OUGD401
Visual Literacy Lecture

The lecture started with introducing us to the meaning of visual communication and visual literacy, before the lecture I assumed the two were rather similar but infact their not. Visual communication is a process of sending and receiving messages using type and images, its also a level of shared understanding of signs, symbols, gestures and objects. Visual communication can be affected by audience, context, media and method distribution. Then on the other hand you have visual literacy which is the ability to construct meaning from visual images and type. Through visual literacy you can interpret images of the present, past and a range of cultures. The main principle of visual literacy is that pictures can be read.

As the lecture went on a number of symbols were shown to us,such as a cross. A simple symbol that can represent a handful of things, such as a nations flag, religion, medication and certain aspects of maths. Being visually literate you can spot and create these symbols to represent something. I learnt that being visually literate requires an awareness of the relationship between visual syntax and visual semantics.

The syntax of an image refers to the pictorial structure and visual organisation of elements, it represents the basic building blocks of an image that affect the way we read it. Some of these elements are

- Framing
-Format
-Font
-Stroke
-Shape
-Motion

A good example of visual syntax in the lecture was three different images of a full english breakfast, the same meal but layout, texture, light and shape affected the way we read the image.Visual semantics of an image refers to the way an image fits into a cultural process of communication, it includes the reliationship between form and meaning and the way meaning is created through a few of these elements

-Social ideals
-Religious beliefs
-Individual experiences
-Social interaction

I found the semiotics part of the lecture the most interesting because it was broke into three sections. Symbols, Sign and Signifier. Which translates into logos identify brands.