An Introduction to Visual Theory and Practice in the Digital Age

Advances in digital technology over the past two decades have created a wide array of new media platforms, channels, and delivery mechanisms. Through these, people can receive staggering amounts of content. As a result, both consumers and producers of media have exciting new options in creating and acquiring content.
An Introduction to Visual Theory and Practice in the Digital Age is designed to prepare students for becoming producers of sophisticated digital media. It combines elements of visual theory and design with the practice of creating interactive media content. A framework for working in the digital world is also provided: students are asked to consider the legal, ethical, and historical aspects of visual theory and design and then combine those concepts with visual design principles and proper composition of still images, video, and sound. Real-world examples are provided, with a section where media professionals explain how theory and practice are brought together.
Designed as an introduction to the field, this book is suitable for undergraduate courses including those in multimedia journalism, visual communication, and mass communication practices.

Brooke Barnett is Associate Professor in the School of Communications at Elon University and is Director of the Elon Program for Documentary Production. She worked as news director, documentary producer, reporter and host/producer in public television before receiving her PhD in journalism from Indiana University. Her films have won awards and aired on public television. She is a frequent guest on public radio on media and film subjects. Her research has appeared in a number of journals, and she is the author of three books including Terrorism and the Press: An Uneasy Relationship and Media Coverage of Crisis: The War on Terror and the Wars in Iraq.
David Copeland is the A. J. Fletcher Professor in the School of Communications at Elon University and author of numerous books on the history of media and its relationship to society, including The Media’s Role in Defining the Nation: The Active Voice and The Idea of a Free Press: The Enlightenment and Its Unruly Legacy. He is the editor of more than twenty other books dealing with media and the nation. A former newspaper editor, reporter, and designer, Copeland received his PhD in mass communication research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was named the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Virginia Professor of the Year in 1998.
Harlen Makemson is Associate Professor in the School of Communications at Elon University. He has a PhD in journalism and mass communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a former newspaper designer whose work was recognized in Society for News Design international competitions as well as regional contests. He has authored a number of scholarly articles in the areas of media history and visual communication, and he is the author of Media, NASA, and America’s Quest for the Moon.
Phillip Motley is Assistant Professor in the School of Communications at Elon University. He teaches courses that deal with issues of aesthetics, design, and visual communication at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He holds degrees in fine art from Davidson College and industrial design from North Carolina State University. Prior to joining the faculty at Elon, he taught art and design at the University of Wisconsin-Stout and worked as a three-dimensional designer. Motley is an active researcher in the scholarship of teaching and learning. He was selected as a Wisconsin Teaching Fellow while at Wisconsin-Stout, and was named a National Teaching Scholar in 2009.