Visual communication facts for kids

This image shows how visual communication works.

Visual communication is all about using pictures, symbols, and other visual things to share ideas and information. Think of it like talking with your eyes! This includes things like signs, fonts, drawings, designs, illustrations, advertising, and even animation. People have used visual communication for a very long time, even since prehistoric times.

In our world today, visual communication uses many different parts. These include objects, models, graphs, diagrams, maps, and photos. There are also seven main ingredients of visual communication: color, shape, tones (how light or dark something is), texture, figure-ground (what stands out from the background), balance, and hierarchy (how things are organized).

All these parts are super important in our daily lives. Visual communication helps us in many areas like social media, culture, politics, business, and science. It helps us understand messages in ads, when we learn new things, or during speeches. Common visual aids include whiteboards, posters, handouts, videos, and computer presentations.

What is Visual Communication?

People have talked about how visual communication works for thousands of years. It's about sharing ideas, feelings, and values using things you can see. This means using text, pictures, or videos. We know a visual design is good if people understand it easily. It's not just about whether it looks pretty, because everyone has different tastes!

Visual communication is now one of the most important ways people share information. For example, in e-mails, people use ASCII art (pictures made with text), emoticons (like smiley faces), and digital images. The term 'visual presentation' means showing information using things you can see, like text or pictures.

Key Thinkers in Visual Communication

Aldous Huxley was a very important person who studied visual communication and how we see things. He almost lost his sight when he was a teenager, which made him think a lot about seeing. He wrote famous books like Brave New World and The Art of Seeing. Huxley said that "seeing" means sensing, choosing, and understanding what you see. He famously said, "The more you see, the more you know."

Max Wertheimer is known as the founder of Gestalt psychology. "Gestalt" is a German word meaning form or shape. This study focuses on how we see things simply. It explains how our brains group visuals by how similar they are in shape or color, how they continue, and how close they are. Other ideas include how we see complete shapes and how we tell the main object from the background.

Visual Tools: From Simple to Advanced

• Chalkboards or Whiteboards: These are great for quick notes and drawings. They are cheap and flexible. But sometimes, they can make things confusing or boring, especially if someone draws while talking.
• Poster Boards: Posters are simple and easy visual aids. They can show charts, graphs, pictures, or drawings. The main problem is that posters can look messy or unprofessional if they bend or fall over. It's best to hang them up.
• Handouts: Handouts can also show charts, graphs, or pictures. A good thing about handouts is that people can keep them to remember what was said. But passing them out can be distracting. People might read the handout instead of listening to you. If you use handouts, give them out right before you talk about them. They are good for longer talks but not for short ones.
• Video Clips: Videos can grab attention and are a great visual aid. But a video is not a replacement for your speech. If a video has sound, you can't talk. Also, a very exciting video might make your speech seem boring. The trick is to show only short clips and move smoothly into and out of the video.
• Projectors: There are different kinds of projectors. Slide projectors are old and not used much anymore. Overhead projectors are still used but need special clear sheets. Computer projectors are the newest. They can show pictures and slides right from a computer onto a big screen. But sometimes, computers can have technical problems.
• Computer Presentations: Using presentation software like PowerPoint is very helpful for longer talks. For short talks (5-10 minutes), it might not be worth the effort. But for longer ones, they keep the audience interested and help you stay on track. Making them takes a lot of time and effort. Also, a computer problem can mess up your presentation flow.

How Visuals Are Put Together

The parts of visual communication make sharing information more interesting. These parts are the basic building blocks for seeing things visually.

• Hierarchy: This is super important because it helps people understand information step by step. When a visual has a main focus (like on a website or poster), it gives your eyes a starting point. To make a good hierarchy, we use other parts like color, shape, tones, texture, figure-ground, and balance.

• Color: Color is the first and most important part of visual communication. Colors connect deeply with our feelings and experiences. There are two main ways colors are mixed:

* Additive color model: This is also called RGB (Red, Green, Blue). It's how light works, like on a TV screen. When you add more colors, it gets lighter, eventually becoming white. * Subtractive color model: This is the opposite. It's how ink works, like in a printer, using CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black). When you add more colors, it gets darker, eventually becoming black.

• Shape: Shape is another basic part that helps create symbols and connect with people. Shapes can be:

* Organic or Biomorphic shapes: These look like things found in nature, often with curvy lines. * Geometric or Rectilinear shapes: These are made by people, like triangles, rectangles, ovals, and circles.

• Tone: Tone means how light or dark a color is. Using different tones helps highlight parts of a picture and make information stand out.

• Texture: Texture makes visuals more interesting and personal. It refers to how the surface of an object looks or feels, whether it's 2D or 3D.

• Figure-Ground: This is about the relationship between an object (the "figure") and its background (the "ground"). The figure is the "positive space" – what you focus on. The ground is the "negative space" – the background. Making a strong difference in color, texture, and tone between the figure and ground helps objects stand out.

• Balance: It's important for visual communication to have balance.

* Symmetrical balance: This means both sides of a visual are the same or very similar. It makes things look stable and is good for sharing clear information. * Asymmetrical balance: This means the visual weight is heavier on one side, but it still feels balanced. For example, one color might be used more on one side than another.

Why Visuals Are Important

Culture and Visuals

People from different cultures can share visual images because some ideas are understood by everyone. The idea of visual culture helps all cultures feel included. How visual communication works in different cultures depends on their values. Some cultures are "high-context," meaning they rely a lot on visual elements that have a hidden or implied meaning. Other cultures are "low-context" and prefer visual elements that have a direct meaning, often with more text to explain them.

Politics and Visuals

In politics, visual communication has become a main way to share messages. This is partly because more people watch television. Short video clips, called "image bites," are now very popular for politicians to show their plans. Visuals are key in political messages for many reasons:

• Argument: Even without words, images can connect ideas. Political visuals can make arguments about a politician's character or plans. When images are used with sound, they can help people understand unclear messages from politicians.
• Setting the Agenda: Politicians need to create interesting pictures that will get news coverage. This is because the media often decides what is important for the public to know. If politicians don't provide exciting visuals, they might not get news coverage.
• Dramatization: This function highlights a specific policy a politician wants to support. For example, Michelle Obama planted a vegetable garden to promote healthy eating. These images can even become symbols for social movements.
• Emotion: Visuals can make people feel things. Studies show that videos can have a stronger emotional impact than still pictures. But emotions don't stop people from thinking logically; in fact, they can work together.
• Building an Image: Images give voters a first impression of a candidate. They help voters understand a candidate's background, personality, or how they act. Politicians might show themselves as family-oriented or helping those in need.
• Identification: Visuals can help people feel a connection with politicians. If voters see similarities with a candidate, they are more likely to vote for them.
• Documentation: Like a stamp in a passport, photos of a politician can prove that an event happened and they were there. This provides evidence for claims.
• Societal Symbols: Politicians use famous symbols to create strong feelings. They might stand with American flags, be photographed with military people, or attend sports events. These symbols show patriotism. Places like the Statue of Liberty or Mount Rushmore are also powerful symbols.
• Transportation: Visuals can take viewers to a different time or place, like the past or an ideal future. Politicians use this to connect with people's emotions and help them relate to an argument.
• Ambiguity: Visuals can have different meanings without needing words. This is often used for tricky arguments. Visual claims are sometimes judged less strictly than spoken words.

Business and Visuals

The world of business often uses visual elements like graphs and charts. Economists use graphs to make complex ideas clear. Graphs simplify how we see trends over time. They also help show the relationship between two or more things. For example, they can show if things are positively (both go up) or negatively (one goes up, one goes down) related. A common graph is a time-series graph, which shows how something changes over time. Time is on the bottom (X-axis), and the changing thing is on the side (Y-axis).

Science and Medicine and Visuals

Science and medicine need visual communication to explain things to people who are not scientists. From Bohr's model of the atom to NASA's photos of Earth, visuals help us understand science and medicine better. Graphs and slides show data and scientific ideas. Patterns in graphs help connect data to find important relationships. Photos are also useful for doctors to spot signs of diseases.

However, visuals can sometimes make things harder to understand. Two big problems for non-scientists are: 1. Visuals are not always used well in everyday scientific language. 2. Scientists sometimes don't know their audience and don't adjust their explanations.

To fix these problems, science communicators should focus on the user when designing visuals. This is called User-Centered Design. It makes sure the user can easily understand and use the visual. Another solution is for universities to teach "visual literacy" to science communication students. This helps them learn to understand, analyze, and create good visuals for science and medicine.

See also

In Spanish: Comunicación visual para niños