Visual Communication: Images with Messages [Paperback]

Section two covers what we see which can be summarized with four basic visual perception cues; color, form, depth and movement. Lester discusses how the brain divides and sorts visual messages and explains that how we see helps to explain why we see. Also in section two he introduces the theories of visual communication which he divides into two subdivisions, sensual and perceptual. Sensual theories are based on the physical senses and boil down to the idea that direct or mediated images are composed of light and little else. A visual sensation is a stimulus from the outside that activates nerve cells within your sense organs. These produce raw data and include such theories as gestalt, constructivism and ecological. Gestalt theories conclude that perception is a result of a combination of sensations, and not individual sensual elements (p 52). According to Gestalt laws, there are five factors that identify whether objects in a visual field can be recognized as being in the foreground (positive space) or background (negative space); symmetry, convexity, meaning, area, orientation and attention to visual forms that make up pictures (p 56). Perceptual theories are concerned with the meaning that humans associate with the images they see. In other words these theories have to do with what is done in the brain after combining all the information from your sensual organs. Lester categorizes semiotic and cognitive theories as the perceptual theories (p 67-68). Semiology is a complex system of analysis and the author's overview is quite helpful. Cognitive theories postulate that visual perception is a function of meanings that we associate with objects through learned behavior or intelligent assumptions. Key theorists are Irving Biederman who determined that only 36 geons (geometric ions) are needed to make all objects, Richard Gregory, and Carolyn bloomer who suggests that perception is not stable, rather activities such as habituation, dissonance, projection, expectation, memory selectivity, culture and words can affect visual perception.

In section three, Lester covers visual ethics; visual persuasion in advertising, PR and journalism, and pictorial stereotyping. Section four offers six perspectives for analyzing any image; personal, historical, technical, ethical, cultural and critical, using all of these perspectives he goes on to analyze examples of typography (chapter 8), graphic design (chapter 9), informational graphics (chapter 10), cartoons (chapter 11), photography (chapter 12), motion pictures (chapter 13), television/video (chapter 14), computers (chapter 15), and interactive media (chapter 16). Lester's perspective choices for visual analysis are somewhat unique to him, although there are similarities within or across categories to other perspectives for example his technical analysis is similar to a compositional analysis one might see described in an art history text. This book is an excellent jumping off point for further research into the emerging visual communication field.

Dr. Lester has performed a service for myself and anyone else who reads this book. It drives you to absorb more of the world that we "see" everyday.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in graphical design, imagery, or to those who want a deeped appreciation for the power that images play in our lives!