From Verbal to Visual

Humans rely on different forms of communication to survive. As the human race evolves, so does communication. Verbal communication has evolved so much that it has become the dominant form of communication. Visual or audio communication can be just as effective if used correctly, but verbal communication is the most complex form of communication because you can communicate exactly what your intention is. There are thousands of languages that can be communicated through verbally with plenty of different ways to say things and grab the attention of a listener. Other forms of communication have evolved but none have evolved more than verbal because it has had more time to grow.

Visual communication has come a long way in the past century. Specifically, the evolution of photography and filmmaking have changed the way people visually communicate. A photograph has the ability to make a person feel emotion or see what’s happening on the other side of the world, or relive an event that happened a long time ago. One image that captures this idea is V-J Day in Times Square. This image depicts a sailor kissing a stranger on August 14, 1945 in Times Square to celebrate the end of World War II. The image shows the joy and relief of the end of the war and shows what New York City looked like in the 1940s. This is one example of a photograph used for visual communication, but there a lot of other ways to communicate through photography and there have been billions of photographs taken to do so. This makes photography a necessary tool for visual communication.

Companies also use visual communication to make their brands memorable enough to get consumers to buy their products. An example of this is the McDonalds golden arches. This logo is very basic but so memorable that a traveler could be in a country that speaks an entirely different language to them and still know the restaurant is McDonalds because of the golden arches. McDonalds has made this logo the center of their brand since they started and they’ve succeeded by only altering it slightly. FedEx also uses visual communication in their logo but they do it subliminally. Between the “e” and the “x” there is an arrow which is meant to show speed and movement. This logo works well because it gets the message across without having to specifically point it out to the viewer. Another company that uses visual communication well is Apple. Apple has made their logo synonymous with reliability, simplicity, and prestige. They also make almost all of their visuals white with black text and a black logo. This allows them to match their commercial color scheme to the color scheme of their stores so that whenever someone thinks white with a black logo, they think Apple.

Verbal communication has been the main form of communication for thousands of years. It’s still reliable and effective, but new developments in visual communication are changing the way people communicate with others.