for midterm (100 points) Flashcards
(127 cards)
what is visual literacy?
- mainly started being used in the 1960s to examine perception, Gestalt based.
- more formal than content readings (formal: what it looks like. Content: what it means)
- reflected late modernist ‘scientific’ design ideas, used to mean having some facility with visual culture
what is visual culture?
- visual cultural artifacts
- considers artifacts as complex embodiments of societally contracted concepts and norms, culturally determined.
- de-emphazies hierarchical status for art.
- most introductions privilege content over formal aspects
Gestalt principles
German for ‘form’ in this context it means ‘unified whole’ or ‘configuration’ the main point is in the perception the whole is different then the sum of its parts.
law of Prägnanz
‘pithiness’ or ‘concise and meaningful’ we are driven to perceive things in symmetrical, simple, and regular form
law of proximity
the closer together objects/subjects the more they are perceived as one
law of similarity
elements that look similar will be perceived as part of the same form
law of good continuation
tend to continue contours whenever the elements of the pattern establish an implied direction.
law of closure
tend to close a space by completing a contour and ignoring gaps in the figure.
law of figure/ground
a stimulus will be received as separate from its ground
the field
visual field
center
visual weight, every shape or group different
the edge
decision of where to crop
top and bottom
sense of gravity. work with/against potential energy
left and right
reading habit, play with sequence
grouping
graspable visual patterns, formal or conceptual
the picture plane
literal/illusion, historically various empthysisn
mark making
specific evocative quality, set tone
texture
actual or visual helps give weight to the piece
pattern and ornament
repetition, can give texture add or shade meaning, underlying grid system.
grids
proportional system to organize forms on a surface
figure and ground
simplest visual duality, create space
gradients
any gradual, orderly stepped change in visual quality, creates space
overlapping
simple depth cue, can imply importance
size change
depth cue