Visual Literacy

So you’ve used an image or two within an essay, but now you want to dig deeper into visual communication. Or, maybe you have a visual document that you need to analyze to see what it’s really saying. Visual Literacy tutorials define visual design elements and principles and provide examples of each.

LINE

SHAPE

LIGHT&DARK

SPACE&DEPTH

SPACE – 3 hunts

SPACE – 3 battles

SCALE

BALANCE

UNITY 1

UNITY 2

EMPHASIS

THE GRID

GRID of GRIDS

“Communicating with…” tutorials take the same design concepts used above, and show them in use in more media, such as film, print advertising, information visualization, architecture, and more…to give you a better idea of how each element communicates a message to the viewer.

Line: visualizing immigration

Document design: shape

Light and dark: histograms & cinema

Space & narrative: video games & art history

Balance: the shape of poetry

Unity: Jacob Lawrence

Emphasis: Alfred Hitchcock

Grid: transit maps, postmodern architecture