Visual+Literacy

Our second assignment of the semester, was the visual literacy assignment.The purpose of this was to help us become familiar with visual literacy and the principles of visual design. We were given a visual image to criticize using our the new information we had just learned about visual design principles. In it, we were to include our interpretation of the message being presented, both the positive and negative attributes of the design in terms of the PAT model we had just learned about, and any ways we might suggest changing the visual to improve it and enhance the effectiveness of conveying its intended message.

The following is my response:


 * Visual Literacy Assignment: **

My interpretation of the visual message is, quite simply, that Americans consume too much meat per annum. The title of the chart, “Overproteined,” was the first indicator because it directly implies that the population being considered – in this case, the American population – is consuming an excessive amount of protein. Each example given further supports this because all, with the exception of the Big Mac, list ridiculously large amounts of different meat products being consumed each year. The Big Mac example is the exception because 600 million Big Macs per year works out to about two Big Macs per person since there are a little over 300 million people living in the United States, whereas the hot dog example works out to be about 634 hot dogs being consumed each second.

 Positive effects of the overall design of the visual image include the bolding of the numbers and the different colors utilized in each column. These are effective because they draw the reader’s attention to the examples given and make it so that the reader can easily distinguish between the four different facts set before them. The graphics used have the potential to be effective, but their placement is distracting. They pull the reader’s attention away from the fact boxes and make the visual image as a whole seem too busy.

 The image would be greatly improved if the graphics were to be resized and made smaller and then placed in such a manner that they correspond with the example they represent. Also, centering all of the text in each column would help to improve the readability of the all the examples. Currently, the bolded numbers are centered while the supporting data is justified left. Both of these changes would make the image more visually appealing.