2+Visual+Literacy

For this assignment I learned how to analyze and create effective visual messages. I learned about the different techniques used to analyze and criticize visual messages.

I believe this visual message is conveying the idea that Americans eat an overabundance of protein. An enormous amount of meat in the form of hamburgers, hot-dogs, and chicken products are consumed at fast food restaurants, grocery stores, and private homes every year. According to this visual, meat products are a mainstay in American diets. I was surprised at the mere numbers presented, some in the billions.

The visual seems to have been created with the purpose of informing viewers of information. The representation of information for the purpose of teaching others about “overproteined” Americans was not very effective. In my opinion, this visual is weak. The message was to convey the sheer volume of protein consumed by Americans, however, the colors used are muted and really did not grab my attention. Bold colors should be used for a bold statement. The pictures that correlated with the statistics were misaligned, which I feel created inconsistency.

A ccording to the action model, repetition of elements was non-existent. The creator of the visual should have included statistics that were all based on fast food protein consumption, the number of animals raised per year for food, or simply the amount of different meat products that Americans eat in a given period of time. As I stated earlier, the pictures were not aligned in an appropriate manner which I feel took away from the effectiveness of the visual message. If the goal of a visual message is ”to manipulate tools using actions to create effective visuals that can facilitate learner perceptions,” this particular visual was not adequate.