From the course: Graphic Design Foundations: Ideas, Concepts, and Form

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Images and meaning

Images and meaning

From the course: Graphic Design Foundations: Ideas, Concepts, and Form

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Images and meaning

- We've discussed the ideas of symbols, metaphor and iconography to communicate a concept. These engage the viewer and challenge him or her to understand the message. This has more staying power than the literal image of a scene. Now, we get into deeper water, how we read images and assign meaning. This approach is less direct and often may have multiple possible communications. But, like JFK said, "we do these things "not because they are easy, but because they are hard." First, let's talk about the way we see an image, specifically a photograph. A photograph contains a vast amount of information that the viewer will interpret literally and symbolically. We don't simply stare at an image and move on, we decipher it. We first work to understand the literal content of the image. In this instance, we see a woman on the roof of a building somewhere in an urban setting. Then, we assign a narrative. She's looking at a…

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