Visual+Literacy

//Reflection: The purpose of this assignment was to look at a visual and critique it. We were meant to dissect what the message is, and how it could be improved. I think it was a great assignment because it helped me to think more critically about all the different visual messages that I encounter every day. And it helped me to think about how I want to be sure to carefully select what visual messages I use in my classroom.//

1. My interpretation of this visual message is that the creators of it wanted to work to shock the viewer about how much meat Americans consume. I also assume that the creators of this visual think that American meat consumption is a negative thing because of the title of the graph being “Overproteined”. I think that the effect this visual has on people will vary. I am a vegetarian so this graphic does not really change my opinion about meat consumption. If I were to show this visual to another person that does eat meat it may have a completely different affect on them. I am hesitant to fully believe this visual because they did not include the source of the statistics used. My assumption is that this is an educational graph that is meant to affect the way that people view meat consumption. 2. I think that the people who created this visual used PAT in both positive and negative ways. They used it in a positive way by using some Tools effectively. I think they particularly utilized color and space well. The color catches the audience’s eye, and the space with the graph is well organized. A negative use of PAT is that they did not use very much contrast. Using more contrast could have made the image look more crisp and concise. 3. Several things could have been done to improve this visual and make it more effective to the audience. I think the Analyze category in ACE should be considered here. I think maybe they should think more about what message they want to send. I would not use the word “overproteined” as the title of the graph mostly because as far as I know it is not an actual word. I would also consider including the source of where the statistics were derived so that the audience has a way of knowing if the information is factual. I think expanding on the visual in these ways would make it more effective.