Memorandum

To: Dr. Newmark

From: Christina Nevarez

Subject: Scrapbook Midterm

Visual communication is made up of visual representations of things in order to convey ideas or information. An image is not simply an image. An image contains different aspects that make it original and give off information. A logo for a fast food joint, for example, is constructed to be eye catching and, using primary colors, show urgency and importance. Different aspects of visual communication are conveyed in the following scrapbook entries along with a brief analysis of each image and topic. The scrapbook is continued from earlier on in this semester. This second half of the scrapbook contains entries 11-20.

Conveying information is important. Entries 11, 13, 19 and 20 all deal with the important of information getting across to the users. Typography, in entry 11, is important for all types of documents. Readability is important when trying to convey information. Entry 20 is an example of information being dealt without words. Other important documents that are used to convey important messages and get information across include government documents such as tax return instructions as seen in entry 19. The document in entry 19 is bland and text heavy. It is an important document but does not appeal to users. The creation of this document could have been in better hands. Simply being a government document does not make it have the need to be boring. This document will, more than likely, not be read thoroughly which could not be good for tax payers who need to file their tax return forms. Infographics are another type of media that is used to give information to an audience. Infographics use images and little text to make complicated and complex information into a simple image to convey the information. In the infographic chosen for entry 13, the information is too dense. The infographic is more confusing than the information it is trying to convey. This infographic is about money and how it is used. Looking at the infographic, one may get a headache trying to figure out what it all means. Another flaw in visual communication is the lack of ethos in various forms of media. Entry 16 deals with this directly. The website that is mentioned in this entry has much information but does not give credit where credit is needed. This website is made up of different articles containing information on how to do things and what things are but the authors do not give any credit to the original source of information. This is poor ethos on their part.

A big part of visual communication is how people view things and what messages are made up from these images. Some good examples of how images give positive feedback are found in entries 12 and 18. Entry 12 deals with credits from a movie and how they complement the movie itself. This particular movie shown is Monsters Inc. The doors and the monsters in the credits are important parts of this movie. Entry 18 deals with colors. Primary colors are used for urgency such as in fast food logos and they give positive feedback. Entry 14 is an example of a favorite animated television show and its social commentary. Images and other media can be viewed in different ways. The television show chosen is a children’s TV show but one of the characters can be seen as having dictatorship. The image of violence in entry 15 can be seen different ways as well. The officers pictured may be doing good but the image shows them in a bad light.

Images and media is changing every day. As technology increases, visual communication increases. Visual communication is centered around a user-centered design. With this increase in technology and knowledge about what the user wants, remediation occurs where new technology replaces the old as seen in entry 17. This is happening all around us. Many basic principles of visual communication remain but others are constantly changing.