Visual Literacy Quiz 1

Visual Literacy

> a term gaining usage in the 1960s to examine strategies of perception, often Gestalt-based

> Historically, it concentrated more on formal than content readings

> Reflected late modernist "scientific" design ideas; now, the term is used to mean having some facility with visual culture

Formal

What it looks like

Content

What it means

Visual Culture

> Studies visual aspects of cultural artifacts

> Considers artifacts as complex embodiment of socially constructed concepts & norms; vision as culturally determined

> Tends to de-emphasize hierarchal status for art

> Most VC introductions privilege content over formal aspects

Visual Forces

> the “nuts & bolts” of composition

> Analogous to physical forces in the world

Gestalt Principles

> Gestalt - German for “form; pattern,” and as applied in Gestalt psychology it means “unified whole” or “configuration”

> Essential point of Gestalt is that in perception the whole is different from the sum of its parts

Six Laws of Gestalt

> Law of Pragnanz

> Law of Proximity

> Law of Similarity

> Law of Good Continuation

> Law of Closure

> Law of Figure/Ground

Law of Pragnanz

> Pragnanz - German for “good figure:’’ law of simplicity.

> We are innately driven to experience things in as symmetrical, simple, and regular a gestalt as possible

Law of Proximity

Elements that are closer together will be perceived as a coherent object

Law of Similarity

Elements that look similar will be perceived as part of the same form

Law of Good Continuation

We tend to continue contours whenever the elements of the pattern establish an implied direction

Law of Closure

We tend to enclose a space by completing a contour and ignoring gaps in the figure

Law of Figure/Ground

A stimulus will be perceived as separate from its ground

Surface

> The Field

> The Center

> The Edge

> Top & Bottom

> Left & Right

> Grouping

> The Picture Plane

> Mark-Making

> Texture

> Pattern & Ornament

> The Grid

The Field

Visual field; closed-off area where visual forces react

The Center

A question of visual weight; visual, not actual; every shape or group is different

The Edge

“Magnetism” of edge; decision of where to crop; can express a transitory moment

Top & Bottom

Works with intuitive sense of grave, work with or against; can exploit sense of potential energy

Left & Right

Reading habit; can play with sequence

Grouping

Graspable visual pattern; can be formal or conceptual

The Picture Plane

Literal/illusion; historically various emphases

Mark-Making

Specific evocative quality; sets tone

Texture

Actual and/or visual; helps give visual weight

Patern & Ornament

Repition-based; can give texture, add or shade meaning; underlying grid system (pattern); large historic baggage

The Grid

A proportional system to organize forms on a surface