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Visual communication
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For the non-profit Asian Pacific American media arts organization, see Visual Communications.

Für immer und ewig, 19th century
Visual communication is communication through a visual aid and is described as the conveyance of ideas and information in forms that can be read or looked upon. Visual communication in part or whole relies on vision,[1] and is primarily presented or expressed with two dimensional images, it includes: signs, typography, drawing, graphic design, illustration, Industrial Design, Advertising, Animation colour and electronic resources. It also explores the idea that a visual message[2] accompanying text has a greater power to inform, educate, or persuade a person or audience

Overview Edit

Visual communication is through visual aid The evaluation of a good visual communication design is mainly based on measuring comprehension by the audience,[3] not on personal aesthetic and/or artistic preference as there are no universally agreed-upon principles of beauty and ugliness. Excluding two dimensional images, there are other ways to express information visually - gestures and body language, animation (digital or analogue), and film. Visual communication by e-mail, a textual medium, is commonly expressed with ASCII art, emoticons, and embedded digital images.


The Eye of Horus
The term 'visual presentation'[4] is used to refer to the actual presentation of information through a visible medium such as text or images. Recent research in the field has focused on web design and graphically-oriented usability. Graphic designers also use methods of visual communication in their professional practice. Visual communication on the World Wide Web is perhaps the most important form of communication that takes place while users are surfing the Internet. When experiencing the web, one uses the eyes as the primary sense, and therefore the visual presentation of a website is very important for users to understand the message or of the communication taking place.The Eye of Horus is often referred to as the symbol of visual communication.[citation needed] It is said to be a representation of an eclipse, as the corona around the pupil is like the corona around the sun during a solar eclipse.[citation needed]

Important figures Edit

Aldous Huxley is highly regarded as one of the most prominent explorers of visual communication and sight-related theories.[citation needed] Becoming near-blind in his teen years as the result of an illness set the stage for what would make him one of the most intellectual people to have ever explored visual communication. His work includes important novels on the dehumanizing aspects of scientific progress, most famously Brave New World and The Art of Seeing. He described "seeing" as being the sum of sensing, selecting, and perceiving. One of his most famous quotes is "The more you see, the more you know."

Max Wertheimer is said to be the father of Gestalt psychology. Gestalt means form or shape in German, and the study of Gestalt Psychology show emphasis in simplicity, as its properties group visuals by similarity in shape or color and proximity. Looking for continuation, closure, and figure-ground principles in studied images is also intensively taught.[citation needed]

Study of visual communication

Image analysis

Visual aids