How prose and graphics interact

This was a talk I did summarising a reading (Schriver 1997, full reference below) describing how prose and graphics interact, and how effective are various combinations of both.

As one might expect, in many cases information is conveyed more effectively when pictures are used together with text.

However, the reading did qualify this by showing that this depends on the information conveyed, the literacy of the reader, and even cultural considerations.

I really enjoyed presenting 'old-school' on the whiteboard, mainly because I'm suspicious of technology, and found it easier to get things across using my simple cartoons.

The class was really supportive and I think the humorous element of my stick-figures helped.

I dug up some really interesting info on how our brains see text - firstly as a series of pictures before we recognise it as words (Medina, 2008).

The 'sand talk' used by aborigines (Simpson, 2006) intrigued me because it's a really good, classic example of text (the words spoken) and graphics (what's drawn in the sand, then scrubbed out as the story progresses) combinations.

There are five main types of prose/ graphics interactions mentioned in Schriver:

1) Redundant – visual / verbal content identical, repetition of key ideas

2) Complementary – different visual/ verbal content, both elements needed to convey key ideas

There's a great stick-figure cartoon illustrating complementary interaction at

http://xkcd.com/260/ - ( webcomic by Randall Munroe)

( If you click on the title of this blog, you'll be taken straight there- it's the only way I can make any hyperlinks work on this site. )

3) Supplementary – different content in words and pics, one dominates (main idea) the other reinforces/ elaborates main point

(a cool Charlie Brown cartoon example of this is at the link below)

http://www.emaki.net/blog/

4) Juxtapositional – different content in words and pics, key ideas created by clash / ‘semantic tension’ between ideas in each mode

5) Stage–setting – different content in words and pics, one mode forecasts content– eg. newspaper headline over a picture.

All in all, a highly relevant topic because we see it everyday on tv, newspapers, magazines and websites. Ironically because of my lack of technical ability, still haven't worked out how to paste a picture into my blog or even make a hyperlink active.

Definitely old-school for me.

References below:

Cohn, N 2008, Diversity in visuals, viewed 15 August 2008, http://www.emaki.net/blog/.

Medina, J 2008, 12 rules for surviving and thriving at work, home and school, viewed 15 August 2008, http://www.brainrules.net/vision.htm.

Munroe, R 2008, webcomic viewed 15 August 2008, http://xkcd.com/260/.

Schriver, K A 1997, Dynamics in document design: creating texts for readers, Wiley Computer Publishers, New York, pp.407-432.

Simpson, J 2006, Sand talk - and how to record it, viewed 15 August 2008,
http://blogs.usyd.edu.au/elac/2006/10/sand_talk_and_how_to_record_it.html.