Visual communication as the name suggests is communication through visual aid and is described as the conveyance of ideas and information in forms that can be read or looked upon. Visual communication in part or whole relies on vision, and is primarily presented or expressed with two dimensional images, it includes: signs, typography, drawing, graphic design, illustration, colour and electronic re
sources. It also explores the idea that a visual message accompanying text has a greater power to inform, educate, or persuade a person or audience. The evaluation of a good visual communication design is mainly based on measuring comprehension by the audience, not on personal aesthetic and/or artistic preference as there are no universally agreed-upon principles of beauty and ugliness. Excluding two dimensional images, there are other ways to express information visually - gestures and body language, animation (digital or analogue), and film. Visual communication by e-mail, a textual medium, is commonly expressed with ASCII art, emoticons, and embedded digital images. The term 'visual presentation' is used to refer to the actual presentation of information through a visible medium such as text or images. Graphic designers also use methods of visual communication in their professional practice. Visual communication on the World Wide Web is perhaps the most important form of communication that takes place while users are surfing the Internet. When experiencing the web, one uses the eyes as the primary sense, and therefore the visual presentation of a website is very important for users to understand the message or of the communication taking place. The Eye of Horus is often referred to as the symbol of visual communication. It is said to be a representation of an eclipse, as the corona around the pupil is like the corona around the sun during a solar eclipse. Students studying visual communication are taught the basic physics of light, anatomy and physiology of the eye, cognitive and perception theories, color theories, Gestalt psychology, aesthetics, natural reading patterns, design principles, semiotics, persuasion, camera/filming actions and image-types, and so forth. Visual communication is effected through pictures, graphs and charts, as well as through signs, signals and symbols. They may used either independently or as an adjunct to the other methods of communication.. Visual communication contains image aspects. The interpretation of images is subjective and to understand these images, there is an analysis required. There are six perspectives to analyze images.
• Personal perspective:- When a viewer has an opinion about an image based on their personal thoughts. Personal response depends on the viewer’s thoughts and values individually. This might be sometimes in conflict with cultural values. Also when a viewer has viewed an image with a personal perspective, it is than hard to change the view of the image on the viewer, even the image also can be seen in other ways.
• Historical perspective:- An image’s view can be arising from the history of the use media. Through times sort images have been changed, because the use of different (new) media. For example: The result of using the computer to edit images (e.g. Photoshop) is quite different when comparing images that are made and edited by craft.
• Technical perspective:- When the view of an image is influenced by the use of lights, position and the presentation of the image. The right use of light, position and presentation of the image can improve the view of the image. It makes the image looks better than the reality.
• Ethical perspective:- From this perspective, the maker of the image, the viewer and the image itself must be responsible morally and ethically to the image. This perspective is also categorized in six categories: categorical imperative, utilitarianism, hedonism, golden mean, golden rule and veil of ignorance.
• Cutural perspective:- Symbolization is an important definition for this perpective. Cultural perspective involves identity of symbols. The uses of words that are related with the image, the use of heroes in the image, etc. are the symbolization of the image. The cultural perspective can also be seen as the semiotic perspective.
• Critical perspective:- The view of images in the critical perspective is when the viewers criticise the images, but the critics have been made in interests of the society, although an individual makes the critics. This way this perspective differs from the personal perspective.
