The Nature of Imagery – Overview

-Angel Larson

Designers can achieve their communication goals through different forms of imagery.

• Images are symbolic and emotional in nature and can be representative of real places, people, or objects, or they can be artificially contrived and abstract.
  Images create a visceral connection to experiences described by written language, bringing more context and meaning to a composition.
• Images can be powerful communicators on their own, but usually they are integrated with other visual elements to enhance their meaning. 
• Pictorial images show recognizable subjects like objects, figures, and spaces.

Empirical Pictorial Images

-depict the characteristics of objects and scenes as they are observed in space.

• This type of image is usually used to help describe or explain subject matter better and to suggest that the message is grounded in real life.
• Photographs are the most empirical of any type of imagery.

For example, in an ad for a photographer, you would want to use real photographs of their work. If they are a wedding photographer, showing a good photo of a wedding couple they have taken would let the viewers know that this is the type of work they do and that they know what they are doing. If you showed an illustrated version of a photo they have taken for a wedding, this would confuse the viewers and send mixed signals because the information of the ad and the photo doesn’t match up.

Stylized Pictorial Images

-recognizable to reality but add a conceptual or metaphorical overlay of meaning.

• This form of imagery is really good for envisioning things that are not naturally occurring.
• We can envision the world in a way that is very unnatural to us and would be impossible to do filming actual people.

For example, reality TV & animated shows. In reality TV, the scenes and imagery that are being shown are being stylized by the director to convey certain themes, context, and emotions in the viewer. The scenes are contrived and edited from real life to become a stylized version of reality. Animated shows take this to a whole new level by representing real life or fantasy in a completely stylized way. The characters of animated shows may look more or less realistic depending on the style of the show.

Reductive Pictorial Images

-represent real-life places, people, or things in a very simplified way.

• This would be like graphic translations or icons where the form is very distinct and recognizable right away.

For example, there is usually always a sign on bathrooms that is either a female icon, male icon, wheelchair-accessible icon, or family icon. These are very easy to identify right away because the symbols are just pictures of people, reduced to the simplest forms.

Semiology

-the process of perception and cognition for visual understanding and describes the process of a visual signifier gathering meaning in our brains. This is also referred to as syntax to semantics and explains why different forms create and signify different visual meanings.

• All forms carry meaning.
• The shape, size, linearity, and mass of a perceived form tell us what the form is (syntax), while our experiences and prior understanding of these characteristics create the meaning (semantics).
• Interplay of forms and images also creates additional meaning beyond the base syntax of the form.

For example, round objects are usually associated with being natural because of our experience and knowledge of other round objects (sun, moon, earth, unity, cycles of nature). Square objects are usually associated with being unnatural or man-made because of our experience of other geometric shapes (architectural, artificial, intellectual, shelter, order, math).

A designer might choose to represent an idea pictorially by using photographs, illustrations, or a mix of both.

• Images must provide informational clarity in a way that resonates and delivers secondary and tertiary messages, associational, and branded messages.
• Images come in different modes, and the correct mode you should use depends on the kind of message you are creating and how you want the viewer to interpret it.

Icons

-used when you want to literally represent the subject or idea in a way that will be descriptive and straightforward to the viewer.

• A photograph can be used as an icon if it exactly represents the subject matter.

Symbols

-used when you want the information or idea to be more open-ended for the viewer to interpret.

• Symbols are interpreted differently depending on the cultural, social, and historical context that the viewer may or may not be aware of.
• Therefore, symbols must be used carefully to achieve the desired effect on the viewer.

Indexical signs (indexes)

-visual signs that point to a signified object indirectly.

For example, an image of a tree with the leaves falling might be pointing to autumn.