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Visual Literacy

By Don L. F. Nilsen

And Alleen Pace Nilsen

Visual Past: Egyptian Hieroglyphics & The Rosetta StoneQUESTION: What is a cartouche and why is it important?

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Cartouche of Thutmose III

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Egyptian Hieroglyphics are alphabetic, not pictographic.

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The History of WritingPictographs

cave drawings

() <> [] {} *

Chinese, Japanese

Ideographs

! @ # $ % & ? .

Chinese, Japanese

Runes

Magic, Spells

North Germanic

Syllabary

ISU, FUNEM?

S, VFM.

FUNEX?

S, VFX.

OK, LFMNX

LE, CD puppies?

L, MNO puppies.

OSMR puppies.

CMPN?

Japanese Kanji

Phonemic Alphabet

BDFHJKLMNPRSTVWYZ

Spanish, Latin

Morphophonemic Alphabet

See next slide

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The letters in a morphophonemic alphabetrepresent meanings (morphology) as well as sounds (phonology)

• Therefore, unrelated words are spelled differently even though they are pronounced the same: – cite-sight-site, marry-Mary-merry, pair-pare-pear, there-

their-they're

• And related words are spelled the same even though they are pronounced differently: – CONSONANTS: act-action, critic-criticize, medicine-

medication, part-partial, rite-ritual, seize-seizure– VOWELS: nation-national, obscene-obscenity, sign-

signature, go-gone– SUFFIXES: cats, dogs, horses / jumped, died, heated– HISTORICAL PRESERVATIONS: knight, hôtel

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Visual Ambiguities

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Letters vs. Numbers Literacy

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Visual Anachronism

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Anachronism

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Visual Analogies

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Alleen Nilsen & Friends

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Visual Antithesis

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Magritte’s Window

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Visual Aptness

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Quixote’s Mind

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Visual Distortion

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Picasso’s “Les Dmoiselles d’Avignon”

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Visual Impossibility

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Escher’s Waterfall

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Visual Metaphors

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Skeleton Words in English

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Visual Orientation

Upside-Down& Sideways

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Frog or Horse?

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Visual Paradoxes

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Paradoxical Colors

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LANGUAGE VS. IMAGE

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INVISIBLE BOX

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Paradoxical Circles

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Trapezoid Room

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Visual Parodies

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Parody of Maurice Sendak’s Where The Wild Things Are

• With:– Bill Cosby– George Lopez– Ray Romano– Margaret Cho– Brad Garrett and – Bill Engvall

• As Wild Things

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Diego Velazquez: Las Meninas

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Pablo Picasso: Las Meninas

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Visual Personification

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Magritte’s “Tree with Ax”

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Anachronism

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Visual Repetition

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Magritte’s Bowler Hats

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Visual Subtlety

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Animal Face

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Visual Symbols

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Arrows

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Ribbons

Visual Future: Emoji

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Emoji Keyboard