An update to an update: Visual literacy: An update

Look at that headline above… just look at it! 

I am still adjusting to the fact that not every word in a header should be capitalized! In the land of my comfort zone, this is what I want to see: 

Yet, I’ll admit, the more I look at the correct headline the more comfortable with it I become.

I’ve had some light-bulb moments during this course. It started with the use of at least 1” margins in my WET layout.

I have always disliked wide margins because I feel like they are a waste of space, and also contribute to a considerable waste of paper. But in keeping with the guidelines of a WET layout as defined in WSINYE, I followed suit and allowed for "generous margins on all four sides." In the end I was quite satisfied with the final result. I even chose to use 1.5” margins, omitting the pink border, when all was said and done. 

Speaking of the pink border, using the element of repetition, as discussed in Dawn's Poster Pointers PowerPoint (side note: gotta love the alliteration), the shade of pink that I used for the headline and border was pulled directly from the pink of the bottom tier of the cake in the visual. Additionally, I used contrast in the copy and tags by choosing a vibrant blue color just a few shades darker than the blue used to border every tier of the cake.

The moment that stands out to me the most so far, is learning that “rivers of white space” can be eliminated by taking out the double space after a period. I write a lot at work. Tons, and tons, and tons of emails every day, so I’ve had a good amount of practice this week eliminating the double space. I don’t always catch myself, but at the very least I will do a “replace all” at the end of my document to find all my goofs. I’m happy to say the number gets smaller every time.

My heart does ache about this recent realization, though, and here’s why. Recently I put weeks of work into re-vamping the Moodle site we use at work. I am proud of all the hard work that has gone into it, but now when I look at a page, all I see is the insane amount of errors! Just look at all those double spaces! (Highlighted in yellow.) There are 14 more pages like this, with just as many errors on each page. Guess who's spending a good chunk of time this week making some serious corrections?

I went to the Milwaukee Art Museum on Saturday April 30th, and purposely spent more time in front of the pieces than I had before reading The Art of Slowing Down. My date thought this was cute at first. After a while he was all, "I'm hungry. My feet hurt. I get it, you like art." 

One particular painting really caught my eye, Xmas in Gilroy by Robert Alan Bechtle. 

What really sucked me into this piece was that most of the painting is sharp, almost hyper focused. My eyes would not budge off of the front edge of the coffee table. Yet the female subjects in the painting are fuzzy and blurry. My first thought was, "Does this fit into the category of photo-realism or not?" I stood there for several minutes wondering why Bechtle chose to paint the women out of focus. (I think my date circled the gallery four or five times before gently pulling me away from the painting.) Was he trying to evoke movement? Was he implying that this was to look like a time-lapse photo and they had been sitting there talking for several hours, barely moving an inch? Was it that his parents’ or grandmother’s living room was so clearly etched into his memory, but the people were hazy? 

We only made it through a portion of the museum, so I’m really looking forward to going back soon (maybe next time without a date) to really sit and ponder more works. I'm certain I'll get stuck in front of Xmas in Gilroy again.

I came into this class with an open mind, but I will admit I had a bit of a chip on my shoulder because I use visual communication constantly at work. I knew I would learn, but, In all honesty, I did not expect that I would come away with so many mind-blowing discoveries. I have already started incorporating what we've learned into my daily work, and I'm excited to see how my personal style will further change as I settle into a greater awareness of my own visual literacy. This course has been a sampling menu of the exciting world of visual communication and I am hungry for more.

What were your preconceived notions of this course? Have you had any mind-blowing moments?