Communication is inescapable and
invaluable in life. As a Public Communications student, I have learned the
importance of communication and its four different forms. Though preferred communication
methods differ person-to-person, it is undeniable that communication,
specifically visual communication and its “tools of the trade”, are interwoven
and integral to the world we all live in.
There are four modes of communication:
visual, verbal, audio, and written. Each of us responds to these four modes
differently. Personally, I have a greater response to audio and written
communication because they allow me to translate aural messages into visual
communication in my mind, helping me to retain and recollect the transmitted
information easier and more reliably than I would looking at a picture or a
person speaking. Written communication is similar. Reading written messages
gives me the opportunity to create my own visuals, imagine my own emotions and
senses, and form clearer opinions on the information I am given without any
outside influence.
Visual communication then, at least
for me, would be nearly ineffective without images to convey its messages, regardless
of whether visual communication happens in one’s mind or in front of one’s eyes.
Advertisements use beautiful models, shocking visuals, and pictures of everyday
occurrences to evoke certain responses from audiences, even more so than words
can ever communicate. This is because visuals are instant and easier for the
advertiser to manipulate reader reactions to. For example, the words “smoking
kills” cannot create the same emotional response in a reader that a silent
commercial depicting a dying smoker flat-lining in the hospital surrounded by
loved ones can produce.
Visual communication experts,
Disney for example, have logos that are symbolic and easily recognized. Disney’s
castle logo communicates a sense of fantasy and adventure that draws young kids
in, and draws older audiences in with its nostalgia. The Red Cross is another
example, with its logo symbolizing health, recovery, and salvation from
disaster or catastrophe. As an organization dedicated to health and wellness,
the logo communicates the Red Cross’ purpose well. The Center for Disease
Control is yet another example of an entity with strong visual communication
skills. Take one look at a nonsmoking or HIV advertisement from them, and the
shocking visuals the CDC constructs communicate to readers loud and clear the
message being presented.
Though communication serves to transmit
messages to receivers, communication has several different forms of
disseminating messages, with different individuals preferring different forms.
Personally speaking, I prefer receiving audio and written communication, as
they give me greater liberty to create my own visual communication and retain
the information presented to me. Visual communication, regardless of how it
appears, is still an invaluable component of communication. A picture can
communicate more than a thousand words could ever dream of communicating, and
companies like Disney, the Red Cross, and the Center for Disease Control have
certainly capitalized on this. Thus communication is broad as well as specific
and individual, and visual communication particularly is incredibly important
to communication as a whole.
