What is code? We think of computers and confusing combinations of words, letters and number that make up a website, or a GIF, right? I substitute teach and in one 7th grade math class, I taught code. It is so relevant nowadays that adolescents are learning it.

Well in Chapter 3 of Visual Communication, Analogical Code is talking about images. Codes are signs that create a picture’s narrative, their story.

For example, take this chair. It just looks like a really freaking uncomfortable place to sit. It looks like what fancy people would have at their kitchen tables. It looks like what I would sling jackets over and books on.

So if you take a little bit longer of a look at it, what do you see?

I see a wine glass where the back is.

I see two noses almost touching.

I see a sort of grasshopper platypus mutation, ready to pounce.

There could be an infinite amount of images and narratives you could give this one simple item; a chair.

I was struck in one of Longwood’s buildings, their chair cushions seemed to all have faces on them. Since then, I’ve kind of looked for narratives in chairs that I might never have thought about before.

Except scary ones, those are just scary.

References:

Lester, P. M. (2014). Visual communication: Images with messages (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning.

From when we were little kids, at least in America, we learn (hopefully) to read and write from left to right, top to bottom. The same way that you’re most likely reading this post. I bet your eyes are drawn to the image just below this paragraph and that was kind of the point.

This photograph is very much real, in the depths of Hawaii oceans. The sunset is beautiful and the look of knowing that the sun is going down while the waves crash onto the shore is breathtaking. If you’ve been to the beach, you may associate this photo with a memory. You may hear the sound of seagulls, smell the salt in the air, or feel a Corona and lime touch your lips.

This photograph was taken to show movement. Where do your eyes go? What are they drawn to? Mine are the clouds but then I look at the wave and it captures me all over again. The color that is shown in the clouds is also another cool aspect of the movement in the photograph. The horizontal line keeps our eyes looking on the scene and then where the wave ends and begins seems to show us the vanishing point.

“We see not with our eyes but with signs and symbols in our brain” -Dr. A. H. 

Photo by: Robbie Vallad

Welcome to Longwood Blogs. This is my first post. Let’s get blogging!  

I have created this blog for my COMM 340 class, Visual Communication. It’s all about theory and analysis of human perception, stereotypes, color, and principles of design. I will apply learned theories to various print and digital media. I am so excited and thanks for joining me.

We learned about literal and symbolic components of an image. What are those? Literal components are just that, they are what you see, literally. There’s no inference or assumptions, that’s the symbolic part of a visual. It’s what you think you see, what the photo wants, or doesn’t want, you to see.As you can see, quite literally, these are pieces, looking like pawns from a chess game. That’s what I saw at first. You see that they are on the ground, they are all the same color and shape.

As for the symbolic components, I see a person standing out from a crowd of people that are all of the same. I see someone that is breaking off and being free, they are being judged and stared at. I see a bunch of people in robes. There can be so many meanings behind this photo.

WHAT DO YOU SEE???