The Visual Literacy White Paper

Visual communication is a process of sending and receiving messages using images. Visual literacy can be defined as the “ability to construct meaning from visual images” (Giorgis, Johnson, Bonomo, Colbert, & al, 1999: 146). To make meaning from images, the ‘reader’ uses the critical skills of exploration, critique and reflection. Lapp et al (1999) use the term “intermediality” to describe the combined literacies needed to read in a multi-media world. They stress the importance of active reading based on information visualisation and the importance of visual communication to capture attention, reinforce knowledge and increase audience responses. Visual literacy is about interpreting images of the present and past and producing images that effectively communicate the message to an audience.