Visual Persuasion Research Articles

Speaking to the Eye: Sight and Insight through Text and Image (1150–1650) ed. by Thérèse de Hemptinne, Veerle Fraeters, and María Eugenia Góngora (review)

Reviewed by: Speaking to the Eye: Sight and Insight through Text and Image (1150–1650) ed. by Thérèse de Hemptinne, Veerle Fraeters, and María Eugenia Góngora Judith Collard (bio) Hemptinne, Thérèse de, Veerle Fraeters, and María Eugenia Góngora, eds, Speaking to the Eye: Sight and Insight through Text and Image (1150–1650) (Medieval Identities: Socio-Cultural Spaces, 2), Turnhout, Brepols, 2013; hardback; pp. xx, 311; 8 colour, 37 b/w illustrations; R.R.P. €90.00; ISBN 9782503534206. This collection is the result of a Flemish–Chilean bilateral project, ‘Speaking to the Eye: Text, Image, and Gender in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times’. It is interdisciplinary in approach, but does emphasise literary, art historical, philosophical, and theological approaches. Each of the writers highlights the complex cultural meanings found in the texts and images being studied. The book is divided into three sections – Spiritual Vision, Text and Image Interactions, and Agency of Pictures – and is bookended by two essays that set the chronological boundaries of the work, and bring to the fore its central theme of exploring ‘the tension between iconophilic and iconoclastic reflections on the nature and function of images’ in the medieval and early modern periods. Ineke van ‘t Spijker’s chapter on Hugh of St-Victor and Richard of St-Victor looks at the important role given to the visual and the visible in their understandings of knowledge and thought. Both used images not only as explanatory diagrams but also as vehicles for thinking in their discussions of the thinking process. In their writings, where they reflect the influence of the writings of St Augustine, they provide a more nuanced role for imagery. While this chapter looks at how the Victorine brothers included roles for images and the imagination in their quest for spiritual perfection through contemplation and meditation, the next three deal with visionary texts from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, examining works by Hildegard of Bingen, Hadewijck of Brabant, and Simon of Aulne. In their studies of the first two, María Eugenia Góngora and Veerle Fraeters take specific visionary texts for focused analysis, while Jeroen Deploige looks at the use of spiritual clairvoyance in an account of the life of a Cistercian lay brother. This was recorded in an illustrated revision of his life from the seventeenth century. Henry Suso also features in this collection. Suso’s use of images in his spiritual mentoring of nuns marked a shift in Dominican teaching, transforming Andachtsbilder into a central part of spiritual life. The imagery found in his texts also provides a fascinating insight into ideas about prayer and visionary experiences. Youri Desplenter examines Middle Dutch psalters, showing the use of these books by women, especially tertiaries, who adapted liturgical ritual into a quieter form of private prayer. The third chapter in this [End Page 240] second section looks at a fifteenth-century Middle French rhyming chronicle from the Premonstratensian monastery of Florette. The chronicle’s author defended the writing of history through allegorical writings combined with unusual illustrations, some of which transform and complement the meanings found in the text. The final section looks at paintings from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. These include the extraordinary Beato Chiarito tabernacle in Florence, the central panel of which shows an image of the Apostles drinking the blood of Christ via tubes. The image highlights both Christ’s suffering and the spiritual nourishment it provides. The second chapter, by Stijn Bussels, looks at the ‘Diptych of the Lentulus Letter’, which juxtaposes a profile image of Christ with a purportedly contemporaneous description of his appearance. Caroline van Eck’s final chapter on Bellini’s Pieta combines Alfred Gell’s ideas about agency in art with classical rhetoric and Renaissance responses to art, to explore early modern ideas about visual persuasion. The epilogue of the collection is a discussion of Huygen’s poem written to console a friend whose eyesight was diminishing, which draws together both Augustinian understandings of spiritual insight, with ideas drawn from texts like that of Thomas à Kempis. This is a fascinating and varied collection that tracks shifting understandings of the uses of images from the medieval...

Death and the erotic woman: the European gendering of mortality in times of major religious change

This paper explores the use of European erotic death imagery produced in the Death and the Maiden (D&M) genre in two time periods. It compares and contrasts D&M imagery produced by the Germanic-speaking proto/early-Reformation artists, Hans Baldung (alias Grien) (c1484–1545), Niklaus Manuel (known as Deutsch) (c1484–1530) and Sebald Beham (known as Hans Sebald Beham) (1500–1550) which highlighted the folly, futility and transience of earthly vanities during the transition from Roman Catholic to Protestant Christianity, with contemporary calendar art produced by Cofani Funebri (from 2003) and Lindner (from 2010) which advertise coffins manufactured in the increasingly secular countries of Italy and Poland. Drawing on Biblical narrative, Augustinian theology and European socio-cultural perceptions of gender, this paper argues that these D&M images are highly eroticised and place woman as signifiers of transcient life (vanitas) and earthly pleasure (voluptas), juxtaposing her with a masculine/male representation of death; Death being imaged as an individual in the sixteenth century, and as a coffin in the contemporary works. The paper also contextualises the imagery in terms of traditional European Christian notions of life and death, as informed by the Biblical Fall narrative, with its elucidations of sin, concupiscence and punishment. It thus asserts that both socio-cultural and religious attitudes towards gender are highly significant in D&M imagery and indeed in terms of the artworks, argues that the masculine signifier of Death can be placed as Adam, whilst the Maiden, as fecund life, represents Eve. However, the overt eroticism of both sets of artworks also allows for a reading that draws on Messaris' [(1997). Visual persuasion; the role of images in advertising. London: Sage] notion that visual images ‘make a persuasive communication due to iconicity; the emotional response to the visual image presented’. Thus, this paper contrasts D&M imagery produced over 400 years apart to examine consciously erotic gendered thanantological allegories of women as vanitas and voluptas, and the male/masculine as representations of Death.

Message without a Coda: On the Rhetoric of Photographic Records

This article investigates the rhetoric of the photographic object in the context of the 3.11 disasters in Japan, where this particular object became essential for both commemorating the loss and communicating to future generations about the danger of a large-scale disaster. Through ethnography of the two different subcultures of photographic laboratory, the article documents various sign processes of the disaster-related photograph and argues that in the context of a sudden disaster, both the duty to remember the past and the hope for alternative trajectories for the future are grounded in the same regimented meaning of a particular object which nonetheless can be used to express different subjectivities. As a free-floating object, the photograph is by its nature antisemiotic in that it resists interpretation unless its visual persuasion is domesticated by “ethnometapragmatics,” that is, the highly coded cultural talk about the sociocultural, political, and historical significance of the image or a set of images.

A Content Analysis of Visual Cancer Information: Prevalence and Use of Photographs and Illustrations in Printed Health Materials

Researchers and practitioners have an increasing interest in visual components of health information and health communication messages. This study contributes to this evolving body of research by providing an account of the visual images and information featured in printed cancer communication materials. Using content analysis, 147 pamphlets and 858 images were examined to determine how frequently images are used in printed materials, what types of images are used, what information is conveyed visually, and whether or not current recommendations for the inclusion of visual content were being followed. Although visual messages were found to be common in printed health materials, existing recommendations about the inclusion of visual content were only partially followed. Results are discussed in terms of how relevant theoretical frameworks in the areas of behavior change and visual persuasion seem to be used in these materials, as well as how more theory-oriented research is necessary in visual messaging efforts.

Visual Persuasion as an Interdisciplinary Social Science

Visual Persuasion as an Interdisciplinary Social Science

The Museum as a Means of Visual Persuasion

The Museum as a Means of Visual Persuasion

The Inclusiveness of a Museum's Appeal Using Principles of Visual Persuasion: A Case Study

The Inclusiveness of a Museum's Appeal Using Principles of Visual Persuasion: A Case Study

Space Exploration: Assessing Designed Spaces as Visual Persuasion

The design of spaces within buildings is a basic element of architecture. This paper proposes a theory of spatial design in architecture and demonstrates the role of designed spaces in visual persuasion or influence. It also extends the theory to spaces outside of buildings, such as gardens, parks, ponds, fountains, and even cities, and assesses the visual impact of these surroundings. The paper applies the theory to the evaluation of designed spaces such as the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney, Australia; the gardens of Versailles; the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew near London; and the Royal Botanic Gardens in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Chicago as Message: Visual Persuasion in the "City of the Big Shoulders"

Chicago as Message: Visual Persuasion in the "City of the Big Shoulders"

“A Call to Action”: Visual Persuasion in a Spanish American Painting

In the 1680s, a painting representing Franciscan missions and indigenous peoples in Central America was sent to Madrid from Mexico as a tactic to lobby for continued royal support. The discovery of this historical circumstance provides a means to analyze this work in depth as an example of visual persuasion in a transatlantic context. Because it was meant to be viewed far from its place of production, the painting offers a unique opportunity to consider the interpretative model of connectedness (rather than influence) for the study of art in the Iberian Atlantic world.

Exploring Interpretation of Complexity and Typicality in Narratives and Statistical Images about the Social Determinants of Health

This article explores public responses to narratives and statistical images, predominantly graphs and maps, designed to raise awareness of social determinants of health and health disparities. We focus particular attention on respondents' interpretation of the complexity of health causality and the typicality of the situations described. We conducted 24 focus groups with liberal and conservative adults (n = 180 participants) living in a large U.S. northeastern state. Although some narratives showed potential for communicating the complex causality connecting social determinants of health (SDH) to health outcomes, contextual details sometimes disrupted generalization to a broader thematic message. Statistical images often prompted useful speculation about how the factors portrayed might be related, but tended to be regarded with suspicion and criticized for oversimplifying what were perceived to be extremely complex issues. These findings lend theoretical insight to narrative and visual persuasion in the context of social issues with complex causation. We discuss practical implications for those seeking to communicate about the social determinants of health.

Visual Persuasion Tactics in Narrative Development: An Analysis of The Matrix

This study analyzes the narrative functions of visual persuasive devices employed by the creators in essential scenes in The Matrix. Highly creative, revolutionary visual devices used in The Matrix were enabled by rhetorical uses of color, mise-en-scène, and camera position/framing.

Visual Persuasion in George W. Bush's Presidency: Cowboy Imagery in Public Discourse

Discussion of George W. Bush's rhetoric typically focuses on his spoken address, yet his use of cowboy visuals also qualifies as public communication. By visually identifying himself as a cowboy Bush associated his presidency with the story of the mythic cowboy, a powerful concept in American culture. While visual images are typically not considered a substantive and rational form of political communication, Bush's cowboy persona, emphasized visually, prompted widespread debate about his leadership style and approach to national problems, particularly terrorism. While many did not agree with his policies, the simplicity of the visual message and the foundational nature of the cowboy story provided a narrative that prompted a national debate on substantive issues of the day. Language is still considered the critical element of political debate, but as Bush's experience demonstrates, rhetoric includes visual communication as well.

Monuments and Memorials as Visual Persuasion: Using Design Principles for Assessment

Monuments and Memorials as Visual Persuasion: Using Design Principles for Assessment

Effectiveness of Cartoons as a Uniquely Visual Medium for Orienting Social Issues

Despite the perception in some quarters that cartoons constitute an important medium for framing social issues, they are often dismissed on the grounds of political absurdity and ideological insignificance. Cartoons are seen as offering just “passing chuckles” rather than any “deep reflection” on social issues. The perception may be related to the cartoon's discursive spatial limitation and its very nature as a visual mode of communication. Visual modes of communication are deemed deficient in performing analytical communication. By grounding cartoons within a theory of visual semiotics and visual persuasion, this paper attempts to address some of the concerns raised about the effectiveness of editorial cartoons. It attempts to find out how cartoons, as uniquely visual forms of communication, signify their meanings and manage to offer “deep reflection,” rather than just simple “passing chuckle” on social issues.

Reporting the Future: A Visual Parable of Environmental Ethics in Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison's The Architect's Brother

This article examines Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison's multimedia work, The Architect's Brother as a visual parable of the irreparable nature of environmental degradation, and as a compelling argument for a radical transformation of environmental ethics. Part I explores the terms “parable” and “irreparability” as pertinent to visual persuasion and environmental ethics. Part II examines the visual aesthetics at work in The Architect's Brother.

Persuading Visual Attention through Geometry

Artists, illustrators, photographers, and cinematographers have long used the principles of contrast and composition to guide visual attention. In this paper we introduce geometry modification as a tool to persuasively direct visual attention. We build upon recent advances in mesh saliency to develop techniques to alter geometry to elicit greater visual attention. Eye-tracking-based user studies show that our approach successfully guides user attention in a statistically significant manner. Our approach operates directly on geometry, and therefore, produces view-independent results that can be used with existing view-dependent techniques of visual persuasion.

Visual Persuasion: Issues in the Translation of the Visual in Advertising

This contribution is concerned with the decoding of advertising messages and the question of whether and how such messages are received by members of other cultures. The answers to these questions are important when considering the role of the translator in adapting global campaigns. Most advertisers concentrate on avoiding linguistic pitfalls when adapting advertisements for new markets, but in any advertisement, consumers are primarily attracted by visual elements. It can be said that an advertisement’s potential for triggering a train of connotations in the consumers’ minds is the most important aspect of advertisement design. According to Barthes, images are polysemous, but it is not clear whether all connotations are accessible to viewers in different cultures. The visual in advertising exploits the original and the stereotypical – novelty attracts attention, while the stereotypical serves as a reference to established knowledge. The main design options discussed are layout and directionality, as well as the choice of subject, which also allows a range of visual rhetorical options to be encoded. Decoding depends on practical, cultural and aesthetic knowledge. The challenge to the translator lies in assessing whether the choices made in the original advertisement and its connotation potential can be transferred to a new language market with different cultural practices. The analysis draws on the semiotics of Barthes, and presents more recent approaches from cultural studies. It is illustrated by examples of the strategies adopted for global advertising campaigns by companies operating world-wide and includes a case study on advertising in China.

Aristotle's Classical Enthymeme and the Visual Argumentation of the Twenty-First Century

This essay explores whether Aristotle's enthymeme applies to visual arguments. Often the enthymeme is defined as “a syllogism with one of its parts missing,” and much debate surrounds whether enthymemes so defined apply to visual arguments. After arguing that popular interpretations of the enthymeme differ remarkably from Aristotle's original conception, this essay reviews visual argumentation studies in order to demonstrate how elements of Aristotle's classical enthymeme are implicit in current theories of visual argumentation. When the enthymeme is understood more broadly, visual communication can be classified as argumentation, thus enhancing the credibility of studies of visual persuasion.

Personalization of the Web Interface: The Impact of Web Avatars on Users' Responses to E-commerce Sites

ABSTRACT Much has been written on the role of the message source as a vehicle for persuasion in traditional print and broadcast media, but little from an online perspective. In the virtual world, the opportunity now exists to incorporate a wide variety of message spokespersons in the form of avatars. These figures can range from fanciful, animated characters to literal photographic depictions of the actual web surfer. This study investigates the role of avatars as a form of visual persuasion, and assesses their influence on decision-making for apparel products and how they impact the consumers' evaluation of the website.