Todays lecture was all about "visual literacy" which I had never previously thought about even though we all practice it everyday. Visual literacy is the ability to recognise and draw meaning from signs, symbols, even certain colours. An obvious example the lecture pointed out was the standard toilet symbols. A stick figure man and woman standing together is the internationally known symbol for a toilet even though the two symbols have no actual resemblance to a toilet, they show how our brain makes connection between images and what can be a very different physical subject though learned association. With the rise of technology in the last few decades the newer generations are becoming more visually literate as both educators and advertisers are able to grasp our attention in constantly changing ways.
I feel the main thing for me to take away from the lecture was to take into consideration how the "visual literacy" of the general public or more specifically different generations and cultural groups can both help and hinder what I am trying to communicate. Before I decide to use certain symbols, signs or colours I should first think about whether they mean different things to different people (eg cause unwarranted offence to a group) or whether I can exploit those things to communicate my message more efficiently to a specific or general group.
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