Using the OPTIC Strategy to Analyze Visual Texts

Vocabulary flashcards covering the components and analytical steps of the OPTIC strategy for analyzing visual texts.

OPTIC Strategy

An analytical approach used to construct meaning from visual texts that stands for Overview, Parts, Title/Text, Interrelationship, and Conclusion.

Visual Texts

Forms of visual media that can be analyzed for meaning, including paintings, photographs, advertisements, maps, charts, or graphs.

Overview (OPTIC)

A brief, one-complete-sentence explanation describing what the image is about.

Parts (OPTIC)

The specific details of the various components of a visual text, which might include color, figures, textures, lines, groupings, shadings, patterns, numbers, and related elements.

Title/Text (OPTIC)

The element where the title and any words or signs within the image are analyzed to clarify the subject, considering both connotation and denotation.

Interrelationship (OPTIC)

The way individual parts of a visual text connect to one another and to the whole image to create a mood or convey an idea or argument.

Conclusion (OPTIC)

A concluding synthesis about the image as a whole that addresses what the artist, photographer, or designer is trying to capture and convey, along with the resulting ideas, arguments, or implications.