VL Midterm

1. Visual Literacy: 

   1. term gaining usage in the 1960s to examine strategies of perception,

often Gestalt-based, concentrated more on formal than content readings, formal: what it looks like content: what it means, reflected late modernist “scientific” design ideas; now, term used to, mean having some facility with visual culture

2. Visual Culture

   1. visual aspects of cultural artifacts

   2. considers artefacts as complex embodiment of societally constructed concepts and norms; vision as culturally determined

   3. tends to de-emphasize hierarchical status for art

   4. most introductions privilege content over formal aspects

3. Gestalt principles

   1. Gestalt - German for "form or 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. Gestalt psychologists identified six laws that govern human

4. Law of Prägnanz

   1. Prägnanz --German for 'pithiness', which means 'concise and meaningful'. We are innately driven to experience things in as symmetrical, simple, and regular a gestalt as possible.

5. Law of Proximity

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

6. Law of Similarity

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

7. Law of Good Continuation

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

8. Law of Closure

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

9. Law of Figure/Ground

   1. stimulus will be perceived as separate from its ground.

10. The Field

    1. visual field; closed-off area where visual forces react

11. The Center

    1. question of visual weight; every shape or group different

12. The Edge

    1. “magnetism” of edge; decision of where to crop

13. Top & Bottom

    1. intuitive sense of gravity—work with or against; potential energy

14. Left & Right

    1. reading habit; can play with sequence

15. Grouping

    1. graspable visual pattern; can be formal or conceptual

16. The Picture Plane

    1. literal/illusion; historically, various emphases

17. Mark Making

    1. specific evocative quality; set tone

18. Texture

    1. actual and/or visual; helps give visual weight

19. Pattern & Ornament

    1. repetition; can give texture add or shade meaning; underlying grid system; large historic baggage

20. Grids

    1. proportional system to organize forms on surface

21. Figure & Ground

    1. simplest visual duality; creates space

22. Gradients

    1. any gradual, orderly stepped change in visual quality; creates space

23. Overlapping

    1. simple depth cue; can imply importance

24. Size Change

    1. another basic depth cue

25. Vertical Location

    1. typical realism expectation is that foreground is bottom

26. The Pictorial Box

    1. stresses stage-like space

27. Frontal Recession

    1. overlapping areas parallel to picture plane; orderly

28. Diagonal Recession

    1. overlapping at angle to picture plane; dynamic

29. Space Moving Out

    1. illusion of things coming out of picture; Baroque innovation

30. Enclosed Space

    1. sense of containment; cue-dependent—intimate or oppressive, etc.

31. J. Open Space

    1. space seems to continue beyond picture confines

32. K. Packed Space

    1. compressed energy; expressive

33. L. Empty Space

    1. eloquent by omission; less is more

34. A. Vanishing-Point Perspective

    1. system with limitations; effectively places viewer; can distort – not how we see; tends to weight bottom

35. B. Isometric Perspective

    1. linear perspective w/o a vanishing point; parallel lines in nature remain that way; flattening effect; interaction of 2D surface and space illusion

36. Surface & Space

    1. various strategies to reinforce interaction of 2D surface and spatial illusion

37. 5. Scale & Size size- actual mass; scale - feeling of space projected

38. A. Scale/Size Comparisons

    1. juxtaposing similar objects; playing with size expectations

39. B. Structure & Scale

    1. smaller structures within the whole; substructures

40. Golden Section 

    1. Greeks

41. Tatami mats 

    1.  traditional Japanese system

42. D. Monumental Scale

    1. larger, simpler forms; downplaying detail; independent of actualsize

43. E. Intimate Scale

    1. implied informality, fluidity and impermanence; private

44. 6. Shape visible record of forces on flat surface; inside/outside tension; actual/implied; gestalt

45. A. Simple & Complex Shape

    1. easily/less easily grasped by eye

46. B. Geometric & Organic Shape

    1. baggage: nature/culture; contrived/evolved

47. C. Positive & Negative Shape

    1. always important relationship; like figure/ground, interesting when more equally weighted

48. D. Weight

    1. symmetrical; geometric; squarer; higher-placed shapes = heavier; value and texture also play role

49. E. Tension & Shape

    1. imagine basic shapes pulled, distorted; gives energy and direction

50. 7. Line simplest graphic unit; abstraction

51. A. Handwriting

    1. pressure-sensitive; gestural; intimate

52. B. Impersonal Line

    1. unvarying; mechanical, intellect-signifier

53. C. Material & Line Qualities

    1. line affected by material used

54. D. Implied Line

    1. direction established by gestalt (good continuation)

55. E. Line As Edge

    1. sense of linear edge of shape; feathered transitions

56. F. Line & Three-Dimensional Form

    1. line can strengthen 3-D form, actual or illusion; hatching and crosshatching

57. A. Directed Tension

    1. gives motion; often diagonals

58. B. Movement & Change

    1. essentially gradient; orderly progression

59. C. Vertical/Horizontal/Diagonal

    1. vertical/horizontal = still; diagonal = motion; playing off against each other

60. D. Stroboscopic Motion

    1. overlapping gradient

61. E. Time

    1. visual devices to imply the passage of time: comic strip, multiple images; left to right

62. Value and Light 2-D - 

    1. illusion of light

63. Comparing Values

    1. context and comparison to make judgements

64. B. Weight of Value

    1. darker = heavier; clustering marks (text) gives darker value

65. Value Contrast

    1. controlling range of values gives degrees of luminosity

66. Space & Volume

    1. tonal gradient gives sense of volume

67. Transparency & Reflection

    1. values can create illusions of transparency or projected light; film decreases light - subtractive; lightens – additive

68. color- 

    1. range of visible frequencies of light; light is color – things have color

69.  Hue

    1. “redness” or “blueness”, etc. that locates it on spectrum; human eye can distinguish 150 distinct; primary colors; secondary triad

70. Value

    1. every hue has own value; add white/black—some colors will maintain typical character; monochromatic - one hue w/ variation of value

71. Intensity

    1. brilliance or dullness (greyness); add black, white, grey or color’s complement to make neutral (lower intensity)

72. Temperature

    1. warm/cool; psychological impact; any hue can be mixed warm or cool

73.  Complementary Color

    1. exact opposite; negative afterimage; each complement will make same neutral

74. Color Systems

    1. various systems to classify colors; printer’s, Ostwald, Munsell, Pantone

75. Mixing Light

    1. light primaries - red, blue-violet & green;

76. Mixing Pigment

    1. more colors mixed together = less light = subtractive

77. monochrome color - 

    1. all same hue at different values & intensities

78. analogous color - 

    1. hues close to or touching on color wheel, often at different values & intensities

79.  triadic harmonies 

    1. three color groups evenly space on color wheel

80. split-complementary harmonies 

    1. a color with the two colors adjacent to its’ complement harmony, of course, is subjective

81. F. Color Keys

    1. music analogy; high/low

82. G. Interaction

    1. always in context; simultaneous contrast - color of a field will call forth its opposite quality in a color placed in it

83. A. Weight & Balance

    1. darker hues = heavier

84. B. Making Light

    1. a kind of consistency that unifies all the different color areas

85. C. Making Space

    1. cool colors tend to recede, warm advance; find various levels

86. D. Local Color

    1. when local color is strong, light appears to be colorless

87. E. Volume & Atmosphere

    1. atmospheric perspective - objects increasingly take on the color of the light the farther away they are

88. F. Descriptive & Subjective Color

    1. even realism is a type of abstraction (translation)

89. G. Color Symbolism

    1. over history, various systems, cultural ideas

90. Levels of Order

    1. hierarchies; dominant/secondary forms; order/”randomness”

91. Harmony & Dissonance

    1. both deal with viewer’s expectations

92. Balance

    1. lively configuration of visual forces to create something greater than a simple sum of parts

93. Tension

    1. some degree of distortion, deformation or resistance

94. radial symmetry 

    1. balance from center point

95. bilateral symmetry

    1. right/left or top/bottom balance

96. asymmetry 

    1. about differences and tensely resolved contrasts

97. Clarity & Ambiguity

    1. eye has built-in preference for clarity (Prägnanz); purposeful ambiguity is thought-provoking

98. Hierarchy & Subdivision

    1. hierarchy allows seeing the whole organizational structure, the subdivisions into which smaller parts fit

99. Families of Forms

    1. connections/subtle variations between shapes, colors and textures

100. Repetition & Variation

     1. context-dependent; can emphasize mechanical, huge quantities, tedium, etc.

101. Rhythm

     1. structuring visual motion; music analogy

102. Curve

     1. lyrical; movement; organic

103. Arabesque

     1. complicated, interweaving linear composition; grid alternative

104. Straightness

     1. visual symbol of non-interaction; beyond merely straight