Visual Literacy
How has the increase in dependence on visual communication impacted on our society?
It would be unwise to underestimate the power of the visual image.
�Along with our parents, the mass media raised us, socialized us, entertained us, comforted us, deceived us, disciplined us, told us what we could do and told us what we couldn't.�--Susan Douglas
In today�s society, we are surrounded by visual images from birth. Bombarded by pictures and images but rarely are taught how these are being used to manipulate our thoughts.
People need to learn that what they see is not always real. Someone dying on a television is not a real event, and in this way the news can become another �not real� event. Children are unable, before they have been used to the idea, to judge between real and fake, life and death. Things can profoundly impact children in different ways, and can have a good or bad affect on them. Some children cannot handle images on the television until they have gone through some sort of growth, in being able to distinguish between real and fake, and even to be able to be less receptive to pain and suffering. The death of Bugs bunny would have the same impact as someone on the news. Fortunately, programs are rated according to their content.
Visual literacy pertains to symbols, pictures, and most things in an artistic medium, seeing something with your eyes and being able to distinguish between different objects. Not only this, but to be able to go on and make links with previous knowledge and ideas.
�Visual literacy is the ability, through knowledge of the basic visual elements, to understand the meaning and components of the image.� 1
But visual communication can also be through reading, or seeing symbols that to a person can be interpreted into �words�, a sentence or something that they identify a thought or a process with.
Someone with vision impairment does not have the access to the same mixture of mediums to communicate and also learn. If for a day, they were able to see, it would be hard for them to understand many different things about a picture that sighted people would have been able to pick up. Judging something would be hard for them, because they would not have the same collection of images and ideas, that sighted people have, to link to.
From a young age, children are taught the ability to identify colours and objects in a scene. Visual literacy in this day and age can be very important. But when we sit our children in front of a television to keep them occupied during the day, they pick up many ideas from the limiting range of television. High 5 and other children�s programs are made to be bright and colourful, to capture the attention of their audience. But after capturing children�s attention, these programs introduce children to different issues, patterns, and cultures. In comparison, many cartoons are banal or portray limited views on life.
In that same way, advertising is used to capture adult�s attention, subtle allusions are made to inform or misinform, or make someone jump to conclusions. After being brought up to identify and interpret symbols in an almost mechanical way, some people are defying the norm and doing things differently.
You are in the passenger seat of a car when, in the oncoming traffic, you notice an almost comical looking van. It has been painted with bright flowers, and there are words on the side. This van has captured your attention and you strain to see the name of the company on the side of the van. It�s a florist. The next week you are going to visit your grandmother in the hospital. Giving her flowers is just something that you have always done. To try something new, you decide to visit the shop, which the van you saw last week advertised. Do you think that you are the sort of customer the business was aiming to bring in?
"Advertising is the richest and most powerful form of communication in the world. We need to have images that will make people think and discuss."--Olivero Toscani.
This man was the head of Benetton�s advertising campaign. Instead of using old formulas for advertising, he rocked the world with his style. In his ads, there is no product advertised, only the company logo. In his words,
"Ad agencies are obsolete. They're out of touch with the times; they're far too comfortable. When the client is happy, they stop trying. They don't want to know what's going on in the world. They create a false reality and want people to believe in it. We show reality and we're criticized for it."--Olivero Toscani
Their ad campaigns are made to not advertise a product but make people sit up and take notice.
Businesses use visual tactics to persuade people, to interest them and to inform them in a manner that they themselves can control. Just as writing can inform someone and change their views, so can visual mediums do this, yet in a slightly different way. Activists inform others about propaganda by defacing pictures, yet not always are their accusations truthful. The problem for many people is that they have not been taught how to judge something objectively. Olivero Toscani uses images that can shock people. All advertising has been tailor made to do something to a person. Comical images are used on a bank ad, which someone will remember and discuss. By even complaining about how bad an ad was for a particular product, people are spreading the word about a company. That company may stay in someone�s mind, even after the actual ad has been forgotten. This will affect them when making choices, as many people like to buy from well-known brands, where they may remember the name of a company and not associate it directly with the ad.
Visual communication, in a symbolistic sense, can change through cultural and personal interpretations. There are many universal symbols and signs that hold meaning for people throughout the world, yet the meanings and interpretations change. For example, a picture of the World Trade Centre would be recognised by many people in the world, but have a different effect on individual people. In essence, a picture is able to be �seen� and does not change in what it shows, but can be interpreted in different ways by different people.
Written by Emily.