Visual+Literacy

The use of Visual literacy gives the students the ability to put an image with words. Students acquire knowledge by the use of association.

Chris Viger Dr. Yeh EDT 3010 September 22, 2010 Visual Literacy Understanding Visual Literacy can allow students and teachers to understand why something can be appealing or unproductive. Using the model PAT which stands for Perceptions, Actions, and Tools enables viewers the ability to critique and acknowledge if a visual message is effective or ineffective. In the visual //Overproteined//, there are quite a few critiques that can be made to make it a more successful visual. From my very first glance at the image, I was not blown away or even really moved to look in depth at the image. This stands as a red flag to me that the visual needs some work to improve its visual power. After looking in depth at the image, my initial interpretation of this image was to be a warning or an awareness image for the consumption of meat within the United States. I believe that this is the meaning behind this image after careful examination. As far as the design goes in terms of PAT, this image does have a lot of potential for catching people’s eyes. The initial gestalt of the image does give off the impression that food will be discussed throughout the columns. I believe the alignment, repetition, and proximity of the columns also is effective in catching the viewer’s eyes. Also in terms of tools, the color, space, shape, and depth of the visual is also effective. However I did find quite a few things that make this image simply lose its visual power. For one, the title of the image, many people read the word Overproteined and automatically think that is not a real word thus credibility is lost and people are not eager to listen to the stats. Second, the proximity and contrast of the food images could have been done differently to become more effective. They could have done a food image at the bottom and top of each row, or could have had the images on the four corners. Also if they wanted to have an image for each row they could have done it alternating, but then would have to move the title up which would also be effective. My third and final critique, is that they have repetition and alignment in their numbers, but they do not have uniformity in the words that follow, for instance they have two billions, one million, and one hundred place. This would have been more effective if they could have all of the same foundation for the stats.