Analog, Not Digital: Roots of Visual Literacy and Visual Intelligence

Shapes Systematic exploration of the affective meanings of shapes (as opposed to the actual incidents or personalities depicted in a visual image) has a considerable history, both in the area of art and in that of advertising and other forms of deliberately manipulative imagery. Among painters in the Western fine-arts tradition, an especially noteworthy investigator of these matters was Georges Seurat, who eventually developed a detailed theory concerning the evocative properties of line and color (see Homer, 1964; Lee, 1990; Weale, 1982). The explicit basis of Seurat's theory was the assumption that viewers respond to the abstract features of visual composition on the basis of unconsciously perceived analogies to elements of real-world experience. For example, Seurat believed that a wedge-like shape pointing toward the top of the canvas would evoke both dynamism, because of the association with the properties of sharp edges in knives or other implements, and buoyancy, because of the association with upward movement in general. Thus, in his execution of scenes in which these qualities were an appropriate part of the tone he was trying to convey, he would incorporate upward-pointing wedge shapes in the composition even in places in which a more strictly naturalistic rendition would not have called for them. This practice is clearly evident in such paintings as "Le Cirque" (1891) and "Le Chahutlt (1890), in which upward-pointing tapers are added to the facial features of a circus acrobat, in the former case, and a line of high-stepping dancers, in the latter. Since the days of Seurat's experiments, this kind of compositional device has become a regular feature in certain areas of mass-mediated image-making, most notably, perhaps, in advertising. In particular, the idea that wedge-shaped forms evoke energy or dynamism has clearly taken hold among designers of print ads for sports-related products, in which it is quite common to encounter triangular logos, triangular frames, or other triangular design j