Lecture for LIS470, History of Visual Communication

In1972, Fransecky & Debes (in an amazingly poorly worded statement) define it this way: “a group of vision competencies a human being can develop by seeing and at the same time having and integrating other sensory experiences. The development of these competencies is fundamental to normal human learning. When developed, they enable a visually literate person to discriminate and interpret the visual actions, objects, and/or symbols, natural or man-made, that are [encountered] in [the] environment. Through the creative use of these competencies, [we are] able to communicate with others. Through the appreciative use of these competencies, [we are] able to comprehend and enjoy the masterworks of visual communications” (Fransecky & Debes, 1972, p. 7). This is the definition adopted by the International Visual Literacy Association (http://www.ivla.org/organization/whatis.htm).

Since that time (1972) there have been amazing, truly amazing changes in the production and distribution of visual messages. Think of it: from billboards, newspaper and magazine ads, and perhaps posters, the use, production, and expectations of visual messages, that is, messages intended by their producers to convey a meaning primarily through images, not words, have become all pervasive (as graphic communication has always been), but now the production has changed and the interpretation has changed. In the former case, the computer has played a transformative role – anyone with a little creativity, a computer, manipulation software (such as Photoshop) and a purpose can create and manipulate representations of reality. In the latter case, there are, literally, no skills taught to people to help them to interpret or critique graphic messages.
Let’s turn to a more recent (2003) definition of visual literacy. Here is one whose attribution I don’t have but which recognizes the influences technology has on graphics: Visual literacy is an introduction to the study of the visual modalities of communication with an emphasis on picture-based media (film, television, photography, graphic arts, and the new computer-based technologies such as 3-D animation and the World Wide Web). Topics include: visual interpretation, image manipulation, the social/political functions of visual imagery, and the role of visual media in cultural processes.

Finally, here’s a definition which I believe is from Martin Lester’s Visual Communication: Images with Messages: “Visual literacy is an emerging area of study which deals with what can be seen and how we interpret what is seen. It is approached from a range of disciplines that: 1) study the physical processes involved in visual perception; 2) use of technology to represent visual imagery, and; 3) develop intellectual strategies used to interpret and understand what is seen.”
One reason we look at the historical aspects of images is that the interpretation of images by peoples and by individuals changes over time. They change, also, through social and cultural influences. Keep these points in mind: the interpretation of symbols varies by group and by individual; and varies over time. The most famous and common example is the swastika.
Originally, the swastika was an Indic symbol. And, believe it or not, the symbol was viewed by English-speaking people at least, as a combination of the letter “L” four times, to symbolize love, luck, life and light. http://www.luckymojo.com/swastika.html

The same symbol to us living in the 21st century interpret the sign as a symbol of the Nazi Reich. This explanation operates at the “connotative level.” As we will see, there are many types of levels, many approaches to interpretation and theories.

Semiotics: sign and symbol, denotation & connotation
[P. 1-51, 61-72 from Lester]
The first step to visual literacy is formalizing how to study it. The formal study is called semiotics. There are three categories of signs: iconic, indexical, and symbolic. And when we encounter signs, it can be useful to ask to which category the symbol belongs. This entails, foremost, that we learn to recognize symbols and that we are aware that we are trying to uncover what the sign signifies. [If we’re not aware of our analysis, then we’re being unconsciously influenced by them.]

Question: is there an inherent relationship between a sign and what it represents? For instance, if you knew nothing about history and you saw a swastika, would you be struck by it? That is, would you immediate associate some concept with the sign? Or might you appreciate the symmetry or aesthetic of the graphic?
Answer: No there is no fixed relationship between sign and symbol. The association is cultural or social.

Question: Would you wonder why someone chose to use a symbol as they do? An informed or curious person should ask – that’s the point of the class!

Question: How do symbols maintain their meaning over time?
Answer: Clearly one answer has to do with cultural transmission: the education of people, the artifacts they make, and how the artifacts are used. For instance, consider three different applications: the swastika appears on Chinese coins, Buddhist artifacts, and on Roman excavations.

Question: How can we change the meaning of a symbol?
Answer: To change the interpretation of a symbol, one changes the use of the symbol. For example, Xtreme uses a graphic symbol, which appears to be a swastika, but enveloped within other symbols that have a different, perhaps more contemporary, interpretation. The purpose of Xtreme’s use of the symbol is to convey a hip, surfer-generation feeling along with the feeling of speed.
Xtreme

Question: Why is the interpretation of symbols so highly controversial.
Answer: Whenever anyone offers an interpretation, it is useless unless you can situation the interpretation in some context. For example, some feminists call sex acts a form of violence. You might not agree. But imagine seeing a billboard that says so, or hearing a full professor pronounce the sentiment in class as a fact, or hearing a bunch of drunk people say so. Notice how the interpretation of the statement and the level of your credence varies?

Semiotics: [http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/]
Connotation and Denotation
Not everyone agrees with all aspects of semiotics. Perhaps the most famous living semiotician is Umberto Eco, author of The Name of the Rose. In this story, the two monks discover who committed a murder by interpreting the symbols. Just as significant, they determine why the murder occurred through the symbols. So we see again two uses of interpretation of symbols.
Other names you should know are Charles Sanders Peirce (pronounced “purse”), Ferdinande de Saussure, a Swiss linguistist, Roland Barthes, a living French literary theorist, and Thomas Seboek.
One level of interpretation is called “denotative.” Denotation is the process of seeing an object, similar to the way “utterance” is the physical act of making sound.
Connotation refers to the [potential] meanings associated with what we see.
[See: Chandler, D. Semiotics for Beginners.]
[See: Hall, S. http://www.academic.marist.edu/pennings/shall.htm]

Uses of Signs
All fields have a semiotic facet, because all fields of human communication are composed of the (a) intentional arrangement of symbols into a message and (b) the delivery of the message through some physical (visual, aural) medium.

For example:

• Film
• Television
• Newspapers
• Public announcements – busses (ads on and in ‘em!)
• Printing –books (See NYPL research page on books and printing), prints, ephemera
• Photography
• Literary (symbolism in literature)
• Myth
• Story telling of any kind
• Visualization (graphic representations)
• Visualization
• Natural phenomena
• Abstractions (e.g., information visualization)
• Technology-bound:
• Remote sensing & telepresence
• Simulation & hyperreality
• Cybernetics and cyberspace
• Social/Commerical/Political
• Logos and Branding (commerce)
• Design formula (art school)
• Propoganda
• Informational: (LIS oriented)
• Writing systems (alphabets, abjads, logo-semantic)
• Paleography
• Calligraphy
• Epigraphy
• Typography
• Exhibit planning
• Visual Technology – Human-Computer
  • Interaction
  • Website and interactivity
  • Web “information architecture”
  • “Web advertising”