Professional Documents
Culture Documents
advertisements
film posters
postcards
web pages
cd covers
posters
picture books
brochures
photographs
paintings
cartoons
Quiz
Everyday we come into contact with many texts. Some are
written, others are spoken, but many are visual. Symbols,
along with icons, logos, emblems and insignia, are visual
texts that communicate a meaning to us.
Identify what each of the following visual symbols
represent or mean.
Features of visual
texts
We use the special features of visual language to help us
determine what message is being sent by a visual text.
Some of these features include:
layout position, size, colour, shape
image graphic, symbols
writing font, position, message
Colour
Feeling it
gives
What it
symbolises
red
warmth
danger, anger
white
cleanliness
purity
green
peacefulness
nature
black
sadness
death
Activity
Match up the colours with what you think are the feelings and
things they symbolise.
Colour
Feeling it gives
What it symbolises
blue
luxury
uncertainty
gold
power
sunlight
purple
depression
water
yellow
coolness
wealth
grey
warmth
royalty
Structure:
How are the elements of the picture arranged?
What is the function of the background?
What use is made of light and dark?
Positioning the viewer:
Is the image a close-up, medium shot or long shot? Why is it appropriate
here?
Where is the viewer positioned above, below or at eye level with the
subject? Why?
What eye contact does the audience have with the subject?
How is the subject positioned in relation to the viewer face on, side on or
facing away?
Use these questions as a guide whenever you are analysing a visual text.