"Imagery" by C. Kelly
How visuals are so important in literature with text and visuals together
[read the intro] [see other chapters in this e-book]

So why are visuals so important? For me personally, especially when dealing with dense material, long words and names that are not only hard to pronounce but all sound the same. A visual such as diagrams or even skeletons can make the hugest difference. Using my eyes to help connect the word with the name of body parts and where it is and what is does with a visual makes the material click and become easier to remember. I feel it is the action of seeing that makes it so helpful. I think for myself visual learning came a lot from dance and growing up and doing it my entire life. Dance is a very visual and physical art, and the learning process relies a lot on watching and taking in the move or movements to learn it and do it the way the choreographer wants it done, and get all the tiny details. So in general I am a very visual learner. On a more public level, visuals are also said to help memorization and stimulate both sides of your brain with text and visuals together, especially in textbooks. In kinesiology for example, as a class (dancers and none dancers) we rely a lot on the diagrams. Almost in every note slide there are pictures and diagrams to help show what the body part looks like and where it is. Also before tests or days when we have review, we use colorful clay and small skeletons to label where the body part is and really be able to visualize it with the colorful clay. And lastly when learning what each body part does, how it moves or what action it does, we actually do the movement on our bodies, if possible, to connect the body part to our own body and to feel it, to help better understand.

In another sense regarding how important visuals are, not only in learning material but also they are visually appealing and can be helpful to catch the public’s eye, rather than just text on its own. For example, "HEY YOU. LOOK HERE" could catch a person's eye but:

A text with a visual can be a lot more catching! Don’t you agree? Text and visual together makes their own art, and their own meaning. Another example of text with visuals in a more public way is advertising. It’s EVERYWHERE! Something can look so much more appealing with a picture, like the saying, "a picture worth a thousand words."

So let's ask the question now of can visuals completely take the place of text? Can all information and messages come across the same with just visuals; is it as helpful as text with visuals? Or are they hand in hand? Well, I really do think visuals are important in literature, but I'm not sure they could go without text. I feel that a visual by itself is more like art and can be interpreted in many ways and can be broader in the meaning, and that is exactly why visuals with text is so effective. It has a written meaning that supports it with a visual that shows the meaning. Could you imagine if literature was only visuals? It’s an interesting thought isn’t it? If we all communicated through visuals and text was only part of the visual. Literature would completely change, and words and letters would soon not mean much. Pictures as words!

[up top]