Seeing Is Believing (4TH 11 Edition)

Seeing is Believing: An Introduction to Visual Communication uses semiotic theory, psychoanalytic theory and other theories to deal with various aspects of visual communication in an accessible, interesting and entertaining book. It has many new images that reflect the topics discussed in the book and a number of discussion of relevant topics such as postmodernism, tattoos, facial expression, neuromarketing, advertising and persuasion, cultural codes, typographic theory, photograph and landscape, photography and narcissism, digital photography and oil painting, dreams and a rewritten chapter on computers that deals with videogames and social media among other things. The author has also included a number of new drawings he made.

Introduction: Image and Imagination

Image

Imagination

The Visual and the Psyche

Images and Visual Recall

The Function of Art

Images and Intertextuality

An Experiment

Chapter 1: Seeing is Believing

Seeing

Believing

The Social Aspects of the Visual

The Visual and Personal Identity

Box: The Seashell

Tattoos

Social Identity and the Image

Seeing Isnt Believing

Dreams

Cognition and Visual Images

Hemispheres of the Brain

Aesthetics

A Primer on Communication Theory

Aristotle on Imitation

Box: Theories of Morality

Ethics and the Image

Box: Checklist on Ethics and the Media

Visual Persuasion

Jean Beaudrillard on Advertising and Persuasion

Conclusions

Applications

Chapter 2: How We See

Learning to See

Signs, Symbols and Semiotics

What Signs Are

What Signs Can Do

Facial Expressions as Signs

Box: Computer Assisted Smiling

Codes

Clotaire Rapaille on Culture Codes

Metaphors and Metonymies

Box: What Is "Frenchness?"

Condensation and Displacement

The Image

Stuart Hall and Representation

The Power of Images: 9/11

Optical and Haptical Ways of Seeing

Conclusions

Applications

Chapter 3: Elements of Visual Communication

Basic Elements

Box: Visualizing the Sacred

Proportion

Color

Box: Checklist for Analyzing Print Advertisements

Philosophical Speculations on Color

The Enigma of Color

Attributes of Color

Conclusions

Applications

Chapter 4: Typography and Graphic Design: Tools of Visual Communication

Typography

Typefaces

Basic Classifications

Box: A Brief Glossary on Type

Maximizing the Impact of Type

Box: Checklist of Typography

General Principles of Design

Design Examples

Two Versions of a Page

The Talmud

Design and Control

Supergraphics

Conclusions

Applications

Chapter 5: Photograph: The Captured Moment

The Photograph

Digital Photography

Box: Digital Photography and Oil Painting

Genres in Photography

The Image-Freezing Machine vs. the Death of Photography

The Power of Landscapes

Photojournalism

Photodocumentaries

Commercial Photography

The Problem of Objectivity

Variables in Photography

Evidence and Glamorization

The Pose: Figure and Ground

Technical Aspects of the Photograph

Advertising Photography and Oil Painting

The Image and Capitalism

The Photograph and Narcissism

Conclusions

Applications

Chapter 6: Film: The Moving Image

Motion Pictures

Film in Society and Society in Film

Conventions in Film Editing

Shots and Shot Relationships

Montage

Color in Film

Sound

Special Visual Effects

Postmodernisms Impact on Film

The Power of the Film Image

The Nature of Drama

Conclusions

Box: Analyzing Films, Television Programs, and Other Narrative Texts

Applications

Chapter 7: Television: The Ever-Changing Mosaic

The Television Image

The Television Screen

Television Versus Movie Screens

Box: New Television Screens and the Agony of Choice

Talking Heads

Television Genres

The Commercial

Analyzing the Commercial

Box: Checklist for Analyzing Television Commercials

Television News

Televised Hearings

Music Videos

Video Artists

Zapping or Channel Surfing

TiVo and Video Recording Devices

Conclusions

Applications

Chapter 8: Comics, Cartoons, and Animation: The Development of An Art Form

The Comic Strip

Reading the Comics

The Power of the Comic Strip

Box: Japanese Comics

The Comic Strip as a Teaching Tool

Graphic Novels

The Cartoon

Visual Humor in Cartoons

Animated Cartoons

The Impact of Comics and Cartoons

Box: Cartoons are Powerful

Conclusions

Applications

Chapter 9: Computers and Graphics: Wonders from the Image-Maker

Computers and Graphics

The Nature of the Computer

Computer Graphics Software

Special Effects

Infographics

Video Games

E-mail, Social Media, and the Internet

Box: Emoticons

Demographics of Internet Use

Computer Animation

Box: The Power of Computer-Generated Images

Conclusions

Applications

Glossary

Selected Annotated Bibiliography

References

Illustration Credits

Names Index

Subjects Index