Context of Practice Visual Literacy Lecture

Visual Literacy - The language of Design

Visual literacy is about how we use design and images to communicate, its our job to do this, we solve problems surrounding it using the images and type. We look at the different factors, the words, language, message and meaning to see how they work together. We need to use these to the best of our ability to effectively communicate our ideas concepts to a wide range of audiences. We need to be able to look at image or type and understand the message the artist wants to show behind it, it allows us to get meaning and purpose for them.

VISUAL COMMUNICATION
This is about sending and receiving messages using type and images, its a shared understanding of universal images to get the meaning. This is affected by the audience context, media and method of distribution.

VISUAL LITERACY
Constructing a meaning from visual images and type, it the thinking behind visual communication. This is linking the images to a range of different influences, including cultures present, past and future. Producing images that effectively communicate a message to an audience.

'Visual literacy: is the ability to interpret, negotiate and make meaning from information presented in the form of an image'

Pictures can be read then an understanding can be applied to gain knowledge, its like a global international language. It means that pictures can be used all the time and so that everyone can understand them. Its very useful for signs, instructions ect. For example Toilets

All that is necessary for any language to exit is an agreement amongst a group of people, its just takes everyone to agree the image or a form of the image stands for. Here these images look nothing like people actually going to the toilet but they are a edited for of the national symbols for toilet, these symbols are taught from a young age so that everyone knows they are male and female toilets. We are brought up surrounded but they and associate them with it. These are the basic images we start off associating with the symbols, they are seen all over the world as signs for which toilet is male and female and disabled, this is visual literacy.

We associate them with toilets because this is what we are told and also because when we see them we usually see the word underneath it, over time we start to recognise this without the name and also in different forms. This shows a high level of visual literacy that is gain as we grow up.