Visual analysis is new to most students. It takes many words to talk about pictures. But once a methodology is comfortable for the student, quickly moving and mostly forgotten pictures are slowed down and become more meaningful.

I also try to help students understand that analysis is a life-long process. It is the mark of an intelligent and curious mind to be aware of as much as is happening around you as possible. Summed up with the phrase by Aldous Huxley, "the more you know; the more you see," learning more about how the world works teaches us to be better observers which increases our capacity for knowledge and wisdom.

LIGHT
If we learn the basic components of light, we will notice light in all manner of visual media. A light's direction, placement, and color within visual messages can communicate plot lines, character relationships, and symbolic messages. The first step in seeing how light can communicate complex messages is noticing its presence.

EYE, RETINA, AND THE BRAIN
As with light, much is communicated through the eyes. By studying how the eyes, retina, and mind work, we are better able to notice how eyes communicate complex messages. Is a person in a visual message looking confidently into the camera and is relaxed with the image-taking process, looking away from the lens as if embarrassed or covering the eyes completely as if to ward off the photographer? These drastically different visual messages are more easily noticed with a basic understanding of how the eyes direct images to the brain.

COLOR, FORM, DEPTH, AND MOVEMENT
It is important to know how the visual cortex notices and processes the four visual cues so that visual communicators can make displays--whether for print or screened presentations--that are noticed by readers and viewers. If a presentation is never noticed, there is no chance of it having any effect upon a viewer.

VISUAL THEORIES
There have been many visual theories formulated over time to help explain how the visual communication process works. Sensual visual theories, combined with an understanding of the four visual cues, help visual communicators create designs that get noticed. Perceptual visual theories aid the visual communicator in understanding the symbolic and mental messages that aid or hinder a design.

VISUAL PERSUASION
One of the chief ethical concerns for visual communicators should be how corporate control of the production process--economic factors--often dictates the content of visual messages. Visual persuasion is one form this corporate control takes place. When visual persuasion is isolated through the fields of advertising, public relations, and journalism, it should become clear how visual messages are used to educate, persuade, entertain, and mislead.

STEREOTYPES
Another chief ethical concern for visual communicators is pictorial stereotyping. With an understanding of how subtle image stereotypes of those from various cultural groups and their harmful effect upon society, visual communicators will hopefully be more sensitive in the choices they make when illustrating those from diverse groups.

SIX PERSPECTIVES FOR ANALYSIS
In order to find meaning from a visual message, students need to learn a systematic way for studying images. I have found that the following method works the best:

1) Make an inventory list of every element in the image,
2) Note the lighting used in the image,
3) Note any eye contact by subjects in the image,
4) Note the visual cues of color, form, depth, and movement,
5) Note how the gestalt laws apply toward the composition of picture,
6) Note any semiotic signs that are a part of the image's content, and
7) Think about the image in terms of its personal, historical, technical, ethical, cultural, and critical perspectives.

Although a bit daunting and time consuming at first, with practice the seven steps listed above get easier and faster. One of the major points of this procedure is not only to decipher the full meaning and impact from a visual message but to again make the point that it takes words to analyze pictures.

TYPOGRAPHY to the WORLD WIDE WEB
Every chapter from typography to the World Wide Web offers and introduction that details a major contribution to the chapter's content. Subsequently, every chapter is divided by the six perspectives for analysis that gives students a background for discussing pictures--whether still or moving. At the end of each chapter is a brief section on future directions for the medium under discussion. Students will have a greater appreciation for the historical developments that led to the medium, the technical considerations that make the medium possible, and the impact upon society from the images produced by the medium.

THE MORE YOU KNOW;
THE MORE YOU SEE
The objective of this chapter is best summed up by some of the last words in the textbook. The one element that links all of the chapters together is light--the light of day, the light of reason, and the light of compassion. A visual communicator that simply treats visual messages as creations of light without regard to the educational and empathetic qualities of the message is performing a disservice to the visual communication profession.