Visual literacy means to construct
meaning from a visual image; to interpret, negotiate and make meaning
presented in the form of the image. This means you can play with
pre-formed associations (e.g. the toilet symbol can be manipulated,
as people already have an ingrained perception of what it already
means.)
In fact symbols can change meaning
because of the context surrounding them, for example colour can be a
large indicator. The different blocks of colour in flags can make a
huge difference to how we perceive them. Age can also be a
significant factor in the different associations we have for symbols,
which needs to be considered when designing something.
For language to exist there needs to
be an agreement amongst a group of people that one thing can stand
for something. Indicating that practically a symbol or colour needs
to have some significance and cannot be random. This idea was
developed in our ligature task, that a symbol usually must have
certain connection to its meaning.
Actually visual literacy is the
relationship between the visual syntax and visual semantics. Visual
syntax means the organisation of elements used to create the
image, whereas visual semantics is about how an image fits
into the cultural process of communication. This shows that the
design of an image must be composed to communicate. Other useful
vocabulary:
-Semiotics: study of sign and
sign processes.
-Visual Synecdoche: An aspect
of something to represent the whole (e.g. the statue of liberty is
used to represent New York.)
-Visual Metonym: How a
symbolic image can represent the literal meaning (e.g. how a yellow
cab can be used to conjure the literal image of New York.)
-Visual metaphor: To transfer
meaning from one image to another. Something unfamiliar associated
with something familiar (e.g. using word association.)
I believe at the core of visual
literacy there is an emphasis on using the associations we already
have to work new meanings into them. For example there was a 1970s ad
campaign for New York where an apple was used to create a healthy
association for the city. A preconception can subtly be used for a
new understanding- “work the metaphor.”
