LESSON 3
To Sense. To Select. To Perceive.
TOPICS COVERED To Sense. To Select. To Perceive. The Visual Process. Visual Communication’s circle dance.

OBJECTIVES Have you ever wondered how you sense, selecting from a myriad of sights and sounds, perceive...The more you know the more you see. This lesson will focus on our seeing and learning, what we remember, what we forget and what are memorable images. By the end of this chapter you should know: . That visual analysis is vital for understanding the visually intensive world in which we live. . That if you can learn to be more observant, you will see, learn, and remember more.

“ The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something. To see clearly is poetry, prophecy, and religion, all in one.”
John Ruskin 1819 – 1900

The day that changed everything 9/11 What do you remember? What have you forgotten? The Art of Seeing Sensing, Selecting, and Perceiving “The more you know; the more you see.”

From the morning of September 11, 2001, radio, television, and print media sources along with their Web site counterparts all went to work to try to inform and explain the horrific personal carnage and destruction that was unleashed against thousands of innocent Americans. Reporters gathered as much information as quickly as possible during the confusing and unbelievable first hours after the attack. With the north tower of the World Trade Center already on fire from a previous direct hit from a commercial airliner, viewers on television saw live and unedited video footage of another airliner slam into the south tower and then witnessed the collapse of both 11 O-story structures. At least 3,000 people were killed.
Many stunned viewers watching live television reports commented that they thought the pictures seemed more appropriate for a Hollywood movie than actual events (Figure 1.1). In fact, it was those striking, unforgettable visual messages that made this story so compelling and memorable. President George W. Bush acknowledged the power of visual communication in his speech to the country the first evening of the tragedy: "The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing, have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness, and a quiet, unyielding anger:'

THE VISUAL PROCESS Aldous Huxley, author of the novel Brave New World and forty-six other books of philosophical and futuristic vision, detailed his efforts to teach himself how to see more clearly in his 1942 work The Art of Seeing. From the age of sixteen, Huxley suffered from a degenerative eye condition known as keratitis punctata, an inflammation of the cornea. One eye was merely capable of light perception, and the other could only view an eye chart's largest letter from 10 feet away. Today, the condition is rare and attributed most likely to bacterial or viral infection. It can be treated easily with medications. In his book Huxley described the physical exercises he used to overcome his disability without

the aid of glasses. However, his main idea is that seeing clearly is mostly the result of thinking clearly. Huxley summed up his method for achieving clear vision with the formula: "Sensing plus selecting plus perceiving equals seeing:' The first stage of clear vision is to sense. To sense simply means letting enough light enter your eyes so that you can see objects immediately around you. Sensing also depends on how well the many parts of the eye work. Obviously, a damaged or improperly functioning eye will hamper sensing. Think of sensing as a camera without film; that is, there is no mental processing of the image during this phase of visual perception. Huxley's next stage is to select a particular element from a field of vision. To select is to isolate and look at a specific part of a scene within the enormous frame of possibilities that sensing offers. That isolation is the result of the combination of the light gathering and focusing properties of the eye with the higherlevel functions of the brain. In other words, selecting is a conscious, intellectual act. When you select you engage more fully the objects in the scene than when you merely look. Selecting starts the process of classification of objects as harmful, helpful, known, unfamiliar, meaningful, or confusing. To select is to isolate an object within the area where the sharpest vision takes place in the eye: the fovea centralis region in the retina of your eyes (see Chapter 3). By selecting individual objects within a scene, you are doing what the eye's physiology is made to doto focus your mental activities on a single, small object that is isolated from all others. The last stage in Huxley's visual theory is to perceive; that is, you must try to make sense of what you select. If your mind has any chance of storing visual information for long-term retrieval and to increase your knowledge base, you must actively consider the meaning of what you see. To process an image mentally on a higher level of cognition than simply sensing and selecting means that you must concentrate on the subjects within a field of view with the

As with your own memory, a family snapshot often contains visual messages that you will always remember, but also elements that you have forgotten.

intent of finding meaning and not simply as an act of observation. This process demands much sharper mental activity. Previous experience with specific visual messages is a key

in seeing clearly. Huxley wrote that "the more you know, the more you see." A former baseball player watches and sees a game much more attentively than someone who attends one for the first time. The newcomer probably will miss signals from a manager, scoreboard details, the curve of the ball's flight as it speeds from pitcher to batter, and many other details observed by the former player. Although you can certainly isolate a particular visual element with little mental processing when it is a new or a surprising occurrence, analyzing a visual message ensures that you will find meaning for the picture. If the image becomes meaningful, it is likely to become a part of your long-term memory.
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Sensing, Selecting, and Perceiving ”The more you know; the more you see.” To Sense. To Select. To Perceive. What is the Meaning? Graphic Clues Symbolic Clues Literal and Symbolic Messages Words Hold the Answer To Sense. To Select. To Perceive. Other Examples: Moving from Sensing to Perceiving

Drawn by 3 year old girl on itsy bitsy spider.

VISUAL COMMUNICATION'S CIRCLE DANCE

The more you know, the more you sense. The more you sense, the more you select. The more you select, the more you perceive. The more you perceive, the more you remember. The more you remember, the more you learn. The more you learn, the more you know. For clear seeing, this circle repeats itself on and on . The greatest aid to clear seeing isn't eyes that function with or without glasses or a telescope that brings into sharp focus the craters of the moon. The process of sensing, selecting, and perceiving takes a curious, questioning, and knowledgeable mind. The goal of a visual communicator isn't simply to have an image published or broadcast. The goal of a visual communicator is to produce powerful pictures so that the viewer will remember their content. Images have no use if the viewer's mind doesn't use them. As future image consumers and producers, you will want to see images that you remember and make images that others remember. The goal of this book is to give you a method for analyzing visual messages regardless of the medium of presentation. Without systematically analyzing an image, you may see a televised picture and not notice the individual elements within the frame. You might not consider its content as it relates to the story and to your life. Without considering the image, you will not gain any understanding or personal insights. The picture will simply be another in a long line of forgotten ,images. Analyzing visual messages makes you take a long, careful look at the pictures you see-a highly satisfying intellectual act. Those images become a part of your general knowledge of the world. You discover how images are linked in ways that you never thought of before. You also become a more interesting, curious person.

To Sense. To Select. To Perceive.
The more you know; the more you sense. (more light will fill your eyes) The more you sense; the more you select. (you will notice more) The more you select; the more you perceive. (you will understand more) The more you perceive; the more you remember.

(long-term memory is enhanced) The more you remember; the more you learn. (compare and contrast more) The more you learn; the more you know. (you will use more of what you see)