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Curetarrah D.

Yisrael (Witcher)
July 24, 2016
Module 7: Research on Visual and Media Literacy
Topic: Visual Communication

Research Article 1:
PowerPoint Presentations in Applied Linguistics by Ayad Kmalvand, a student of
Islamic Azad University, in summary is a study that attempts to analyze the visualization
processes applied in the PowerPoint defense session presentations created by Iranian students
who are majoring in Applied Linguistics. While the importance of PowerPoint presentations is
usually realized in most academic settings such as conferences, lectures, and seminars, the study
of the visual features of presentations has received very little attention.
This study used seventy PowerPoints (PPs) prepared and delivered by Iranian Masters
students of Applied Linguistics. The instrument used was developed by Rowley-Jolivets
(2002), a typology of visuals set the structure to analyze the visual features of the 70
presentations. The analysis of the visual aids of the presentations was carried out by two
mathematical operations of counting the frequency of visual occurrences across different
sections of the presentations and calculating the percentage.
The study found that the most frequent visual types were scriptural (74.5%), numerical
(16.8%) and graphical (6.9%), and figurative (2.16%) visuals. In this order they were ranked
from most frequently to less frequent. Students used the color blue in most of their PPs (33). The
next most used color was gray (13). The results also show that 13 out of 70 MA students
(18.58%) put to use animation in their PPs. Interestingly, animation was not favored by the
significant majority of students in Applied Linguistics.

I can appreciate the authors use of investigative practices to find what would be the best
measurement tool to gain the information being sought. The study did a great job of showing
how effective communication means understanding the audience and their needs, the purpose of
communication, and the context in which the communication will be received; and then tailoring
the message to meet these criteria. What I have learned from this study is the importance of using
the proper colors, animations and script when developing a PowerPoint for particular audiences.
Research Article 2:
In the article Design Principles for Visual Communication by Maneesh Agrawala,
Wilmot Li, and Floraine Berthouzoz, the focus is on how one is to identify, develop a theory
about, and assess domain-specific design philosophies/principles for creating more effective
visuals. The authors point out that the visual communication design principles should easily
connect the visual design with the viewers perception and understanding of the underlying
information that the visualization is meant to convey. Recognizing and developing good design
principles regularly entails looking in depth at the best hand-designed visualizations,
researching and understanding prior studies done on the cognition and perception of
visualizations, and possibly conducting a user-based study to show how visual techniques affect
perception and cognition of the viewer.
The use of methodology was not study driven, but it used three-stages to identify the
design principles. Though they presented three main strategies for identifying design principles,
other strategies may be possible as well. The stages are (1.) Identify design principles, (2.)
Instantiate design principles, and (3.) Evaluate design principles. The authors use these three
stages to test the effectiveness of various visual designs (figure 1-4 subway map, geometric
model of mechanical assembly).

The results show that they focused their work on identifying domain-specific design
principles. The challenge was to generalize them across many domains. The authors found that
one approach might be to initially identify domain-specific design principles in diverse design
domains, then look for cohesiveness between the domain specific principles.
In my opinion, I enjoyed the articles take on how the three stages could apply to various
types of visual design. What I learned was that the authors found many commonalities that
would allow design principles to be essential models that forecast how visual methods affect
ones perception and cognition. This in turn would promote use of the three stages of visual
communications.
Research Article 3:
This paper, Visual Communication Design as a Form of Public Pedagogy by Kelly
Meghan, identifies the use of visual communication design as a type of public pedagogy. In this
paper, The Communication design that is cited seeks to achieve the successful broadcasting of a
message to a receiver in a visual mode. The theory that is explained in this article is visual
communication design. It can assist in enhancing the reception of the communication, as these
practices become a mechanism to intensify the effectiveness of learning in a public space such as
primary, secondary and higher education.
The author uses museums as a more familiar place of public learning, and argues that the
communication design, and specific visual communication design techniques, are vital in our
societys development of successful learning experience. The author suggest that participants
(students) must be engaged or encourage to be interested for their learning to not diminish. This
paper emphasizes the vital role that the communication design can play in other forms of public

education, not just within the context of museums. While the author argues the benefits of visual
communication design to increasing the efficacy of overall learning, it recognizes the limited
opportunities of applying this knowledge due to many who may not subscribe.
This article had a research based methodology that focused on the data of previous and
known research. It used socially accepted anecdotes and references to make many of its points to
argue its support of the visual communications design. The author used various referenced
articles to validate the basis on the overall theory.
In summary the results of this article were not qualitative, but more so quantitative. The
author cites the grave importance that the visual communication design can make on present day
education, but only if not limited. However, the author realizes that the use and incorporation of
design theories and practices to learning in the public space is often impossible, due to nondesigners. Non-designers contribute to the field of public pedagogy, mainly by creating learning
of the public. This leads to two areas for further research. The first, we should investigate the
role that non-designers play in public learning, and the secondly; investigating the impact of
introducing design knowledge and skills in the public learning environment.
What I enjoyed most was how well written and concise the article was. The topic was
clearly stated and left very little room for any confusion the reader could have had. I enjoyed
learning more of the jargon concerning visual communications. The article used museums, one
of my favorite learning places, and showed how we have moved globally from the traditionalism
of text in museums to more visuals to trigger true independent experiences. What I learned was
how we must incorporate the understanding of visual aids in our learning and our students
learning to make the experience more concrete.

Bibliography:
A, M. (2011, April). Design Principles for Visual Communication. SciVee, 54(4), 60-69.
doi:10.4016/28008.01
M.K. (2015, Nov.). Visual Communication Design as a Form of Public Pedagogy.
Australian Journal of Adult Learning, v55 n3 pp 390-407.
K.A. (2015). Visual Communication PowerPoint Presentations in Applied Linguistics.
TechTrends. v59, Issue 6, pp 41-45.

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