Breaking Images: A Method for Improving Design Students’ Visual Literacy

Abstract

In pursuit of competitive advantage, a growing number of organizations are adopting design‑thinking strategies with a strong emphasis on visual methods. As a result, graphic design education must increase a focus on cultivating visual literacy as a thinking tool, in addition to its traditional processes for producing polished artifacts. This article proposes such a pedagogical approach; teaching students to deconstruct an image into pictures of differing levels of fidelity. The spell of realism broken, students can begin embarking on their own stylistic visual communication paths. Drawing on J.J. Gibson’s distinction between image and picture, students explore how deliberate choices of pictorial form can advance specific communication goals. Classroom activities encourage them to imagine a world without text — where meaning must be carried solely by pictures — and to challenge the cultural assumption that photographic accuracy is synonymous with effective depiction.