Visual Communication Design in Media

Overview

Visual communication design in media is the process of using pictorial, graphical, and formatting elements in a way that complements and enhances the message being conveyed through the medium of choice. Visual elements have always been a central aspect of communication, leading some to posit that visual details are the most powerful elements of communication (Pajaczkowska, 2016). This may very well be true, as reflected in the idiom, "A picture is worth a thousand words." Messages have been communicated visually from ancient times in cultures throughout the world. The rise of the digital age has brought about a drastic increase in the utility of and focus on the visual aspects of communication. Messages can now be communicated through a range of visually oriented media (including print media, digital media, and film) and distributed widely across the Internet using websites and various social media platforms.

Visual communication design is not limited to media that use visual elements as their primary mode of communication. For example, a poster in a museum may be composed almost entirely of words. However, the chosen illustration will help to show the era during which the event in the poster took place. A sepia background may help reinforce the age of the subject being discussed. The font itself may give a clue as to the poster's intended audience—a playful font may be used to attract a younger audience and a more rigid font may be used to encourage serious academic consideration.

Visual cognition (i.e., the recognition of these cues) is primarily a subconscious process and has been of great interest to researchers in the fields of neurology, psychology, education, and fine arts. Although neurologists have spent decades trying to understand how sight is processed by the brain (Cavanagh, 2011), more is known about the feelings and reactions evoked by visual cues than the neural pathways responsible for prompting these feelings and reactions. While much research is still required to narrow the gap in understanding why images are processed in particular ways, this does not negate the truth that the human brain innately responds to visual elements. Since many of these responses are predictable, visual elements can be carefully planned so that they support instead of contradict the intended meaning of a verbal or written message.

In a comprehensive review of visual communication, Lester (2013) explains four important cues: movement, color, form, and depth. Movement is used to engage the audience. While real movement is easily expressed in film, it can also be implied in still images through techniques such as blurring of the background or capturing an act that is associated with continued movement, like a push-up. Colors are used in a variety of ways. For example, some colors can be inherently symbolic. Blue is often associated with water and the sky, whereas red is associated with passion, whether it is positive in the case of love or negative in the case of anger. Color choices should complement the tone of the communicated message. A happy message for instance would be complimented better by a colorful, bright image than a monotone, dark image. Colors can also be used for visual contrast, especially in logo design. A few complementary colors on a contrasting background will effectively highlight the visual elements of the logo, making it more memorable. However, colors that are too similar may make the elements difficult to distinguish between. Similarly, colorblindness can make certain colors (such as red and green) difficult to tell apart. Color should be used in ways that excite and intrigue the viewer while not appearing to be overwhelmingly busy.

Form, like color, can also be symbolic. Curves are often associated with the natural or the feminine whereas angles are associated with order and the masculine. Form and shape can lend their symbols to a message, complementing and reinforcing it. For example, a curving road through a forest filled with trees and light may evoke relaxation. A straight road through a barren landscape may reinforce the feeling of an arduous, endless journey.

Depth is important for increasing the three-dimensional appearance of a two-dimensional surface. Creating this illusion requires using space, size, color, lighting, texture, interposition, time, and perspective (Lester, 2013). Without depth, the audience will be left with a visually and emotionally flat image. While many of the depth elements mentioned by Lester (2013) are related to the visual aspects of design, perspective relates both to physical depth perception and emotional and social perception. The focus or angle from which an image is viewed can reinforce or comment on social perceptions. For example, the brain interprets a central, larger figure as being socially dominant over other figures in the frame. In older print advertisements, men often filled that point of focus, reinforcing to viewers the dominant role men played in society. Women are being featured more frequently in that central focal point, mirroring society's shifting perception of gender roles.

Using these visual cues (movement, color, form, and depth), an effective visual message can be designed. Emphasis on different design elements have changed over time. While older examples of print advertising relied on bold, bright fonts to declare a message, advertising has become more and more reliant on illustrations, either in the form of drawings or photographs. This is considered by some to be a more subtle, more persuasive version of advertising. Also, depth has been used more and more frequently, with allusions to popular culture and political situations occurring regularly in modern advertising. For example, Nando's, a popular fast-food company started in South Africa, often comments on South Africa's political and social climate. In the beginning of one of their advertisements, they explain that foreigners are ruining South Africa (Gander, 2015). One by one, they show all of the diverse cultures in South Africa disappearing in puffs of smoke. The advertisement ends with "Real South Africans love diversity" and an introduction to two new menu items. This advertisement poignantly and satirically illustrates and comments on xenophobia in South Africa and the world.

While visual cues can come together in a multitude of ways to design a number of types of messages, designers must also keep in mind the context in which their design is being displayed. Designs must attract or appeal to the target audience in a way that recognizes that audience's unique perceptions. This often necessitates the conscious design of effective, appropriate prototypes. A visual prototype is an image that a large number of people would associate with an idea or concept. Take the word "house" as an example. While all houses are inherently different, a rectangle with an angled roof, a door, and two windows would convey "house" effectively to many people regardless of income, culture, or age. This prototype of "house" can then be modified to fit a purpose and target a specific type of audience. If an architectural firm is advertising their services as remodelers of older houses, they would not want to include photos or visual elements that imply that they work on modern houses. Much of the research that goes into designing visuals that enhance a message revolves around designing appropriate prototypes that both communicate to as wide an audience as possible and match with the brand of communicator.

Appropriate use of visual cues can create an effective image to complement verbal and written communication or even deliver its own message in the absence of words. The digital age has made the use of visual design more and more important with communication through the visual means occurring every second of every day through media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram, not to mention more traditional media outlets such as print media and television.

Applications

Of all the possible avenues for incorporating visual communication in media, the most ubiquitous use is for branding. Brand identity can be used to promote a product, service or company using traditional models, or it can be used in more modern applications, such as promoting a place (e.g., small towns; Hudson, Cárdenas, Meng & Thal, 2016) or a person (e.g., Olympic athletes, Geurin-Eagleman & Burch, 2016). In the past, branding was often thought of in terms of a logo or slogan used to identify a unique product or company. While this form of branding is still valuable and requires thought and research to design a compelling combination of visual and written material, branding has grown to incorporate a suite of visual elements to communicate a brand's "personality" (Kelly, 2017).

The personality of a brand is visible in its advertisements, in the website of the company or entity, and in what the company or entity shows the public on various social media platforms. To develop a cohesive brand, all written and visual elements associated with that brand must align. For example, a clothing store specializing in outdoor wear would want a logo and a slogan that conjures the natural environment. The advertising could feature photographs displaying clothing being worn outside. Employees might opt to engage with the brand of the company by posting photos at work or photos of themselves outdoors. These would need to be managed to ensure that images associated with the company aligned with the company's brand. The CEO posting a photo of herself at a formal dinner party would not align as well with the company's image as a photo of a casual employee on a hiking trip.

Brands can also be developed by individuals for self-promotion. Personal branding involves showcasing a public persona through social media. One of the most visual ways to develop a personal brand is through Instagram, a social media outlet that primarily uses photographs as a method of communication. While some Instagram users post photos in a way that does not form a cohesive identity, users who present a strong, focused personal image have gained more followers and more recognition. By carefully selecting images for their content and aesthetic quality, anyone, from athletes to lifestyle bloggers, celebrities to high school students, can establish a strong public identity that they can then use for promotion, whether they are promoting their skills to find work or promoting their interests to gain public support for a cause.

Nature conservation organizations have benefitted tremendously from the explosion of available visual media platforms. It can be hard to effectively describe nature and its importance in the absence of images. In the past, conservation organizations would use their limited resources to run costly print advertisements to try to engage the public. Now, the ways of showing what is happening in the natural environment are limitless. The fight against single-use plastics has been promoted using videos of divers swimming through once pristine environments now clogged with trash. Animal extinction has been combatted by showing the public the animals that need protection instead of relying on telling stories of their plight. These efforts are effectively selling the importance of conservation to the public through carefully designed visual communication across a plethora of available media platforms.

Issues

If a picture is worth a thousand words, designers need to be sure they are not wasting those words on the wrong message. For example, in early 2018, the clothing store H&M released an advertisement of a Black child wearing a t-shirt with the text "Coolest monkey in the jungle" on the front. There was a public outcry criticizing H&M for racism (Stack, 2018). While H&M apologized and withdrew the advertisement, this was not the first time they had been accused of racist advertising. When H&M launched in South Africa, consumers in the country immediately noticed a lack of Black models in the advertisements. Although H&M apologized for both of these instances and attributed them largely to oversite, the brand is now associated with these images of racism. Digital media is not as easily discarded as print media. Images associated with a brand can quickly spread. Once they spread, they never truly go away, making it all the more important to be thoughtful about the visual elements of design.

The use of prototypes in visual communication design can be intensely problematic, especially when it comes to prototypes associated with people. It can be difficult to represent a prototype of a person without crossing the line from prototype into stereotype. On the one hand, prototypes can be helpful in providing cognitive shortcuts to the brain. The brain will accept the visual premise being built if the presented image matches with the imagined prototype (Haake & Gulz, 2008). On the other hand, representing people that align with socially constructed stereotypes can reinforce and compound these stereotypes in ways that are discriminatory. For example, if a university placed an advertisement where a professor of mathematics was presented as formally dressed older man, this image may match the prototype many people think of when they think "mathematics professor." However, this prototype might be so stereotypical that it would not be sensitive to or reflective of the diverse student body found on many campuses. Finding a visual solution that is true enough to a prototype while avoiding stereotypes that reinforce discrimination based on gender, race, age, ability, and so on are ongoing challenges for designers of visual communication.

Combatting discrimination requires not only effort and acknowledgement on the part of the designer, but also critical engagement on the part of the viewer. Unfortunately, advances in visual communication have happened so quickly that designers are given little time to consider the impact of new images in new contexts. The rapid ascent of visual communication has also meant that available pedagogies quickly become irrelevant. This gap is particularly apparent in visual literacy in K-12 education.

Whether they mean to or not, young adults are developing personal brands for themselves on their various online social media accounts. This brand will have an impact not only on a social and personal level but also on a professional level. If a young college student posts a photo of themselves drunk at a party, this may harm their chances of employment should a potential employer find these photos. Sharing or reposting misleading images may also damage one's "brand" as being a knowledgeable, trustworthy source of information. There have been many cases where tweets said by one person have been altered to attribute the quote to another Twitter (now X) user. Distributing misattributed quotes or other incorrect images can promote a public image of untrustworthiness. Furthermore, as with H&M, the images individuals choose to associate themselves with are likely to have a lasting impact. The longevity of these impacts makes visual literacy crucial to personal and professional well-being in the digital age.

Bibliography

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