James Gregory and Rachel Mahan will lead Monday’s Tech Comm Seminar discussion on visual literacy, visual design, and information design.
We would like you to read and watch the following:
- “What is Information Design?” Janice C. Redish (pp. 211-17 in Teaching Technical Communication)
- From “The Vocabulary of Comics” Scott McCloud (pp. 195-208 in Visual Rhetoric in a Digital World: A Critical Sourcebook)
- “Visual Literacy” Brian Kennedy TED Talk (7 minutes) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OefLEpds5Is
- “The Beauty of Data Visualization” David McCandless TED Talk (18 minutes) http://www.ted.com/talks/david_mccandless_the_beauty_of_data_visualization.html
Please consider the following questions while you read and watch and explore on your own:
- Is the processing of visual information as effortless as McCandless claims? (at ~9:30 minutes in)
- If visual literacy is dormant, as Kennedy implies, do we need to teach it or just awaken it? How would you do either in your classes?
- What do you lose with graphics/infographics/illustrations/symbols? What do you gain? What gets distorted?
- What are the elements of good information design? How would you teach information design to your students?
We look forward to discussing with you on Monday. Have a great weekend.