VISUAL LITERACY Another medium for constructing meaning and the terminology that goes with it

What is visual literacy? One of the literacies needed to function in a multi-media world, especially since the ratio of image to text is increasing Refers to ability to interpret images from the past and present AND produce images appropriate for a particular intended audience

What can be analyzed through any visual image Subject matter Cultural context Structure (how it’s organized) Techniques used to produce it Aesthetic merit Purpose and audience Ideology Bias/traces of manipulative intent Merit in terms of communicating purpose and reaching intended audience Emotional impact

Visual literacy can be analyzed in terms of: Syntax: organization/arrangement/structure/style Semantics: its various meanings and connotations The syntax of the visual impacts its semantics (the way it is interpreted).

Font (bold, italics, style, size, sans) Scale and dimension Visual syntax terms (aka structural/stylistic techniques that produce effects that influence the semantics of the visual) Font (bold, italics, style, size, sans) Scale and dimension Relative size of items within images Motion Ratio of text to image and where they are located Framing/zooming/ cropping Labeling Captioning Harmony, contrast, emphasis Juxtaposition of images Depth, color, light/illumination, shadow Filled space (vs. purposeful white space) Resemblance (to well-known things) Symbolism

Key Questions to answer in order to understand the semantics of a visual 1. Who created this message and why? 2. What syntactical techniques are used to attract my attention? Are any techniques misused or distracting? 3. Who is the intended audience? Does the message reach the intended audience? 4. How might different audiences understand the message differently? 5. What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in, and/or omitted from, this message?

Visual Literacy Activity Study the visual on the next slide. Answer the key questions about this visual using the terminology of visual syntax to support, especially for Question 2 where it is most relevant.

Visual literacy practice and some context for an allusion made in one of the speeches you read for HW… The Four Freedoms!

Four Freedoms Paintings The Four Freedoms is a series of four oil paintings produced in 1943 by the American artist Norman Rockwell. The Four Freedoms theme was derived from the FDR’s 1941 State of the Union Address. During the speech, he identified four essential human rights (Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom From Want, and Freedom From Fear) that should be universally protected. This theme was eventually incorporated into the charter of the United Nations. The series, now in the Norman Rockwell Museum, was made for reproduction in The Saturday Evening Post over the course of four consecutive weeks in 1943 alongside essays by prominent thinkers of the day. The Freedom from Want painting in particular is now dubbed “The Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving.”

Focus question for each slide: How is the stated freedom being expressed through visual aspects in each painting? Use the terminology you just learned to describe, where appropriate. (Alternatively, if you feel the value is not well expressed by the painting, we can discuss that).

Freedom of Speech

Freedom of Worship

Freedom from Fear

Freedom from Want

Freedom from Want parody: What is the parody attempting to express about modern America?

Updated versions of “Freedom from Want” http://www.tylenol.com/for-what-matters-most