VISUAL THEORIES and VISUAL PERSUASION
Up to this point we’ve covered:
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The physiology of how we see
The process our brain goes through when filtering and storing images
The VISUAL CUES that the brain “sees” most effectively – FORM, DEPTH,
MOVEMENT and COLOR
Review brain cues!
+NOW: build on those visual cues and begin exploring the way we see from a
THEORETICAL angle.
+Several approaches that help explain the way we see and process images., developed by
psychologists, philosophers, and practitioners
+Some approaches are more focused on physiology, or visual sensation.
*SENSUAL theorists mainly study VISUAL SENSATION
+nerves’ reaction when they receive outside stimulus and send it to the
brain.
+All about explaining how direct or mediated images are composed of
light objects that attract or repel us.
*PERCEPTUAL theorists: more concerned with the WAY WE SEE AND PROCESS
IMAGES
+focus on the meaning we associate with the DIRECT or MEDIATED
images we see.
+To understand any of these approaches to visual communication — first know the
difference between visual sensation and visual perception.
+ visual sensation: stimulus from the outside world that activates nerve cells within
your sense organs.
+Wood burning in a fireplace: sight smell hearing touch
+Sensations: lower order, physical responses to stimuli and convey no meaning on
their own
+.Nerve cells in your ears, nose, hands, and eyes do not have the capacity to make
intelligent thoughts. They are simply conveyors of information to the brain.
+When stimuli reach the brain, it can make sense of all the sensual input.
+Conclusions based on those data are almost instantaneous— brain interprets
sounds, smells, temperatures, and sights as a fire in a fireplace.
+ Sensations are the raw data.
+Visual perception is the meaning concluded by the brain after it receives visual
sensual stimuli.
(That was perception theory)
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SENSUAL Theory
SUB-THEORIES – GESTALT
 GESTALT: Human perception is the result of all your sensory organs gathering
information and sending it to your BRAIN to make sense of it.
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GERMAN GUY who originated this theory was named MAX WERTHEIMER
and his work was later refined by visual psychologists who concluded that
 SEEING is the result of organizing all the sensual elements
(FIRE CRACKLING) in the scene into four groups that have
to do with:
THE PSYCHOLOGY of what our brain does when you register a scene:
 FIRST “LAW” OF GESTALT has to do with SIMILARITY:
-- Given a choice, your brain will select the simplest and most stable form to
concentrate on..
 SECOND “LAW” OF GESTALT has to do with PROXIMITY:
-- The brain more closely associates objects that are closer to each other, than
objects that are farther apart.
 THIRD “LAW” OF GESTALT has to do with CONTINUATION:
 The brain doesn’t prefer sudden or unusual changes in the movement of a line.
It SEEKS a smooth continuation of a line. DRAW >>>>>-------------<<<<<<<
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FOURTH “LAW” OF GESTALT is called the FIGURE/GROUND
principle:
-- Has to do with how our eye groups visual information and notices one piece of
an image or another (FED EX LOGO, VASE DRAWING, MINIBLINDS
IMAGE).
CONSTRUCTIVISM: (the second sub-theory of the SENSUAL school of thought).
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Trying to justify some of the GESTALT theories with fancy science.
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They use EYE-TRACKING machines to register the viewer’s eye movements
during ACTIVE PERCEPTION.
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The CONTENT, SIZE, and PLACEMENT of photos on a newspaper page are
more important than if the image is in color (in terms of noticeability).
--------------PERCEPTUAL theory remember, is more concerned with the way we see and then
PROCESS images. TWO MAIN sub-theories: SEMIOTICS and COGNITIVE.
SEMIOTICS:
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THE STUDY OF SIGNS: What’s a sign?
o Anything you see that stands for something else and has meaning to you.
The MEANING behind a SIGN must be learned. If not, then not a sign.
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SEMIOTICS is a huge field and the semiotics of just about everything has been
studied – from tourism to urban city semiotics.
Urban semiotics is the study of meaning in urban form. It has been defined as:
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...the study of the social meaning of spatial forms and settings. Urban semiotics
involves the exploration of physical objects and their endowed meanings as
mediated through a universe of signs and the symbols they evoke and convey.[1]
(Keller, 1988)
SIGNS can be three types, but just know that within any image, there are parts
that stand for different things for different people – like a song, no one can tell
you what you like.
In any case, PERCEPTUAL theorists stress that it’s more valuable – that is we gain
a better of understanding of the human mind and its processes – when perception is
viewed as more of a HUMAN and less of a MECHANICAL process.