News & Updates

Visual Literacy: Effective Communication with Images

By Ted Fondak

September 22, 2015

The visual world is a key element of our human experience. Our ancestors painted compelling images on the walls of caves. Artists create representations along a continuum from abstract to literal, twining metaphors and allegories. Fruit-mongers arrange their wares by color and brightness to attract the most attention at the market. The advent of the moving picture created the powerful mediums of film and television.

These few examples hint at the sheer communicative potential of the image.

It’s customary in formal education to focus primarily on the analysis, interpretation, and generation of written texts. Therefore, a significant proportion of the population has limited experience with developing a fluency with communication in visual formats.

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it’s important to understand when it may be appropriate to harness a few pithy, powerful words or a moving, evocative image to communicate most effectively. Vital, too, is interpreting the significance of the choices that others make in crafting their messages. This pursuit is what is referred to as achieving a Visual Literacy.

It is a core mission of the Research and Instructional Design team to partner with faculty and students in the pursuit of effective visual communication.

Our staff and students are experienced in interpreting and creating still and moving imagery at all scales.
We work with finding and preparing images; short and lengthy videos; posters; animations; and more.
We offer in-class sessions and workshops and work with faculty to incorporate these exciting mediums in their classes.
We are particularly excited to help you in one-on-one and group sessions.

We can be your partners for any or every stage of the media creation process: brainstorming to design to creation to iteration. Reach out to us at course-support@hamilton.edu and/or stop by the information desk on the first floor of Burke Library -- we’ll look forward to helping you make your vision a reality. Just "Ask Us."

And, for those times during which we aren’t available, here is a sampling of our web-based resources to help you:

DESIGN RESOURCES