The Elements of Visual Grammar

A color-illustrated introduction to the basic principles of visual language that every content creator and consumer needs to know

The right images capture attention, pique curiosity, and inspire viewers to stick around long enough to read any accompanying text. Nearly everyone today needs to use or understand images in communications of all kinds, from the most formal professional publication to the most casual social media post, and knowing the basics of visual language is essential for content creators and consumers alike. However, most people aren’t taught visual grammar unless they go into art- or design-related fields. The Elements of Visual Grammar explains image use in any media in practical terms for writers, scholars, and other professionals. Award-winning art director and design professor Angela Riechers offers a flexible set of principles and best practices for selecting images that work—and using them in the most persuasive way. The result is an indispensable guide for anyone who wants to learn how to work more successfully with images and words.

• Features more than 200 color illustrations—drawn from a wide range of styles, media, and eras—that demonstrate the principles of visual grammar and how images can support and enhance written content
• Defines and illustrates the basic elements of images, describes how images function within text regardless of media, and explains how to choose images and integrate them with text
• Introduces the practical, cultural, conceptual, and scientific factors that influence image use
• Analyzes images by function and describes ways to employ symbolism, synecdoche, allegory, metaphor, analogy, and iconography

Angela Riechers is Education Director at Letterform Archive in San Francisco. She was formerly Program Director of Graphic Design at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. As an art director, she has created everything from page layouts for Harper’s Magazine to iPad apps for O, The Oprah Magazine. Riechers received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts.