Visual+Literacy


 * Visual Literacy**-- something we English nerds will ultimately end up teaching as well as literacy in the spoken, written, and read arts. It is the ability to interpret, analyze, create, and glean messages from visual pictures. In this assignment, we were asked to examine a photo, give its meaning, and critique it. What was done well? What was the point of the techniques that were used? What could be improved upon in order to make this visual more effective and/or appealing? In the following paragraph, I explain my reasoning and thoughts.

I think visual literacy is an important thing to teach for a variety of reasons; first, I am an avid fan of graphic novels. If a student cannot read photos, they can't read graphic novels effectively--and that absolutely breaks my heart. Second, I feel that students will be very interested in it due to the visual nature of the world today. Finally, I feel that if students can effectively read the advertisements that hammer them constantly, they will be less likely to be manipulated by advertising.

I will implement visual literacy in a variety of ways. One technique I will use is to use pictures to prompt writing. I will also use several different visuals to help teach certain things; for example, Romeo and Juliet, the play, can be viewed in several formats. Script, film, theatre, graphic novel, whatever--I will use all formats (with special emphasis on tenets of Visual Literacy) to discuss how different information can be obtained through different mediums.

This is the image we were asked to critique:

Here is my short response: ** Visual Literacy Critique **

My interpretation of the visual message provided by the chart is that Americans eat too much meat; after all, the title of the chart is “Overproteined,” and then it gives some very high numbers as to how many hot dogs, chickens, and big macs Americans eat. Although this is not my favorite visual in the world, it is effective. I grasped the concept immediately, probably due to the contrast in the heading. The word, “Overproteined,” is not only sandwiched between two graphics and centered (which draws attention to it), but it is also written in white against a black background. This contrast indicates that it is the point or “message” of the piece. Contrast also helped with the proximity of the entire graphic, since the background of each of the subjects was a different, light pastel and was separated by a slash of black, which organized the information into columns. The proximity of each textual item was excellent; each item was placed under its own number, which organized the information and made it easy to remember. I will, however, criticize the proximity of the graphic images of the chick, the bucket of KFC, the hot dog, and the hamburger; although two of these may have been placed to draw attention to the word “Overproteined,” a similar effect could have probably been produced using a different font, text size, or by making all the letters capital. In my opinion, the point would have been better emphasized to include the graphics with the text (in its own little box!), and it also would have kept everything organized. Because of the placement of the clip art and the fact that there was an image for each statistic, that repetition seemed a little annoying and/or redundant. Unless they were organized with the text, those images are superfluous, in my most humble of opinions. Overall, I think it does a good job in conveying its message, but there are a few things that could be tweaked to make it more visually appealing to an audience.