at most easily by
comparing it to what we’re familiar with.
◦ We are constantly on the lookout for things with which we’re familiar. So we see, for example,
faces in inanimate objects simply because some features look vaguely like eyes and a mouth,
such as the man in the moon.
Cartoon characters Man in the moon
Visual Analysis
◦ Analysis – process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts to gain a better
understanding of it.
◦ Visual analysis – method to interpret information and surroundings from visible messages
reaching the eye.
◦ Goal:
i. To find the meaning
ii. To move from a subjective, quick, and emotional opinion, often expressed from a
personal perspective to an objective, long term and reasoned judgment reflected by the
critical perspective.
Visual Analysis
8 Ways To Understand An Image
i. Production – how was the image physically produced and how are the elements combined
within a frame.
ii. Context identification – what are the major elements and what is the story being told.
iii. Functional – what is the context for the image and how was it put to use.
iv. Expressional – what emotions are conveyed by the content and how are those feelings
translated across cultures.
v. Figurative – how are the symbols and metaphors employed and what are any culturally
sensitive elements.
Visual Analysis
vi. Rhetorical – what are the philosophical justifications for making and showing the work and
what are any responsibilities the producer has to the subject and viewers.
vii. Societal or period – how does the image reflect the culture and mores of the time it was
produced and what does it communicate to future generation.
viii.Comparative – how is the image similar to previously created works and how does it fit
within the body of work of the image creator.

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