The importance of Visual Communication in Service Delivery
In a time in which we are being flooded with visual stimuli and information, it seems about time to work on our visual literacy. This seminar aimed to work on exactly that, providing food for thought and knowledge on visual communication. Rotterdam organised this seminar within the programme and the National Community for Public Services ‘GebruikerCentraal’.
Over 150 attendees listened closely and participated in two awesome lectures/masterclasses. Henri Ritzen showed the audience an overview over the full history of visual communication: from prehistoric “graffiti” to medieval symbolism, with constant references to the present culture of visual communication. This made clear that visual communication and imagery is a phenomenon from all ages, we are basically repeating what we did, just a bit more of all that. Maybe even too much: shouldn’t we ask ourselves if “a bit less” could be better? Maybe we should look at “information reduction”, Ritzen asked the crowd.
Second speaker of the day was urban psychologist and photographer Dr. Marina Meeuwisse, on the way our brain processes images. The unconscious parts of our brain play a crucial role in the way we perceive visual information. Early life experiences create schemata and imprints of perceptions and associations, determining the way we make interpretations when confronted with visual content. This gives the producers of visual information the opportunity to influence our perception and thus our decisions and behaviour.