Decoding visual content

One of the more difficult — but also more rewarding — tasks of media education is helping people learn to “see” in more complex ways the images they are engaging. The same is true for soundscapes. While I’ve found ways to work with sound scapes (for example, watching movie scenes with the sound muted, and then with different soundtracks), it’s been more difficult to figure out how to do it with visual images. Today I stumbled on a fascinating set of exercises designed by Kate Brigham, as part of her master’s work at the Mass College of Art. You can reach the exercises through a link on the “re:constructions” site maintained by the MIT Comparative Media Studies faculty. Kate’s exercises use images of Osama Bin Laden from television stills and magazine layouts, and then provide an interactive ability to change the visual context, as well as elements of the visual design, and thus consider the differing impact of such subtle changes.