Composition and visual image language

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Baghdad University- Faculty of Fine Arts

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to defend and to justify the relevance of the 
fundamentals of the visual language to composition of infographics. It is 
considered as basic elements of infographic: points, lines, planes and spots, 
and they are the same ones that characterize the composition and visual 
communication from prehistory. These same elements make up the 
expressiveness of designs and Design products. In the text, reflections are 
presented about Form's Theory and Visual Language, based on Lupton and 
Phillips, Dondis and Perassi. Besides the presentation of concepts, 
historical datas and discussions on infographics, based on Ribeiro, Rossi 
and others authors.
The visual semiotic plays an important role in science, and particularly so 
in the oral research genre of the conference presentation. Given the 
impressive amount of visual material shown at conferences, participants in 
the audience need to be proficient in reading the visual language of their 
speciality. This paper explores six aspects, or strata, of the visual 
knowledge shared by scientific conference participants in three fields 
(geology, medicine, physics). The data consist of over 2,000 visuals 
projected during ninety presentations at international conferences. It is 
claimed that in the communicative context of the international conference, 
the shared visual language of the participants enables them to read the 
‗images‗ as a ‗text‘.

Keywords