Week 4: Visual Syntax, Semantics and Pragmatics: Structure, meaning and context.

Question: If all Visual communication is subjective, what is the point of studying Visual communication?

Visual communication relies both on eyes that function and on a brain that makes sense of all the sensory information received. The writer William Saroyan once mentioned that "One picture is worth a thousand words. Yes, but only if you look at the picture and say or think the thousand words." (Lester, 2006) states that the most powerful, meaningful and culturally important messages are those that combine words and images.

   

 However, if all visual communication is subjective, the point of studying visual communication is that there is a widely understood language of the visual that enables communication professionals to use for their work. (Martin, 1995) stated that codes are a system of signs for textual or visual messages. In other words, it is a set of rules agreed upon by a culture and society. But also to remember that to know codes differ upon every culture. So it is important to study about the certain codes of particular culture so we will able to respect its culture values content. “Codes determine a dominant reading of the sign (Chris Woo, 2012).”

When we study visual communication, we would come to familiarise important terminology such as Codes, Signifiers that form a sign is syntax, and Semantics are the signifieds and connotations of the sign, Modality, Sender, receiver and context.

We use the basics of semiotics such as signifiers to learn how the syntax of an image is created. Semiotics studies how signs are connected to the social and cultural. Syntax explores how colour, lines, shades and shadow are all part of this grammar of the visual. Modality is the medium that we use to express or pass on the information and lastly, to learn about the syntactic rules of colours, lines and composition. All of the above that mentioned about is important for the visual communicators to study as it has to be based upon the society perception.

Words are easily forgotten, but pictures stay in our minds. Words and pictures become one powerfully effective communicative medium inside your own mind. In other words, there is a value to study visual communication because that’s how the visual communicators for example Advertisers know how to make an image appealing and attention grabbing just because they know how to use their knowledge of what appeals to us and confine our attention.

References:

Chris, W.H.W. (2010). Analyzing Visual Communication. BA in Professional Communication Reader. Published by University Brunei Darussalam. 

Chris Woo Lecture Presentation

Lester, P. M.  (2006). Syntactic theory of Visual Communication. Retrived 30th August, 2012 from Communication Faculty of Fullerton University Website: http://commfaculty.fullerton.edu/lester/writings/viscomtheory.html

Martin, P. (1995). Visual Communication Images with Messages. United States: Wadsworth Publishing Company.