In this final chapter, we look back at key ideas and consider how they apply beyond professional communication.
Evolving Visual Language
In previous chapters, we've looked back at historic photographs, camera technology, typography origins, early web design, old data visualizations and more. It’s important to understand this history because our current visual world is the result of these technological breakthroughs and cultural standards.
These key ideas can guide us as visual culture and technology continues to evolve:
- When our brains do the work of interpreting visual stimuli (visual perception), we make assumptions and shortcuts that help us navigate an overwhelming world but also open gaps that allow our biases and expectations to affect what we see.
- There is often tension between the denotation and connotation of images, such as conflicts about the iconic meaning and symbolic meaning of a single photograph.
- Visual style is based on relationships of similarity and contrast, both in individual media products and broader visual culture.
- Our perception of historic events and our own creative expression are shaped by the technologies available at the time.
These ideas apply in the global media environment, but also in the interpersonal communication in our lives. For example, digital communication hasn't changed emotions we feel toward loved ones, but it has changed the ways we express affection.
🗨 Think of two readings or examples from different classes this semester that relate to concepts from this class. For each one, what is the reading/example, what class is it from, and which concept does it relate to? (If you are not enrolled in other classes this semester, you can use examples you have read or seen from your job or personal life.)
Iterative Visual Culture
Online meme culture is an example of fast-paced evolution in communication, with particular memes quickly rising to cultural prominence and quickly dropping off.
Memes are an iterative and imitative communication format; in other words, people mimic and build upon what has been done before to participate in a meaning-making dialogue. Many memes use images and iterations of similarity or contrast that build on or contradict what's been made before.
For example, the “How it started…” meme uses pairings of two images (sometimes more) to show mini visual narratives that are sometimes sweet, like about relationships, or sometimes just humorous or weird, as memes are.
Similar pairings popped up for pandemic anniversaries, like 2020 vs. 2021 and March 2020 vs. March 2021, often using images from fictional stories to represent feelings from real life.
Unlike news photographs meant to document and inform, or brand icons and logos meant to guide users, memes are inherently participatory and informal, like a visual conversation.
Memes add meaning beyond the original purpose of an image, which can originate from photojournalism, such as Bernie Sanders at the 2021 presidential inauguration, stock images such as the "distracted boyfriend" meme, or illustrations such as the "This is fine" dog by cartoonist KC Green.
By putting images into new contexts, people can create new meanings and commentaries that build on a shared visual experience. Many people who create memes have more advanced graphic design skills and could make more polished images, but that would be a little like giving a formal speech while everyone around you is chatting casually. Like written or spoken language, visual language has social rules and should not always be formal and professional.
The informal communication style of memes can make communication professionals unwelcome guests. Web cartoon by Alex Krokus.
🗨 What are visual memes or patterns you’ve seen emerge recently? Who is the intended community or audience for this meme?
Both personal and professional communication are increasingly visual. Social media platforms and digital tools are transforming how people use visuals creatively, and the use of visual information and data is growing rapidly in range of fields including research and surveillance. Technological developments will be accompanied by moral dilemmas. The hope is that you can take these key ideas and lessons from the past forward as your visual world continues to change.