Robert Braden

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Visual literacy is defined as the ability to
understand and use images, including the ability
to think, learn and express oneself in terms of
images.
Visual Literacy

• Robert Braden

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Technocentric Thinking

• Technology drives the design

Learner-friendly
Instruction drives the design
Information Design
Information drives the design
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When designing

• Know the design rules
• Break the design rules
• Play around
• Revise
• Find inspiration

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When designing with text

• Not all pictures are worth a 1000 words
• Numerous fonts
• Beautiful design in fonts

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When laying out text

• Alignment
• Centering is far from best
• To unify and organize text
• Sets the mood (fun, serious, formal)
• Use one type of alignment
• Align all elements on a page

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When laying out text

• Proximity
• To organize information
• Crump similar information
• Avoid too many elements
• Avoid corners and the middle
• Vary white space

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When laying out text

• Repetition
• To unify and add interest
• Be consistent
• Notice eye movement
• Avoid over repetition
• Enhance existing repetitions

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When selecting text

• Contrast
• One of the most effective ways to create visual
  interest
• If its not the same, make it very different
• Dont be a wimp
• Use typefaces, line thickness, colors, shapes,
  sizes, space, etc for contrast
• Avoid similar typefaces

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When working with text

• Summary
• Contrast -
• Repetition
• Alignment
• Proximity

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What type shall I use?The gods refuse to
answer.They refuse because they do not know.
More about selecting text

• W. A. Dwiggins

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More about selecting text

• Typeface families
• Oldstyle i.e. Times - abcefg
• Modern i.e. Baskerville - abcde
• Slab serif i.e. Courier - abcde
• Sans serif i.e. Helvetica - abcde
• Script i.e. Handwriting - abcde
• Decorative i.e. Blackletter - abcde

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The Assignment

• Decide what message you want to convey
• Carefully consider who will see your message and
  how you want them to respond
• Design an informational document to convey your
  message

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The Assignment

• Critique your informational document
• Design a second informational document with the
  same intent better than the first

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The Assignment

• Write an explanation /rationale discussing
• the intent of your message,
• the intended audience and characteristics of that
  audience,
• how the different elements of your document fit
  the intent and the characteristics of the
  audience,
• why you chose the design in your document,
• what elements in the first attempt could use
  improvement and how you improved them in the
  second attempt

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