REFERENCE: Visual literacy: book review

[Geoff Hart <geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

     As writer/editors, we're all supposed to be strong "left brain" types,
     but at the same time, everyone keeps telling us that we need to
     acquire visual literacy. Well, I've just finished reading a great book
     that will help anyone become more visually literate: _Understanding
     comics_ (subtitled _The invisible art_) by Scott McCloud (Kitchen Sink
     Press, 2nd printing 1993, ISBN 0-87816-243-7, about $10 U.S.).

     McCloud is a comic artist who has spent a lot of time pondering just
     how it is that pictures get into our brains and create meaning. He
     starts by defining comics as "juxtaposed pictorial and other images in
     deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or produce an
     aesthetic response in the viewer"... what we might call small
     multiples or narrative graphics if we were to use the jargon of our
     own field. Comics have a reputation as adolescent pap, but there are
     lots of interesting innovations coming out of comics, both in terms of
     storytelling and in terms of Art (yes, "Art", not just silly
     pictures). McCloud doesn't spend any time defending the pros and cons
     of comics in terms of their literary and artistic merit: he dives
     right in and describes how comic artists use these "juxtaposed images"
     to communicate.

     This isn't university level cognitive psychology, Edward Tufte or
     Jacques Bertin: among other things, McCloud is a far better artist
     than either of our two leading lights and he integrates text and
     graphics far better than them too. In fact, McCloud presents his
     entire thesis in the form of a comic book, with text leading the
     graphics and vice versa, as appropriate. This works because he uses
     the medium itself to explain his points, and there's lots of subtle
     humor too if you look closely. I read the book cover to cover in about
     3 hours (quick, given the amount of visual minutae to absorb), and
     I'll be going back to read it again.

     Important concepts covered in the book: Juxtaposition, complementary
     vs. supplementary material, visual design from concept through final
     polish, history of narrative graphics, use of color, and many more. If
     you want the best possible example of using text and graphics
     effectively together, get this book... run, don't walk. BTW, you'll
     also end up with much more respect for good artists if you're one of
     those left-brain types who thinks artists should be supervised so they
     don't end up hurting themselves.

     --Geoff Hart   geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
     #8^{)}   <---eyes a little wider than yesterday!