Lecture 1: Visual Literacy

We had our first lecture today on the language of design, focusing on visual communication and visual literacy. I found it really interesting to actually realise we all have a shared understanding of signs symbols and gestures, we are the most visually literate generation on a global level. Visual language is based on the idea pictures can be read like literacy (books). We are constantly surrounded by a rich visual language made up of media, TV, press, social media ect. visual literacy is literally embedded in our generation. Visual communication is driven by audience, context, media.
visual literacy is our ability to interpret, negotiate and make meaning from information presented in the form of an image. A really interesting example used in the lecture was this image

I think its so interesting we were able to instantly understand this foreign sign without question, yet when we delved deeper into it the visual language was made up of a complex assortment of culture, social values, and meanings inherent to our generation. its a simple automatic almost, image and understanding but the workings of it are complex.
we've developed a complex visual language, theres a serious underpinning of visual language in things like medical instructions and flight safety instructions - its important this can be almost a universally understood language. Visual Language is made up of symbols who's meaning often result from their existence in particular context, introducing context and other symbols were familiar with narrows down a meaning and understanding such as this example of a cross. in the first image it could have a range of meanings such as doctor, church, addition, but when we put it in the context of other mathematical symbols it clearly means addition.

Visual language, like any other language, is not static it moves and shifts, its continually develops and we as visual communicators develop with it. We actually already have a complex visual literacy and knowledge. For any language to exist there must be an agreement amongst a group of people that one thing will stand for another. we also need to have an awareness of the relationship between visual syntax and visual semantics.When were creating a visual image it's important how we light things, how we present things, the colours we use. For example the use of pink and blue in the toilet signs instantly communicated to us male and female, the use of green often connotates health. With visual communication there are three main parts symbol, sign and signifier. Symbol is logo, sign is identity and signifier is the brand.
With regards to visual language what we are all doing is using what people already know and what we know and applying to our own ideas we work the metaphor, we translate meaning we create meaning.
an interesting application of what we've learn today is our current 2 week visual skills project, we have to solve a problem visually with 100 ideas, we worked the metaphor, thought about one idea from different angles and translated that visually. All of this is an exercise in visual communication.

key terms learnt today:

visual literacy - ability to construct the meaning in our messages working with image as type.
visual communication - a process of sending and receiving messages using type and images
visual syntax - refers to the pictorial structure and visual organisation of elements such as colour, tone, frame, format, line, scale, space.
visual semantics - the way an image fits into a cultural process of communication. relationship between form and meaning and the way meaning is created
semiotics - study of signs and sign processes (semiosis) it also studies non-linguistic sign systems, visual language and visual literacy.
visual synecdoche - when a part is used to represent the whole or vice versa, eg. the statue of liberty to represent New York.
Visual Metonym - symbolic image used to make reference to something with a none literal meaning