Visual Features posters for classroom display

1. GAZE
Where is the character or figure looking?
Eye contact = DEMAND
No eye contact = OFFER
What relationships, attitudes and emotions are
suggested by the use of gaze?

2. SCALE AND SIZE
How big or small are the characters or objects?
Relative sizes can indicate relationships.
Size:
Small = weak or insignificant
Large = powerful or significant
Scale:
Comparative size
What relationships are suggested by the size and
scale of characters and objects?

3. COLOUR
How is colour or lack of colour used?
Use of colour can convey mood, emotions and
ideas. Colours can be symbolic of ideas or
feelings.
Red = blood, passion, emotion, danger
Orange/Yellow = warmth, joy, happiness
Blue = sadness, calmness, tranquillity
Pink = feminine, romance
Green = nature, hope
Black = evil, mystery, fear
White = purity, innocence
Purple = courage, royalty, loyalty
Grey = neutral, coldness, emptiness
Sepia (brown/aged) = the past, lifelessness

4. TONE
Are colours and shading lighter or darker?
Tone ranges from light/pale shading to
heavy/dense shading.
How can the tone impact the mood, emotion or
ideas of text?

5. SALIENCE
What object in the image draws our attention?
The salient feature is the most important object or
figure in the image. It focuses our attention.
Salience can be created by the size, colour and
tone of an object or figure.
What is salient in an image? Why is this object or
image important?

6. ANGLES
What angle do we view the character, object or
scene from?
Frontal = involvement
Side-on = detachment
High angle (looking down) =
weakness/submission
Low angle (looking up) = power/dominance
How are angles used to create relationships
between characters and with the reader, or
establish power structures?

7. VECTORS
What lines can we see in an image?
Horizontals, verticals, diagonals, curved lines.
May be created by objects or landscapes, or may
be created by a reading path from one element to
another.
For example, the gaze of a character to an object
can create a vector.
What vectors can you see and what is their
effect?

8. SYMBOLS AND MOTIFS
A symbol is an object or other visual element
(like a colour) used to represent a bigger idea.
A motif is a recurring symbol.
Gold = wealth, power, value
Sunshine = happiness
Gun = violence, destruction
What symbols or motifs can you observe?

9. POSITIONING
Where are the characters or objects positioned on
the page?
Foreground = to the front
Middleground = in the centre
Background = in the back
Left or right, top or bottom
The positioning of visual elements on a page
indicates relationships and significance.
What elements are placed where on the page?

10. SHAPES AND CONTOURS
What sort of shapes are used?
Shapes with straight lines and angles = rigidity and
harshness
Shapes with curves = flow and softness
What shapes are used and what is the effect?

11. FRAMING AND BORDERS
Are frames and borders used?
Borders or frames around images can suggest
control.
A lack of borders or frames can suggest freedom
or lack of constraint.
How are frames used and what is the impact?