Visual vs Symbolic Language

http://www.marketmixup.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/unemployment.jpg

Content: word unemployment, people, newspapers

Structure: word unemployment is bold, people are shadows, newspapers are in the background

Symbols: written language

The background is ironically composed of two newspapers about employment and help wanted, the color of the background is somewhat opaque and dim, as if to not take away from the rest of the picture. There's a see-through white band going across the top of the picture in which the word unemployment is written over it with very bold, black, capitalize letters. This makes the word very visible. On the bottom of this white band, taking most of the picture space, is what seems to be a line of people going across or horizontally on the picture plane. They are all in profile facing the left and they are lined up one after another. What gives this picture more depth is that you cannot see the faces of these people because they are portrayed as shadows, somewhat black and see-through. I believe that the message this picture is trying to convey is that even though there might be some jobs open here and there (based on the newspapers on the background), there's not enough jobs to go around for all the people that are unemployed (based on the word unemployment and the people lined up). Therefore, these people are living behind their own shadows or something like that, that's why they are portrayed as such. 

Visual Thinking Research

There are four snakes interwoven in a cross-like shape. Each one of a different color: black, blue, green and red. The challenge is to spot the shortest of them.

ME: I thought it was the green snake one since it only occupied the bottom left corner of the picture, while the red and black snakes had a greater expansion.

ROOMMATE: My roommate thought it was the blue snake since it only occupied the top left corner of the picture, she also saw the red and black snakes as the most prominent ones.

ANSWER: The red snake, consisting of eleven bends only, is the shortest.

My roommate and I were stunned to find out that the red one was the shortest because both of us thought that it was one of the longest. We came to conclude that since the red snake is the only solid one in color, it jumps out at you more than the rest; while the others you have to rely on closure to follow them around. 

Which shape from the A-E options should be placed instead of the question mark in order to
complete the sequence?

ME: I thought it was D since the red and green box make a triangle and the yellow and blue box make a square so if you pull all four together it makes half of a house and that's what square D showed.

ROOMMATE: My roommate actually got this one right, she was able to see the number pattern once she stepped back and saw the puzzle as a whole and not focus her attention on the individual boxes, which I thought was in interesting method.

ANSWER: Removing some unnecessary parts of the square outlines one can spot digits hidden in them - 1, 2, 3 and 4. The next one should be, obviously, 5. The E shape is the
one which hides 5 in it. Thus, it should be chosen in order to complete the sequence.

Feature Hierarchy and Visual Search

http://www.designbystructure.com/getimage.aspx.ID-119699.png

At first glance, this is just an ordinary website. There's millions of these on the web, but how does this one website stand out from the rest? Its web design has successfully incorporated feature channels, which in this case deal with color, shape, size and spatial layout. Color is always the most predominant from all feature channels, it "pops-out" the most. For example, in this website the logo and the three box icons are opposites from each other in that the logo uses a lot of color and the three box icons don't; but yet, both pop-out to the viewer just as much because of the two different ways they use color. The logo is made out because of its white lettering on a colorful background. Therefore the viewer focuses more on the white lettering rather than the colorful background, but cohesively it works together as one to make the logo stand out. This is an example of color standing out in a silent almost hidden way. On the contrary, the three box icons are white, colorless, apart from the black text each one has which can pass by unnoticeable. The reason these three white box icons stand out is because the background of the website is a gradual gray scale so the whiteness of the box icons pop-out. Also, each white box icon has a colorful link on the bottom of it so the color contrast really draws attention to these boxes and especially to their links. This is an example of color standing out right off the bat. The size and shape of these boxes also make them stand out even more. Spatial layout is an interesting one when analyzing the boxes because there's some kind of depth going on between the background and the boxes, especially when the colorful link of the boxes reflects on the "floor" of the website which makes the boxes come out/jump out at you. The visual search of this website is really successful in that there's not much information to look at, just the logo and the three boxes with the links. Sometimes not having a lot of choices makes it easier for the user to navigate through the website without getting overwhelmed. I would say that overall, the visual hierarchy of this website is color and it was used successfully! 

Top-Down Visual Processing

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDPCCJUm6165rO6jG17LK1uTEurI-10XC3yxhpFMjcZiPdfL5qSaV3MlQcuIH5qoZSTKXmE31MB-PpeKF6t77BAhZfEte_jCNo4NzZGg4SbQGorNdtAsrPkH2NXpvczkf7m5lg66ErR1k/s400/visual+communications.jpg

I believe this image captures the essence of a top-down process because it is focusing its attention at a given task at hand, which in this case is writing the word design. According to Visual Queries, "Top-down processes are driven by the need to accomplish some goal. This might be an action [...] It might be a cognitive goal, such as understanding an idea expressed in a diagram. (Ware)" This image can also be looked at as "an idea expressed in a diagram," in which the viewer understands that the idea of the image is about design not because of the actual action going on in writing the word design but because of the specific design diagram that's in the background, such as coding and various design software. Top-down visual processing also deals with fixation, which applies to this image as well because when writing (action goal) and/or understanding the idea of the word design (cognitive goal), ones attention span tends to prolong in certain areas. For example, when writing the word design one might tend to look more extensively on the letters that are being written. Likewise, when it comes to understanding the idea of the word design, one might tend to look more extensively on how the various design features are diagrammed in the background. Finally, top-down visual processing involves specific eye movements, which also applies to this image because when writing (action goal) and/or understanding the idea of the word design (cognitive goal), ones eyes move in a certain degree. For example, when writing the word design one might tend to glance at how much space is left in order to determine whether the word is going to fit on the paper before continuing to write the rest of the letters. Likewise, when it comes to understanding the idea of the word design, one might tend to glance in a certain matter at how the different design features are diagrammed and follow them in a specific path. It's this "constant re-linking between actions and cognition (looping), (Wk2_LECTURE_VisQueries-1.pdf)" that make this image a good candidate for top-down visual processing!