FINAL ESSAY 1

Final Essay

Montana M. Graham

Ottawa University

Visual Communication

Professor Webb

October 15, 2022

Final Essay

Throughout this course, I have learned so many important things. I had never really

known what visual communication meant. When I first learned that there was a visual

communication class, I was not sure what to expect. I did not even understand how people

communicate visually, but I do now. Throughout this essay, I will be sharing what I have learned

throughout the semester.

Visual Cues

Visual cues are the “four major attributes of all viewed objects” (Lester, 2021). The visual

cues are color, form, depth, and movement. These are what our brains see and not our minds.

Color is made with three primary colors, red, green, and blue. “When these colors are mixed, it is

called additive color”. (Lester, 2021) In a design sense, colors are used as a visual cue because it

is usually the first thing that people usually notice. For example, I am always drawn to brighter

colors. Especially when I am looking at art pieces. The more color, the more it stands out to me.

Although black and white art compositions look great, they are not usually the first things that

stand out to me. With form, there are three types. Dots, lines, and shapes. Dots are small circular

points, and they are the most basic element of visual composition. When they are in the center, it

becomes the interest. If the dot is off to one side, it confuses the brain because it does not look

balanced. Lines are created from dots of the same size because they are so close together.
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“According to anthropologist Evelyn Hatcher, straight lines convey a message of

stiffness and rigidity, and they can be horizontal, vertical, or diagonal.” (Lester, 2021) Depth is

another visual cue. “Because we have two eyes set slightly apart, we naturally see in three

dimensions- width, length, and depth.” (Lester, 2021) Space, Size, Color, Lighting, Textural

Gradients, Interpositions, Time, and Perspective are the eight cues. Movement is the last visual

cue on the list. “Color, form, and depth join movement to constitute the principal qualities of

images that make the cells of the visual cortex respond quickly to a stimulus.” (Lester, 2021)

There are four types of movement, real, apparent, graphic, and implied. Each visual cue helps us

understand what we are seeing, and sometimes we do not even realize it because we are so used

to them.

Visual Theories

There are two different fundamental groups of visual theories. They are sensory and

perceptual. “Those who advocate the sensory theories maintain that direct or mediated images

are composed of light objects that attract or repel us. They are more concerned with what the

brain sees – the visual cues of color, form, depth, and movement – but not so much of how the

mind considers them.” (Lester, 2021) “The perceptual theories are concerned mainly with the

meaning that humans associate with images – what the mind sees.” (Lester, 2021). Within the

sensory group, there are gestalt and constructivism theories. Within the perceptual group, there

are semiotics and cognitive theories.

I believe that these can be used in day-to-day observances. For example, in an art class I

took in my first year of college, I had an assignment that focused on attraction and repulsion. I

had to create two pieces of artwork that had a focal point that drew viewers in, and another that

repelled people away in a sense. For the attraction piece, I painted a 3D, bright butterfly and
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made it stick out of the page with a collage of light colors on the paper it was attached to. For the

repulsion piece, I painted a 3D, dark colored moth. I did it the same as the butterfly but made it

less eye catching. I showcased it for our final art show and people were always attracted to the

beautiful butterfly rather than the moth, which was exactly what I wanted.

Visual Persuasion

Ethics are important regarding visual persuasion because sometimes companies choose

very unethical ways to promote their products. ”A newborn baby lies alone with an umbilical

cord still attached; a black horse mates with a docile white, a young, attractive priest kisses a

young, attractive nun romantically on the lips; a car engulfed in flames; sensitive portraits of

death row inmates – the connection between these and other striking images is that they were all

used as advertisements to sell clothing.” (Lester, 2021). To me, seeing those types of images

would make me not want to buy their products, even though it might attract others. I think that

visual persuasion is a huge thing in today’s world. If companies can persuade consumers by

using sensitive images, I feel like it is not being used ethically. I feel as though if they used

genuine, non-sensitive images that draw attention they would be much more successful.

Although, those sensitive images unfortunately do attract mass amounts of people, and I am not

sure that I understand why.

I believe that there should be steps that companies need to go through before releasing

media, to make sure that they are ethically appropriate. I see a lot of people being hurt about

these types of things on social media. For example, Addison Rae who is a social media

influencer, posted a photo promoting the company “Praying’s” new bathing suit. This bathing

suit was very disrespectful to religious people, as the top of the bathing suit said “Father” and

“Son” and the bottoms of the bikini said, “Holy Spirit”. Many people were very offended by it,
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mostly because she is such a huge social media influencer, and because it was mocking the

religious saying. I felt that this was a great example of companies being unethical.

Visual Stereotypes

I believe that visual stereotypes are beneficial but also harmful. “Visual stereotypes play

an essential role in our social interaction with unfamiliar others. They trigger a categorization

process in which we quickly form expectations on a person's likely behavior, attitudes, opinions,

personality, manners, etc. and thus shape our personal attitude towards that person.” (Schindler,

2022). I believe this to be true, and it is not necessarily a harmful thing. As humans, we

categorize people that are different from us. I think that it is a normal human reaction. I tend to

do this all the time, and most times I am picking out things that I like about the person, because I

find diversity a beautiful thing.

Visual stereotypes are most times harmful rather than beneficial, though. From many

years ago, and even now, negative stereotypes are present in almost everything. For example,

there are stereotypes around women. Women should not be paid the same as men, women should

be in the kitchen or cleaning, women should not do men’s jobs. Stereotypes affect men as well.

They are most times penalized if they do something outside of their traditional gender roles. Kids

area also affected by stereotypes, such as girls should only play with pink toys or wear “girly”

colors. Boys should only play with blue toys, and wear “boy” colors. Everybody is affected by

stereotypes no matter who they are. I believe that this world would be so much easier if everyone

was able to be who they want to be and do what they want to do without judgement, but

unfortunately, I do not think that will ever happen.

Visual Analysis

The process of visual analysis is beneficial because without it, we would not be able to

deeply understand what we are viewing. In most cases, I choose an artifact that has meaning or

purpose. I then research the artifact to understand what it is about. Then, I look at the elements of

design that were used. “Any type of analysis is always a journey of personal investigation.”

(Lester, 2021). This is true, because when you are analyzing something, you are investigating it

and trying to find the meaning behind it.

I believe that visual analysis is important because in everything we see, we analyze it in

our heads unintentionally. Writing it down makes for a deeper understanding, and researching the

topic helps make it easier to know the information. Especially if you are presenting it to a class

or a boss. I think it is also important because most times, people are analyzing artwork. There are

so many different art pieces that are created by people of different cultures. “Image analysis

teaches two important lessons about the creation of memorable pictures: A producer of messages

should have an understanding of the diversity of cultures within an intended audience and she

should also be aware of the symbols used in images so that they are understood by members of

those cultures.” (Lester, 2021).

Conclusion

In conclusion, visual cues, visual theories, visual persuasion, visual stereotypes, and

visual analysis all tie into visual communication. These factors help us to understand what we

see, read, hear, and think. Without them, we would not view things the same way, although that

may not be a bad thing.

References

Lester, P. M. (2021). Chapter 2: Visual Cues. In Visual communication: Images with messages.
essay, Lex Publishing.

Schindler, A. (2022). Examples of Visual Stereotypes. Retrieved October 16, 2022, from
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Examples-of-visual-stereotypes_fig22_220374535
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