Visual+Literacy

The table brings out the excessive use of meat, particularly beef and chicken, in the American diet. I believe the message is a negative one and is discouraging the reader from participating in or supporting such large and unhealthy industry. The tools from the PAT model that are manipulated in this visual are color, depth, and space: The differing colors brought together into familiar pictures the reader is sure to recognize bring attention to each section of information, the two different depths between the pictures and the text, so that the pictures seem closer, draw the reader’s attention to the familiar pictures first and then to the information each is associated with, and finally, the use of space in separating each fact and picture brings out the equal importance and bearing of each. These tools are manipulated with all four actions, alignment, proximity, contrast, and repetition: Repetition and alignment are both used to manipulate space, separating the facts into similar sections with the same form of text and of the same size lined up one after the other so that they flow together and the reader must read each. Proximity and contrast are used to manipulate both depth and color, using the familiar and eye-catching pictures that stand out against the text to draw the reader to each fact to which they are closest. Through the use of these tools with these actions, a Gestalt perception is formed, particularly the fourth, proximity. I think two things should be changed or improved: 1) the pictures seem to overshadow the title of the table so that the reader might read the facts first without knowing the point or idea behind them and 2) the pictures are not placed well because though each has close proximity to its corresponding fact, they also share proximity to the adjacent section and so the reader may not read the facts in order or understand what the picture has to do with the fact to which his attention was drawn. By making the title of the table larger, maybe a different font, and not so close to the pictures and by moving the pictures closer to each corresponding fact, the message of the visual can be enhanced. I believe visual literacy is very important for a teacher to understand and be able to use well because information is easier to understand and to distinguish from the other information students are trying to remember if they have visual aids and representations that catch their attention and interest them so that it sticks in their minds, and the information along with it. Processes and steps can be easier to remember with a simple flow chart; the differences in effectiveness of something can be displayed by contrasting them in a chart or table. By using visual literacy, the teacher also gives its students a method to which they can turn when they need to remember things in the future or when they have a demonstration or presentation for an interview or a job.