Handbook of Visual Communication : Theory, Methods, and Media

This Handbook of Visual Communication explores the key theoretical areas in visual communication, and presents the research methods utilized in exploring how people see and how visual communication occurs. With chapters contributed by many of the best-known and respected scholars in visual communication, this volume brings together significant and influential work in the visual communication discipline.

The theory chapters included here define the twelve major theories in visual communication scholarship: aesthetics, perception, representation, visual rhetoric, cognition, semiotics, reception theory, narrative, media aesthetics, ethics, visual literacy, and cultural studies. Each of these theory chapters is followed by exemplar studies in the area, demonstrating the various methods used in visual communication research as well as the research approaches applicable for specific media types.

The Handbook serves as an invaluable reference for visual communication theory as well as a useful resource book of research methods in the discipline. It defines the current state of theory and research in visual communication, and serves as a foundation for future scholarship and study. As such, it is required reading for scholars, researchers, and advanced students in visual communication, and it will be influential in other disciplines in which the visual component is key, including advertising, persuasion, and media studies. The volume will also be useful to practitioners seeking to understand the visual aspects of their media and the visual processes used by their audiences.

Kenneth L. Smith is the author of Buffalo River Handbook, The Buffalo River Country, and Illinois River, all published by the Ozark Society, and Sawmill: The Story of Cutting the Last Great Virgin Forest East of the Rockies
(University of Arkansas Press).

Sandra Moriarty teaches in the integrated marketing communications graduate program at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Previously she taught in the department of advertising at Michigan State University and at the University of Kansas. Moriarty has also owned her own advertising and public relations agency, worked as a chief copywriter and public relations consultant and served as director of a university publications program. She has authored six other books on marketing-related topics.

Tom Duncan is the director of the integrated marketing communications graduate program at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Previously he taught advertising and marketing at Ball State University. During 15 years of working for companies such as Leo Burnett and Beatrice Foods, Tom has prepared and given advertising presentations throughout the United States and in England, China, and Japan. He has conducted seminars on advertising and marketing communications in Europe and the Far East.

Kenneth L. Smith is the author of Buffalo River Handbook, The Buffalo River Country, and Illinois River, all published by the Ozark Society, and Sawmill: The Story of Cutting the Last Great Virgin Forest East of the Rockies
(University of Arkansas Press).