Developing Accurate Visual Conventions?

Abstract

Five articles about pictorial materials that were published in Visual Anthropology Review were read with an aim to compare the research approaches of anthropology and visual communication design. This text focuses on three themes in the five articles that relate to pictorial materials: processes, terminology, and the objectivity of visual evidence. Several questions and uncertainties are very similar in both disciplines. It might be beneficial for investigations into visual communication design practices to consider the level of detail, a critical theory base, and reflexive positions that form the basis for the five anthropology articles. Both disciplines need to look at terminology and investigate the motivations and impact of pictorial materials.