Living in a Visual World: Visual Literacy

 

Picture credit: Lilian Hill

By Lilian H. Hill

Humans are a visual species, which is beneficial in a world dominated by images. The human brain can recognize a familiar object within 100 milliseconds, so when we see a picture, we are quick to analyze it. Bright colors capture our attention because our brains are wired to react to them. Our visual senses are by far our most active of the senses. Ninety percent of the information transmitted to the brain is visual. Visual images are processed in our brain 60,000 times faster than text (Trafton, 2014).

In addition to reading text, humans "read" visual information every day in traffic signs, pictographs, internet icons, in GPS maps, and many other symbols we see often. We easily make sense of them, even when they are presented in an unusual way. For example, once you learn the symbols for the male and female restrooms, we easily understand symbols that use centaurs for the men’s room and mermaids for the women’s room. Remember that the printed word is a symbol that represents language and language represents human experience. In the same way that written words are symbols, sports logos, road signs, thermometers, clocks, smartphones, and GPS maps are all symbols that we have learned to interpret.  

 

Visual Literacy

Visual literacy is the ability to read "visual text" effectively to find, interpret, evaluate, use, and create images and visual media. To be considered visually literate, people must have the ability to understand, appreciate, and create visual images and symbols to comprehend and share information. For example, is the danger in the image above from the octopus' arms or the manhole cover? Is an octopus really trying to escape?

 

Use Of Visuals

Visuals are used online and in print materials to capture viewers’ attention, to make text more interesting to read, tell a story, and improve readers' understanding of what they are reading. They are used in stories, movies, television, print advertisements, billboards, signage, video games, informational videos, blog posts, and social media. Advertisers carefully study about what best captures viewers’ attention. The material that best attracts viewers’ attention and is most likely to prompt action is content with low cognitive demand and high clarity (Hernandez, 2021).

 

Optical Illusions

Despite our strong visual senses, the human eye can be fooled or tricked. Think of the common visual illusions such as the two portraits that can also be a vase, or the portrait of the old woman that can also be viewed as a young woman. For the image below, did you see the butterfly first or the multiple profiles?

 

Photo Credit: Unsplash

 

Altered Images

Have you ever taken a photo and edited it on your phone? If so, you understand how pictures can be easily changed to convey different meanings. Even the tone of a picture can create different meanings.  Consider the three images of dried flowers below. It is the same picture, but the colors used can really change emotional reactions to an image. The center image is the actual, unretouched photo, the left-hand image is in black and white, and the right-hand image has pink overtones. Consider how your mood changes when viewing the three images. 

 

Photo credit: Lilian H. Hill

 

One way that images can be altered relates to the way they are located in a photo. A close-up view reveals a lot of details about an object while a more distant view provides information about the context about where an object is placed, and its relative size compared to other objects. We can be fooled into thinking that an object is larger or smaller than it is in real life. 

 

Photo Credit: Unsplash

Some technologies, such as Photoshop, can produce visual images that cannot happen in real life. A good example is the image above of the large man "high-fiving" the tiny woman. Many advertisements alter their images to make products look better. They may change the lighting, use filters, or even fake a product. Did you know that the whipped cream you see in advertisements is really shaving cream? Shaving cream is used because it withstands heat better than whipping cream under hot studio lights.  If you try an internet search for “badly photoshopped images,’ the results can be entertaining. Next time you see an advertisement, ask yourself is the model’s waist really that small, are her legs that long, is her skin that fantastic? Are his shoulders really that broad, is he really that tall or muscular? Where did that extra hand come from? 

 

Visual Image Standards

It is interesting to look at the Associated Press standards for visual images which are copied below. The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit new agency headquartered in New York City. It operates as an independent organization dedicated to promoting truth in the press. Its membership is composed of U.S. newspapers and broadcasters. It produces news reports, radio broadcasts, and images that are distributed nation-wide and globally. The standard are below.

 

1. AP visuals must always tell the truth.
2. We do not alter or digitally manipulate the content of a photograph in any way. Changes in density, contrast, color and saturation levels that substantially alter the original scene are not acceptable.
3. Backgrounds should not be digitally blurred or eliminated by burning down or by aggressive toning. The removal of “red eye” from photographs is not permissible.
4. We do not stage, pose or re-enact events.
5. When we shoot video, environmental portraits, or photograph subjects in a studio care should be taken to avoid misleading viewers to believe that the moment was spontaneously captured in the course of gathering the news.
6. In the cases of portraits, fashion or home design illustrations, any intervention should be revealed in the caption and special instructions box so it can’t be mistaken as an attempt to deceive.
   

 

Source: https://www.ap.org/about/news-values-and-principles/telling-the-story/visual

References

Hernandez, S. (2021, October 25). How to get the most visual attention on your content. Retrieved https://www.socialmediatoday.com/spons/how-to-get-the-most-visual-attention-on-your-content/608678/

Trafton, A. (2014, January 16). In the blink of an eye: MIT neuroscientists find the brain can identify images seen for as little as 13 milliseconds. MIT News, Retrieved https://news.mit.edu/2014/in-the-blink-of-an-eye-0116