Picturing Texts

Picturing text is an extremely helpful book when it comes to understanding visuals and visual rhetoric. Visual rhetoric is the term used to describe how pictures/visuals communicate to us opposed to using text or verbal communication. More specifically Picturing Texts does a good job at explaining what visual are considered to be examples of pictures with visual rhetoric and what basics a good visual example has. In addition I found that Picturing Texts does a pretty good job at showing the reader how to take a closer look at visuals to fully comprehend what the visual is communicating to you. Well first of all while I was reading chapter one of Picturing Texts I came across some of the basics to a good visual. Some specific examples of this would be balance or symmetry and contrast and comparison. Balance is the idea that there is equal visual weight on both sides of the picture. Comparison is a strategy used for organizing different pieces of writing and contrast is used to create differences in color, focus, scale, texture, and shape. All these are points I found to be beneficial in understanding what to look for in pictures. As I was going through the book I also developed a better understanding of what is considered to have rich visual rhetoric. Visual rhetoric can be found in maps, photographs, charts, graphs, drawings, architecture, and much more. Another critical point is understanding what you are looking at and interpreting it correctly. Picturing Texts does a good job at broadening your horizons about reading visual text. I personally like how Picturing Texts talks about immediate context and broader context to help the reader understand exactly how the picture they are looking at was put together. For example immediate context is anyone or anything that has an immediate role in forming the message. That includes the medium used and the (genre) which is the kind of image it is. The broader context is more so a look at the cultural, economic, social, and historical circumstances of the visual. Overall I recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about visual rhetoric and/or is taking a class that strongly recommends the purchase of it.