Review

Summarising Visual Texts

We live in an increasingly visual culture. From the icons on our phones to the billboards that line our streets, we are bombarded by logos, emojis and memes. That is not to say that visual texts are new. Indeed, some of the earliest recorded human texts are cave paintings and bone carvings.

Humans, it seems, like to make things for other people to look at. 

In this guide, we examined the techniques used by visual artists to best engage their audiences. To begin, we examined how the distance between the subject of an image, and the viewer gazing upon this subject, can be categorised by a number of conventional shot types. Then, we looked at the ways that artists can place the viewer at a high or low angle to reflect power dynamics within an image. 

Following this, we looked at the ways meaning can be communicated through lines, shapes, colour and lighting, all of which contribute to a salient focal point around the subject of the image. 

Equipped with this understanding of visual techniques we can better recognise, analyse and interpret the visual texts we come across in the classroom (and in our daily lives). 

Hopefully, we are also inspired to create our own visual texts that communicate ideas in meaningful and evocative ways. 

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED:
Visual Techniques Guide