VISUAL COMMUNICATION DESIGN

ASSIGNMENT 1

Fawn Ellis 4141571

María Hock 4141679
Christoph Magerl 4122739
Julián Zapata Mejía 4122658

goingvisual.blogspot.com
This report is intended to present the result of the analysis of four different images, by using the
tools provided in the chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 of book VISUAL THINKING FOR DESIGNER, written
by Colin Ware.
Up next, each image will be analyzed separately from others in order to identify and make
evidence of the theory given in the book. Although such theory is clearly connected to graphic
design and visual media, it can be also used for analyzing artistic images, which are the example
used in this case.
Chapter 1: Visual queries

One might assume seeing the painting in its whole detail and richness, as it is stored pixel by pixel
in the computer, but human visual perception acts very different. We perceive only what we call
attention to and we perceive detail only when we are interested in that particular detail. More,
the retina of our eye is built up in a way that enables fine grained perception only in the central
part of the retina, called the fovea. This further enhances the fact that we have only a very faint
perception of what we see at once. The reason for this very selective way of visual perception is
the fact that our visual world contains way too much information to be stored at once. Departing
from this faint perception we scan our visual field of interest to get the information we are
interested in. These scans are called visual queries. With these visual queries we, for instance,
identify the bridge in the center of the painting, then the water beneath it, the man chopping
wood on the right and so on until we can have identified the main items which make up the
painting: A gorge leading up into the high mountains and finally the blue sky. A man is chopping
wood besides the bridge and he maybe lives in the house which is visible in the background. There
is even smoke coming out of the chimney, revealing that there is currently someone living in the
house. This may be revealed in one of the later queries. And so, more and more queries will reveal
an even more detailed picture of the painting.
Hereby attention plays a key role. As stated earlier, we highly rely on attention when performing
these visual queries. When one, for instance, is particularly interested in the living conditions of
the man, human artifacts and traces may be the first choice to look at. This may be the bridge and
the house, its condition, age and stage of development and the man itself, his clothes and his way
of acting. In contrary attention could be also drawn to the beautiful nature, hence rather to the
trees, the water and the mountains. Then the man and the human artifacts would not be
perceived in particular. We see what we want to see. This can happen on certain different levels in
perceiving the painting. Attention via visual queries can be also drawn to the colors and drawing
techniques applied or simply the ration of the canvas, whereas information about the actual
figurative content of the painting would be neglected and also not stored in our memory.
Explained in more detail the visual queries we perform are guided by two main principles. The first
is the bottom-up process, where visual information is routed from the receptors of the retina
through the visual nerves sequentially to several processing regions in the brain. Starting with
plain information from the retina the first processing region, the V1 cortex, identifies simple
features like color differences, directions and movement. The information is handed over to the
V2 cortex where the simple features are combined to a bigger picture resulting in lines and
patterns, further processing areas in the brain then attach information and meaning to this
information resulting in an understanding of what we see and our ability to react on it. Directing
our gaze at the center of the painting the receptors of our retina would be excited by several
intensities and wavelengths of light. In the V1 cortex it could be identified that what we see is not
moving. Further there are clearly distinguishable directional areas separated by contrasting colors.
Once handed over to the V2 cortex it would be clear that there is an almost straight horizontal
line. Underneath there is a curve. Further the two lines are delimiting the brown area in between.
In further processing stages, it would be revealed that the brown thing is an object which is
connected to the ground bringing a creek. And therefor it will be connected to being a bridge,
which is something that we learned. Now that we would know that this is a bridge we can react on
that information, which brings us to the second principle, the top-down process. To get to know
specific things in the visual world we call attention to them. We do so by emphasizing features,
patterns or objects that came to our awareness in the bottom-up process. We can do this in every
of the processing stages presented before. When especially particularly interested in buildings
hidden in the picture we would most probably look for horizontal and vertical lines bordering a
rather consistently colored area. Hence knowledge from more up the perception pathway would
influence the functioning of rather simple processing unity below. So we can search for very
specific things in our visual world in an economic way, perceiving only what we need right now.
When searching something in particular, we do so in a pattern called nested loops. In the outer
loop we build up a search process to find visual information, in the middle loop we search for the
pattern by moving our eyes and in the inner loop finally we test the pattern we find for being what
we are searching for. At searching for a bridge in the painting this would result in first making a
sequence of eye movements to scan the picture plane. This can, for instance, be done in lines from
left to right and top to bottom as we read like this. Each time or eye stops we would try to identify
and judge the pattern we find. Iteratively we would try to identify patterns, move our eyes and
reconsider our search technique until we identify what we are searching for or abort the search.
Most probably in the middle of our search strategy, while having performed several loops of eye
movements and even more pattern tests, we would identify the pattern resembling the bridge we
were looking for.
Chapter 2: What we easily can see

The less time, energy and attention we have to assign to a visual search task, the easier objects or
features stand out from the overall visual field. As visual information is processed sequentially
from the rare information of the retina up to more complex levels of understanding, this means
that low-level features are far more easily to recognize in the first place. This low-level feature
analysis happens in the V1 and V2 cortex in the brain. Those processing areas are extremely
powerful parallel computing units processing simple features like angularity, hue, brightness,
motion and size in a part of a second. Therefor features and simple objects exciting those regions
in the brain are far easier to recognize than more complex ones not following these principles. In
the case of the painting the areas which first stand out may be the blue sky and white water
against the mostly dark picture. In this case the units for recognizing color or brightness would be
triggered. On the right side of the picture there are a lot of vertical lines, in later processing stages
to revealed as trees, which can be easily recognized with the help of processing units sensitive on
vertically directed features in the V1 and V2 cortex. And, even if the men working on the right side
are small in contrast to the whole canvas and their exact acting needs quite some effort to be
precisely identified, they can be easily detected as white spots against the dark ground. In contrary
the left side of the painting does not reveal rich information for the low-level detection areas
because it lacks contrast, color variation and clearly distinguishable lines. Movement which is the
most outstanding feature is missing in the whole painting, but is very efficiently used in modern
media.
Since we recognize those low-level features, we are aware of them and can tune our attention
towards a specific area of interest. But conversely we can also look for a special feature. This is
called biased competition. By looking at the painting the first time we could have been told to look
at the chimney. As a result we would like to look for vertical objects in the painting. Therefor our
brain enhances signals from the processing units, which are identifying vertical features. Hence in
competition with the other feature units the vertical ones are treated with a positive bias and the
others with a negative bias in contrary. This makes it much easier for us to recognize vertical
objects in the whole painting. More complex processing later would reveal that the vertical object
attached to the house and the smoke on top is a chimney and the vertical objects on the right are
just trees.
This biased competition makes it much easier for us to find information we are searching for,
because a large amount of visual information in fact is detected outside the fovea and is therefore
represented very precisely. While looking the sky in the picture we may be told that there is a
strange yellow spot on the picture. Even if outside the fovea we would detect the spot on the
bottom left and immediately look at it. This way, eye movement planning becomes even faster
and more efficient.
Simple elements popping out of the visual field greatly facilitate an easy perception of what is
important and facilitate orientation. But the ability of objects to stand out is limited to what can
easily be recognized by the V1 and V2 cortex as a low-level feature. A first ingredient for this is
contrast. The painter of this artwork skillfully uses contrast to let certain things pop out
immediately.
The dark bridge against the bright wall of the house, the dark mountains against the blue sky, the
tree trunks against the dark forest, the bright water against the surrounding grass and rocks and
the workers dressed in white against the forest. These elements already make up most of the
story: Two men working in the woods of a gorge not far from a bridge and a house while one can
clearly imagine the water running down the gorge. This is all managed means of contrasting
brightness, colour, shape and orientation or a combination of it. By combining those basic features
objects can stand out even more. Like the tree trunks which stand out in direction and colour. In
contrary the trees on the left are well hidden. There is only a small colour difference and the
bordering shapes are too complex to be immediately processed in a lower level. This also means
that if the surroundings are very rich in triggering a specific feature, the object to stand out has
either to stand out on a different feature or have even more exciting information on the same
feature. The painter has successfully avoided this over-use of outstanding features. Skilfully made
paintings may be a good example for intuitively using those low level features in an efficient and
pleasing way so that the picture is easily readable. A very cluttered image, where every item is
calling for utmost attention would not obtain much acceptance in the common sense of a
beautiful paining. In general it is easier to recognize a complex object in a set of simpler ones than
vice versa. The tree behind the bridge, for instance, calls for more attention than the neighbouring
trees on the left. In a set of bright sharply sketched trees a blurry darker one would stand out less,
simply because it would excite the processing units to a much lesser extent.
When searching a specific small object, like the man kneeling, in the painting it may not be visible
in the first place because it of lying in a low resolution field of the retina. In this case eye
movements of a specific search pattern scan the painting. First bigger distinguishable areas, as the
water, mountain or wood area, are searched, followed by smaller areas, like trees in the wood,
within them until the man is identified.
Chapter 5: Getting the information: visual space and time

Our visual space is detected on the retina in our eye. There a purely two dimensional picture,
spanned by the up and sideways dimensions, of our three dimensional space is created and
interpreted by the brain. Therefor the three-dimensional information, the towards-away
dimension, has to be extracted by the brain out of the two-dimensional information received from
the retina. Understandingly this is far more difficult and imprecise than the rich information that
can be drawn from the up and sideways dimensions. As a result out of a human perception the 3D
space can also be called 2,5D space, because the third dimension is not equally represented.

So called depth cues are used to derive the third dimension from the 2D image on the retina.
Although being a flat picture we are able to recognize what is shown in the painting as deep gorge
with plenty of objects with in a variety of sizes ranging from the vern near stump to the very far
mountains. We are doing this with two types of depth cues. Pictorial and non-pictorial depth cues.
Pictorial cues can be shown in a picture and are the ones that enable us to perceive depth in the
painting. The bridge, for example, is situated in front of the building and the tree is between the
building and the bridge. We can derive this from the occlusion of the two objects in reference to
the closest one. Closer objects in the painting, like the tree on the very left and the stump are
much bigger in relation to the trees behind the lumbermen. Those trees themselves are much
bigger than the ones behind the house. The painting heavily uses perspective as a cue to represent
the real space on front of the painter's eye. Both size gradients and texture gradients are used in
various places. A further strong cue is cast shadows. In the painting the artist largely uses shadows
to explain the direction of the light, which eventually created the feeling of the deep gorge where
light only reaches the right side, leaving the left side in darkness. But in case of the bridge the cast
shadow is also used to show how the object is connected to the ground which is a strong point of
using cast shadows. Shading in general gives a useful understanding of how objects may look like
in three dimensional space. The painter used shading with the rocks in the water, the tree tops
and tree trunks to explain their spatial characteristics. When we look the painting we see that
objects on the bottom are exclusively very near to the viewer and objects on the top are farther
away. This is because we are used to stand on a ground plane, thus above the horizon, where
farther objects automatically appear high in our visual area. This simple clue explains a large part
of spatial structure of the painting at hand. This is even exaggerated because the gorge is actually
inclining with distance. When we focus something in the real world objects more distant or closer
to the object in focus become blurred. This is because we have a limited depth of field. So if an
object above a perfectly sharp object is blurred, this gives us the clue that it is much farther away.
In the painting the tree behind the bridge is drawn very crispy. The trees behind the house in
contrary are very blurred, immediately revealing that they are farther away. The same accounts
for the rocks in the water in contrast to the mountain on the top. Along with the depth of focus
the physical phenomenon of the limited transparency of air can be used. As a result the world
around us loses contrast with distance. The painter applies this with the mountains in the
background which have significant less contrast than the rocks of approximately the same material
in the foreground. A further cue can be derived when comparing two objects. Without the men,
working on the right side, it would be very difficult to determine the size of the bridge. But in
comparison with the lumbermen this becomes very clear. It could even be guessed that the bridge
rises about five meters from above the water. When viewing three dimensional space, instead of a
picture depth can be also derived from stereoscopic depth, thus the different images from both
eyes, and structure from motion, where a turning object reveals its shape by providing a multitude
of viewing angles. The latter provides much more and precise depth information which makes
clear that two eye vision is not as important as assumed. It is in fact limited to objects in reach
distance. Therefor a painting with a combination of pictorial depth cues give us enough
information to imagine the three dimensional space.

Another way of pictorial representation 2.5D-design, where objects lie mostly on the picture plane
and some depth cues are giving some interesting depth to the picture. This is used in favor for
more clarity. The painter does quite the opposite by adding a variety of depth cues leading far
away from the picture plane to explain the realistic depth of the gorge. Therefor it becomes clear
that even the amount of the third dimension applied on a picture give an understanding of the
space represented.

A very different way to look at the painting would be with the theory of affordances. It says that
we constantly link objects with what we can afford with them. We can walk over the bridge
depicted in the painting whereas the stump and the rock in the foreground tell us that it is rather
dangerous to walk there. This can be further generalized by linking perception and action. This
linking is done in the where pathway in our brain, where visual information is connected with local
information which enables us to react on what we see. If linking and acting upon is easy to do this
is referred to low cognitive costs. Viewing the gorge by moving the eyes over the painting has
lesser cognitive costs then standing there and moving head and eyes.
Chapter 1: Visual Queries

The first impression about this image is clearly connected to the idea expressed by Colin Ware
about the messages given by an artist through his paintings, whose goals of visual thinking for fine
arts are about everything but clarity, so it is open for different interpretations. At first sight, the
image captures the viewer’s attention by driving him/her to look at the man in front of the picture
to conclude that the image is about religious imaginary, when ignoring that its origins are based in
Greek Mythology. It takes a few seconds to further analyze the image and find out different
elements that allow deducing the story behind it. The image is displayed so it is possible to retain
in focal attention only those pieces of information most likely to be useful, such as the man with a
wooden stick, a blurry monster and a landscape with river. Seeing is all about attention, so when
analyzing in detail the image as a whole it is possible to see how the process known as the Act of
perception becomes more explicit.

When analyzing the image while making the Bottom-up process obvious, it allows the viewer to
identify the elements of the whole composition: beyond the image of the man, the artist seeks to
tell a complete story which is framed in a context with the participation of other characters. Size,
position/depth, color and landscape are key elements to analyze.

Up front, it is possible to see the man as the powerful and dominant character; the so called
pattern process allows identifying that what seemed to be wings is actually the skin of a lion,
reinforcing the hero character of Hercules. Such skin also has an important role as it plays around
the body of the man in order to discreetly provide the censure for his naked body with one of the
lion’s feet. Second, in order to give the message of humanity, the man is provided with a stick,
which could be less than heavy to defeat a monster but, at the same time, reinforces the idea of
super-human power. Up next, behind the Hero, there is the monster which turns out to be a Hydra
or seven-headed snake. In this case, depth plays an important role, due to the size impression it
creates around the monster and the greatness it gives to the hero. Another important aspect at
this level of the image is the differentiation through texture and color created between the
monster and the hero, which becomes evident in order to balance light between both characters
and differentiate evil from good, as well as it is also part of the background where everything is
happening, so the battle happens in the wilderness so the rest of the land will be safe.
Finally, but not less important, the background becomes a key factor in order to state the
importance of both characters, as well as it is a result of a game with perspective which outcome is
the exaltation of the Hero and the Monster as fighters for power and examples of it, so they look
bigger not by position or perspective, nor as an arbitrary decision of the painter, but as a real
intention of god’s power.

Different to a graphic which is intended to communicate something specific, this painting shows a
story full of visual queries that come after viewing it for the first time. That’s the reason why by
slowly analyzing it, all the aspects create a whole that allows telling a complete story in one single
moment.
Chapter 3: Structuring Two-Dimensional Space

Colin Ware explains that during the process, the mental act of looking for certain patterns makes
them stand out more distinctly, however in the case of this painting, seems like the artist doesn’t
exactly want all the patterns to be easily discovered. Also, in the book it is also claimed that one of
the most important aspects related to the structure of the two-dimensional space in the picture is
the fact that the only clear contour a viewer can easily identify corresponds to the human figure.
That’s why not only its position at the center of the canvas makes it the main character, but its
very well defined shape differentiates it from the rest of the visual elements. Such effect is the
result of a clear establishment of the generalized contour; its boundaries are set based on color,
shape, and texture -flesh-, as well as the use of more light, so the hero appears to be carefully
highlighted in comparison to the rest of the picture and is easier to identify, especially in
comparison to the monster.

The painting shows important examples of what the establishment of feature level differences
means for an artistic or visual composition. It has been now discussed the fact that the hero
appears highlighted, however, the painting clearly intends to show how the monster is defeated.
First, the dragon doesn’t have a clear contour definition, so that is why in the beginning the viewer
doesn’t really understand what the shape is about and it is not easily identifiable. Second, the fact
that some of its seven heads have been cut off, takes off power from it so the hero becomes all-
mighty in the scene. Third, the ground where the fighters appear to be standing is a sort of
representation of a battle field in the wilderness where despite the presence of the hero, the
fallen heads of the monster seem to get lost as the feature level differences –texture and color-
are not recognizable at first sight. This is related to the theory explained about the fact that such
feature level differences should be maximized in order to reduce the visual interference, so the
patterns can be more easily identified in the image.

It also helps to make the contours better activated, as it happens with the hero or, for instance,
the heaven in the background, which establishes a clear difference with the ground. Possibly
reinforcing the idea of half god-half man, sky and ground are divided in two halves of the canvas
and the blue color makes clear contrast with the shape of the hero, while the ground can be
sometimes confused with the colors of the monster. When analyzing this aspect of the painting, it
is also deducible the fact that the artist tries to demonstrate how gods will prevail. Not being
precisely a religious topic, the patterns of the painting give a clear message of heaven as
representation of might and good, as well as the landscape and the monster are shown as earthly
subjects of such power.
Chapter 5: Getting the Information: Visual Space and Time

As stated in the book, depth is perceived in ways that are radically different from the way patterns
in the image plane are perceived. The brain determines relative distance by means of depth cues
such as occlusion, shape from shading, and linear perspective. Most depth cues consist of
environmental information that we use to judge distances from our particular viewpoint. In the
case of Hercules and the Hydra, it is easy to identify the depth cues even without having a 100%
correct use of perspective or depth representation.

Oclussion:
The hero appears in front of the image, standing as the main character of the story, behind him,
there are the monster, the land with the river and, finally, the sky. As stated in the book, this
pictorial depth cue is clearly used as a metaphor for rank-ordering information so the less
important information is occluded, still allowing the viewer to identify the characters and the
context of the story. The order of the elements in the image would be then:
1. Hero
2. Monster
3. Landscape with river
4. Sky

Perspective:
Although is not correctly developed, perspective is presented as a matter of size gradients
showing, particularly, the river running to the horizon in order to give the sensation of depth,
greatness of the hero and long distance from certain land as the background of the fight, as well as
to show both characters’ power and importance.

Degree of contrast:
As discussed based on chapter 3, this is an important and very relevant aspect the artist has used
in this case. Again, here it comes the idea of the Hero as the best contrasted graphical element of
the whole image, in order to increase his hierarchy in relation to the rest of the elements. The
effect is then that his contour, the texture of his skin and light are better defined in comparison to
other elements, such as the lion skin, the monster or, even when well defined, the landscape and
the sky
Chapter 2: What we can easily see.

Despite its capabilities, the human brain is not able to store every image we see during the visual
process; our attention focuses on a specific area after a general scan of its surroundings; with this
information the brain is able to partly reconstruct the whole scene where the surroundings appear
as blurry whereas the specific spot is stored in high quality so we can see it clearly.
From this basis, when graphically communicating ideas, the viewers attention should be drawn
into the specific areas considered as the main focus of the whole picture; popping out techniques
such as color or shape contrast are often used for this purpose.
On the image, by Alain Le Quernec, which is being analyzed, color contrast is an important tool
used to draw the viewer’s attention into the index finger. What can be read in the bottom right
corner gives an idea of the designer’s intention “10 years leaving track (qui travaille depuis 10 ans
a trogour huella)”. The red fingertip catches the viewer into the whole message of the poster by
using high color contrast, red over blue and black.
In general, the poster is a mixture of color contrast; based on a light blue and white background
even the small hairs pop out from the hand shape itself. In addition, the small picture on the
bottom right corner stands out by using basic geometrical shapes that do not follow the same line
as the hand or the text and once again pop out thanks to color contrast.
The poster gives a good idea about the viewing process itself; firstly, eye motion is used for a
general scan where small details, like the non-bold text, are not “entirely seen”; at first sight, the
viewer is not aware of what is written. In contrast the hand, as a central element on the image, is
easily recognized during this stage.
Following the scan, a second step of the viewing process takes place: eye movement control;
through this stage, the observer “plans and executes” eye movement patterns. New targets are
identified based on their shape, color, orientation, size, etc; a better picture of the whole image is
built. From this moment, poping out elements are highly detected by the observer.
On the poster, outstanding objects such as the geometrical figures and the fingertip itself call for
attention as they lay on different layers than the background or the hand. The same feeling is
gotten by the bold text itself; because it contrasts with the white background is easier to read than
the non-bold letters. Important information was placed to stand out during this stage of the
process such as event name and location as well as its main intention, which is represented by the
red fingertip.
Thirdly, a final stage takes place: pattern testing; during this step, the eye focuses on appealing
targets to prove if they are interesting or not. A more conscious analysis process is done with the
image being looked at. In this case, the non-bold text gets extra attention as well as the hairs on
the hand and the white text following the hand line.
As said, the visual process develops from a quick scan into detail analysis of the images; with it, the
brain is able to focus on the main target while creating a “blurry” picture of the surroundings.
Therefore, and as seen on the poster, designers can use the essentials of the viewing process as a
start basis in order to communicate an idea with a main intention, which in this case became the
poping out elements on a multilayer image.
Chapter 4: Color

Unlike many animals, humans have the ability to have a color vision. This is the result of having
two light waves’ receptors, rods and cones, specialized on black & white and color vision
respectively. Light waves are processed by the neurons and transformed in three color opponent
channels: red-green, yellow-blue and black-white; which allows humans to be highly sensitive to
these color contrasts.
The image illustrates this basic theory with a simple black and white contrast between the right
half background of the picture and the hand itself. Even the smallest details, like the hairs, stand
out and are easy to distinguish by the viewer; black & white give the most extreme contrast
possible. The same principle is used with the triangle; a yellow figure over layering the blue
background gives a perfect example of how color-opponent channels achieve high contrast
catching the attention.
As for the hues, the poster keeps it “clean” by using basic colors (black, white, red, yellow and
blue) achieving a special meaning; according to the opponent process theory, these colors are
generated by a strong signal on one of the channels while the remaining two continue neutral.
Because of this, the colors are highly expressive, even on verbal communication (referring to Brent
Berlin and Paul Kay studies, they are the most commonly used colors no matter what the
language). One may say that the poster takes advantage of this characteristic because it allows a
connection between what the viewer is looking and what he/she can verbally express.
In addition to the chromatic channels, the luminance channel also takes place during viewing. This
channel has a bigger ability to transmit information than the color channels; luminance can
process shape from shading. Nevertheless, the image does not use this channel to transmit
information and 2D shapes are utilized with no depth created by shadows; the poster remains
clear with the use of simple objects and symbols like the geometrical shapes and a solid color hand
figure.
On the other side, the poster does use saturated colors, which is a result of using the unique hues
mentioned above. Once again, these basic colors used on the proper manner turn into popping
out images or figures. It is obvious that the poster intends to highlight certain shapes or parts of
the whole. The “bleeding” fingertip is the clearest example.
In addition, the image of the hand itself layered over a two-color background allows us to
understand color contrast as a way of highlighting objects or defining a contour. Although black
and blue do not generate high contrast, the high lightness being used on the blue, together with
high saturation, results into clear distinction of the shape vs. the background; nevertheless, the
other half of the background illustrates a higher color contrast. Together, it results into a clear
picture of the hand shape.
A similar situation is found on the text located at the lower corner. High contrast is achieved by
using bold letters; with it, the viewer’s attention is drawn to the main pieces of information which
the image intends to highlight and emphasize. In order to read the rest of the text (non-bold
letters) the observer has to dedicate longer time into focusing and reading it
Using basic unique hues, clear color contrasts and pop out objects, the designer of the Alain Le
Quernec poster ensures that the message is being clearly transmitted, even with those differences
that people may have when seeing colors.
Chapter 7: Visual and verbal narrative

Alain le Quernec's image can be seen as a graphic form of communication which joins both
language and visual representation. In general, this two ways of expression vary on the thinking
process behind them. According to Colin Ware, language, whereas written, verbal or signed, is an
abstract representation of the world itself. This means that when referring to an object, the word
(written or spoken) or sign used for it may be far from the actual object itself. On the other hand,
visual representation maintains logic between the viewing pattern, the space and the object; the
information is processed by the visual system by pattern finding.
The picture being analyzed contains both forms of expression supporting one to each other in
order to communicate the designer’s idea and the necessary information being presented. On this
case, it is notorious that the visual form of communication is stronger. This is shown on the
bottom right corner where text is used in order to inform the viewer about the event being
advertised; the lyrics are placed on the inferior corner, which, if you think about the occidental
reading pattern (from left to right and top to bottom), could be considered as the 'last scanned'
area when the viewer gives the image a first look. Despite having high color contrast with the
background, the text's size and font do not catch the observer’s attention at first sight.
This manner of arranging objects on the image is not a coincidence. In general, graphic designers
have to consider pattern construction during the visual process; just as when watching a motion
film, where the camera guides the viewer, Images should be composed in order for the observer
to follow a pattern in a certain order.
In the poster itself the pattern is well determined by contrast and layering; the size of the hand
defines it as a central element which is captured at first look. From that point on, color contrast on
the fingertip catches the viewer's attention to it followed by the popping out colored geometrical
shapes and finally, bold and non-bold text.
This way of directing the viewer can be compared with film framing; during motion pictures
framing is used to caption and control what the audience is looking at. This idea is supported by
the visual process; because the eye works by focusing on one point and the brain has low
capability of visual memory, prediction of patterns takes place and motion paths can be traced by
the designer.
The background itself plays an important role; according to Colin Ware 'anything that is visually
distinctive, but irrelevant, is an invitation to viewers to switch their attention'; this means it should
not distract the viewer in order to maintain the focus on the main idea. On the poster, because the
background uses basic, highlighted colors, it invites the observer to pay attention into the
outstanding objects such as the fingertip, the geometric shapes and bold text.
It can be said that question and answer patterns (Q&A) are constructed by the author of the
illustration in order to guide the viewer through it; because of the fingertip's color contrasts with
the whole image itself, the observer's attention is captured and the question, about what the idea
of the picture is, is planted. From there, the previously explained guided pattern is followed and
the observer questions the connection between the bold text and the picture itself. Once the less
highlighted lyrics are read, links are built and a final resolution takes place in order to give a full
meaning to the image. In the end, the viewer itself discovers the meaning of the poster and
acquires the necessary information being displayed on it: Alain Le Quernec's exhibition, ten years
leaving track, Nantes, May the second to June 21 1
Original image with contrasting colors Altered image to reflect chromatic colors
At first glance, the image above looks like a pair of sausages for a store advertisement, but why do
we perceive them as such? How are we able to identify the sausages? How do the colors help us in
understanding the image and how do visuals help us perceive a conclusion? I will aim to answer
these questions by looking at pattern recognition, color perception and visual/verbal narrative.
In the real world we encounter several different types of objects, which in turn are various shapes.
In order for us to make sense of these shapes our brains must bind together the bits and pieces
that formulate them. These necessary bits are; luminance, color, motion and texture. Once these
are bound together, our brain perceives the shape.
This shape however, is abstract until we can identify it. Upon seeing an object, our brains search
for information from past experiences that is already stored and synchs the object to existing
knowledge, but let’s say we are missing this information, then what? We resort to actions linked
by hand and eye movements that can be associated with the object, for example, eating or
cooking a sausage, scanning a price tag at check out. Our brains scan the pattern, which includes
color, luminance, motion and texture to produce a generalized contour or a solid outline of the
object. In the case of the above image, our brains drew an outline of the sausages and price tags. If
there were interference like a textured background it would need the contour or outline to discern
the sausages and price tags from the rest of the image.
So now we have a contour, but the sausages are laying on each other. How do we perceive these
as two sausages and not just one strange reddish brown shape? Again, it goes back to color,
luminance, motion and texture. The sausages are shaded in such a way that breaks them apart.
Have you noticed the pattern of the image is easy to comprehend? We don’t have to repeatedly
scan the object to make sense of it. This is due to the simplicity of the pattern. Our brains can only
process two to three chunks of information at a single time. If the object is complex it will take
several scanning’s and perhaps several seconds or minutes to understand the object. If the pattern
is simple, we can understand it in less than a second.
Color is an important factor in perception. For example, it can help us find patterns in data or give
us queues about how to move about our lives, such as, red; a warning indicator in the western
world.
Our eyes are made of rods and cones, which give us the ability to see at night and during the day.
At the same time our eyes have three channels that process color. These are: red-green, yellow-
blue, black-white. These channels allow us to process contrasting or chromatic colors.
Contrast, which is most strongly experienced with black and white, allows us to see the difference
between a color and its surroundings. The brain is sensitive to differences in colors. For example,
the price tags in the original image above are easy to see, because they are on a light, almost
white background with contrasting details, however, the price tags of the chromatic, red and
green, image lose their detail due to the lack of contrasting colors. The sausages, on the other
hand, are easy to make out in the chromatic image and that is because our brains can pick up large
shapes of color without the need of light to decipher them.
The luminance channel, which allows us to see lightness and brightness, plays a role in our ability
to see the difference between colors, mainly through detail. In the case of the sausages, our
luminance channel is able to process the shape from the pattern of light and dark shading, which
allows us to see the depth of the sausages and a clear distinction that these are indeed two
sausages on the plane. Because of the large variance of colors, due to luminance in the original
image, we are able to pick up a significant amount of information about the object. The chromatic
image lacks this detail, because it illustrates large blocks of color that interfere with luminance.
Text is also affected by luminance. In much the same as the sausages, a large shape in chromatic
color is easy to identify, however, small text is another story. The stronger the luminance or
contrast in colors between background and object the bigger signal our brains receive in
processing the information. For example, the text of the price tag on the bottom in the original
image is easier to make out or see, because black text is used against a white background and vice
versa for the top tag. The text in the price tags of the chromatic image is lost, because there is not
a strong color variance.
Just like our brains search for patterns of an object to perceive it, so does our brain utilize
narrative pattern to understand the context. Narrative is language and language can be a mixture
of symbols and grammar.
Visual designs are a hybrid of the language system and they contain aspects of visual pattern
finding as mentioned earlier. Furthermore, visual logic is made up of pattern, object and space or
the layout of objects and patterns (Collin Ware, 131). Narrative not only utilizes visual logic, but it
is built on three components; establishing a problem, elaborating a problem and solving a
problem. This is either done through a moving image or a series of visuals. Since, our eyes can only
process one pattern at a time and our brains can only keep track of four items at maximum, it is
important for the author to capture the audience and keep them captivated, walking the viewer
from moment to moment so they understand the sequence or information being conveyed to
them (Ware, 138-139). This is most important to film or cartoons. For still images the viewer has
more exploratory freedom, but this does not mean there should not be order to the narrative.
As for the sausages, the viewer, unlike the frame sequence of a film or comic strip, is free to
explore the visuals and space in whatever order they may dream. Additionally, unlike a diagram,
there are no symbols such as arrows, numbers, order of letters or directive lines that could
provide a set sequential order that leads to a solid conclusion, but that is not to say a narrative is
missing. The viewer can use the image of sausage, tag and text to conceive a short-term prediction
using the pattern recognition through hand and eye movement experiences thus making sense of
what the image represents. The important aspect of this image is that it is simple, therefore,
making the sequence of exploration quick. It does not require several scans of the eye to take in
the object as a whole, a prediction or conclusion can be drawn fairly quickly and does not become
an agonizing experience of trying to piece together complex information. The image presents
symbols, which are a form of language that can speak to us. The symbolic aspect is a sales tag,
suggested by the string and text on the tag. This may lead the viewer to the prediction or
conclusion of sales or advertising of sausages, unfortunately, we cannot read the text, which
leaves us in a predictive state.
Through pattern recognition, color and narrative a viewer can comprehend what they are seeing
and its meaning. The sausages illustrate easy pattern recognition through simplicity of shape. In
other words, the viewer does not need to repeatedly scan the image to makes sense of it.
Contrasting colors give forth the details necessary to comprehend a clear pattern and recognition
of that pattern. Lastly, the simple image with a recognizable symbol of tag, string and text elicits a
narrative that can be solved through exploration via hand and eye movement pattern recognition.
The conclusion; these sausages are being sold.