Graphic design's messages can reach across streets and across the globe; they can bring together countries, communities and strangers for a common cause; they can also serve to divide otherwise amenable neighbors. Design students must fully understand this potential reach and thus the responsibility they have to create tolerant, informed messages.…

Visual education is a field that has tremendous potential which it still has not begun to realize. (Author)

The goals of this study were to identify the constructs of visual literacy, to determine the amount of agreement or disagreement which exists concerning the identified constructs, and to provide a measure of relative importance among the identified constructs. The Delphi technique was employed to elicit information and opinions from a panel of…

Learning through the use of symbols presupposes the ability to think visually, including the perception, structuring, processing, and transformation of visual images. Since children process high volumes of visual messages, especially via television, schools should restructure curricula to include objectives in visual literacy, specifically the…

A model is proposed that organizes factors related to visual function into three dimensions: visual abilities, available resources and past experiences, and environmental cues. The model is explained to be useful in determining how to elicit visual behaviors or maximize visual function in persons with low vision. (Author/CL)

Discusses the effect television has on youth in making them visually literate and how educators should use this information to make education more effective. (CHC)

This paper reviews two studies of color preference and the relationships between color and legibility. The Gustin study in 1991 dealt with the legibility of and preference for projected slides with colored backgrounds and white text. The order of background color preference was cyan, blue, green, yellow, magenta, and red. The follow-up study by…

Behavioral objectives for visual literacy experiences are briefly delineated. The objectives concern skills related to: informative visual communication, persuasive and/or visual communication, general visual communication, visual concepts, and reading visual materials, as well as aesthetic and/or recreational skills. For example, the behavioral…

This paper examines the role of myths and symbols in society through the use of a hypothetical dialogue. The paper begins by explaining what myths are and the functions they serve. Mythology and mythical symbols of past and present are compared. These changes in the nature of mythological symbols are explored through a dialogue between an artist…

This annotated bibliography lists sources which attempt to define the boundaries of visual literacy and the possible relationship between the development of visual skills and verbal skills, particularly with regard to reading. The contents are divided into four sections: (1) references on nonverbal communication; (2) general reading on visual…

Visual literacy, the integration of seeing with other cognitive processes, is an essential tool of learning. To explain the relationship between the perceiver and the perceived, three types of theories can be brought to bear: introverted; extroverted; and transactional. Franklin Fearing, George Herbert Mead, Martin Buber, and other theorists have…

Maintains that an anthropological perspective offers exciting possibilities for developing intercultural understanding in the visual arts. Examines the problems encountered when applying this perspective to the visual art of radically different cultures. (JDH)

Information graphics or diagrams are two-dimensional maps of relationships that present information. Creators and interpreters of diagrams need to know what makes some diagrams more effective in communicating information. This paper suggests a theoretical framework for diagram classification to make this possible. This framework consists of two…

This paper describes deep viewing, a research and instructional method used to reach social understandings of visual texts through the use of communal talk, pictorial, and written means. It provides a means of analysis for any type of visual text. The theoretical origins and premises of deep viewing are examined. Also, the deep viewing methodology…