COP Lecture - Visual Literacy

COP Lecture - Visual Literacy

Visual Communication is the process of using images and type to convey messages based on a level of shared understanding of objects, signs, gestures and symbols. Visual Communication is affected by the context in which it is placed, the method in which it is conveyed and the audience it is presented to.

Visual Literacy: constructing meaning from type and visual images while interpreting images of the present, past and a range of different cultures. Visual literacy is also the ability to produce images that effectively communicates a message to an audience.


Here is an example of Visual Communication through the use of a toilet sign in South Korea. Without knowing what the sign says we already know that it is a toilet as the objects included in the sign show a culturally shared meaning. Straight away we know the information being conveyed in this sign is an interpretation of a male on the left and a female on the right. In this way, the designer has been able to easily communicate  message that has become universally recognisable to the public.

'All that is necessary for any language to exist is an agreement amongst a group of people that one thing will stand for another'.


when asked what the top left symbol represents we immediately interpret it as a plus sign because it has been placed next to other symbols of mathematical meaning. However, when the symbol is on its own it can be interpreted as more than one meaning. For example, it could be a religious symbol or a sign for first aid.



'Being visually literate requires an awareness of the relationship between Visual Syntax and Visual Semantics.'  

Visual Syntax: The pictorial structure and visual organisation of elements. It represents the basic building blocks of an image that affect the way we 'read' it.

these elements are framing, format, scale, font, shape and composition to name a few.

Visual Semantics: This refers to the way images fit into the cultural process of communication. It includes the relationship between form and meaning and the way meaning is created through cultural references, iconic forms, social interaction, political ideas and experience etc.





Semiotics: this is the study of signs, their processes, indication, symbolism and communication etc.
Visual elements of semiotics include:
SYMBOL, SIGN, SIGNIFIER, METAPHOR, METONYM AND SYNECHDOCHE.