Understanding Visual Media: Types and Production

• Visual media is data or information in the form of visual representation.
• Visual media consist of images or pictures that are easier to understand.

Formally vs Informally Produced Visual Media

• Visual media from formal organizations like schools, governments, and established media are formally produced.
• Visual media that are not from formal organizations are informally produced.

Examples of Visual Media

• Photography is creating durable images using light or electromagnetic radiation.
• The word "photography" is derived from the Greek words "PHOS" (light) and “GRAPHE” (drawing).
• Video is a program, movie, or visual media product featuring moving images, with or without audio, that is recorded and saved digitally.
• A screenshot, also known as print screen, screen dump, snapshot, or screen capture, is a picture of a display screen.
• An infographic is a visual representation of information, data, or knowledge designed to inform quickly and clearly.
• The word "infographic" is a portmanteau of "information" and "graphic."
• Data visualization is the graphic representation of data.
• Data visualization involves images that communicate relationships among represented data.
• A comic strip is a sequence of drawings in interrelated panels to display humor or tell a narrative, often with text in balloons and captions.
• An internet meme is a meme spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms.
• Visual notetaking or sketch noting is representing ideas non-linguistically, like drawing pictures.

Purpose and Formats of Visual Information

• The primary purpose of visual information is to gain attention, create meaning, and help with retention.
• Jpeg is the most convenient format for transmitting compressed images on the Internet due to its small size.
• GIF is a computer file used on the Internet for sending images, especially moving images.
• PNG (Portable Graphics Format) is the most used uncompressed raster image format on the internet.

Visual Design Elements

• Visual design elements are the basic units in constructing a visual image.
• A line describes a shape/outline and can create texture; lines can be actual, implied, vertical, horizontal, diagonal, or contour.
• Shape is a geometric area that stands out due to differences in value, color, or texture, and can be organic.
• Value is the degree of light and dark in a design, using the contrast between black and white and all the tones in between.
• Texture is how a surface feels or is perceived to feel and can be added to attract or repel interest; visual texture is the illusion of surface peaks and valleys.
• Color is determined by its hue (name), intensity (purity), and value (lightness/darkness) and can play a large role in the design.
• Form is a figure having volume/thickness; an illusion of a 3-dimensional object can be implied with light and shading.

Visual Design Principles

• Consistency of margins, typeface, typestyle, and colors is important, especially in multi-page documents or presentations.
• Center of interest is an area that attracts attention in a composition and is emphasized by contrast of values, colors, and placement.
• Balance is a feeling of visual equality in shape, form, value, color, etc., and can be symmetrical/evenly balanced or asymmetrical/unevenly balanced.
• Harmony brings together a composition with similar units.
• Contrast offers change in value and creates visual discord and shows the difference between shapes.
• Directional Movement is a visual flow through the composition, suggesting motion through placement and position; it can be created with a value pattern.
• Rhythm creates a movement in which some elements recur regularly.
• Perspective is created through the arrangement of objects in two-dimensional space to look like they appear in real life.