The Visual Communications Book

The primary goal of the volume on "Visual Communication" is to provide a collection of high quality, accessible papers that offer an overview of the different academic approaches to Visual Communication, the different theoretical perspectives on which they are based, the methods of analysis used and the different media and genre that have come under analysis. There is no such existing volume that draws together this range of closely related material generally found in much less related areas of research, including semiotics, art history, design, and new media theory. The volume has a total of 34 individual chapters that are organized into two sections: theories and methods, and areas of visual analysis. The chapters are all written by quality theorists and researchers, with a view that the research should be accessible to non-specialists in their own field while at the same time maintaining a high quality of work. The volume contains an introduction, which plots and locates the different approaches contained in it within broader developments and history of approaches to visual communication across different disciplines as each has attempted to define its terrain sometimes through unique concepts and methods sometimes through those borrowed and modified from others.

An Introduction to Visual Communication.

A unique and practical guide to making high-impact presentations by using visual communications techniques.

Where do design principles come from? Are they abstract "rules" established by professionals or do they have roots in human experience? And if we encounter these visual phenomena in our everyday lives, how do designers use them to attract our attention, orient our behavior, and create compelling and memorable communication that stands out among the thousands of messages we confront each day? Today's work in visual communication design shifts emphasis from simply designing objects to designing experiences; to crafting form that acknowledges cognitive and cultural influences on interpretation. In response, Meredith Davis and Jamer Hunt provide a new slant on design basics from the perspective of audiences and users. Chapters break down our interactions with communication as a sequence of meaningful episodes, each with related visual concepts that shape the interpretive experience. Explanatory illustrations and professional design examples support definitions of visual concepts and discussions of context. Work spans print, screen, and environmental applications from around the world. This introduction to visual communication design demystifies the foundational concepts that underpin professional design decisions and shape our experiences in a complex visual world.

"This innovative collection of analyses builds a badly needed bridge between solid visual communication research about legacy media and emerging scholarship about Web-based media."---Julianne Newton, Professor of Visual Communication in the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon; Co-author of Visual Communication: Integrating Media, Art, and Science --

Originally published in 1981, Learning and Visual Communication is about how to use visual communication in education. It offers visual forms of communication. In order to do this it draws on recent research - at the time of publication - in psychology, philosophy, semiotics, cultural analysis, education and media studies. Visual thinking, the key concept of the book, is defined in psychological and philosophical terms. It is placed in its cultural context and it is argued that it has not received the attention that it deserves in our educational system, which is dominated by literacy and numeracy. This is despite the increasing use of visual communication as an aid to learning and as a source of basic data in a whole range of disciplines such as physical science, geography, history and anthropology amongst others.

Visual communication through graphical and sign languages has long been conducted among human beings of different backgrounds and cultures, and in recent decades between human and machine. In today's digital world, visual information is typically encoded with various metaphors commonly used in daily life to facilitate rapid comprehension and easy analysis during the communication process. Visual information communication generally encompasses information visualization, graphical user-interfaces, visual analytics, visual languages and multi-media processing. It has been successfully employed in knowledge discovery, end-user programming, modeling, rapid systems prototyping, education, and design activities by people of many disciplines including architects, artists, children, engineers, and scientists. In addition, visual information is increasingly being used to facilitate human-human communication through the Internet and Web technology, and electronic mobile devices. This manuscript provides the cutting-edge techniques, approaches and the latest ongoing researches in the context of visual information communication. It is a collection of 24 chapters selected from more than 60 submissions to the VINCI'09 - 2009 Visual Information Communications International Conference, that is held in Sydney Australia, September 2009. These chapters were selected through a stringent review process to ensure their high standard in quality, significance and relevance. Each chapter was reviewed by at least two international Program Committee members of VINCI’09. The book covers a broad range of contents in five key sub-areas of visual information communication, including.

A well-rounded education in the 21st century requires not just verbal and mathematical proficiency, but also the ability to interpret, critique, create, and use visual communication on sophisticated levels. In today’s visual world, it is critically important to hold an appreciation for the profound effects imagery has on individuals and the communities in which they live. Visual Communication focuses on cultivating visual and media literacy from both consumption and production points of view and introduces students to the application of intuitive intelligence to a visual context. Innovative in its field, it provides a solid theoretical overview of the most advanced thinking and research about visual communication, teaching readers how to apply theory to enhance their understanding of and work with images. This book is intended for students in visual literacy and communication courses. It can also be used in photojournalism courses and other coursework with a visual component. Individuals interested in mass media studies will likewise find the book to be a worthwhile read.

This book is a sequence of images that refers to the richness of visual communication. The partly new designed and revised publication was supplemented by one additional chapter. The book establishes a reference to the past through contemporary works and the most recent technical means, too. The author consciously concentrates on his special subject and interest: straightforward, informative advertising, experimental works that influence our way of thinking, and large artistic works that influence the formation of style.