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Writing About Architecture: 10 tips to becoming a better writer

Writing About Architecture Tips

Effective communication is crucial in any profession, but it is especially important in the field of architecture. Architecture permeates our daily lives, shaping the places where we live, work, and take our ease.

At its best, it can ennoble our existence and convey our highest values across time. Therefore, anyone who makes, produces, promotes, or teaches architecture must depend on accurate analysis and lucid explication to encourage design that makes the world a better place.

However, writing about architecture can be a challenging task.

The subject matter is complex and often requires understanding technical terms and concepts . In addition, architecture is a highly visual field, and writers must find ways to convey the experience of a building or design through language.

These challenges can be particularly daunting for both architects and students, who may not have received formal training in writing and may be more comfortable expressing ideas visually rather than through language.

Despite these challenges, it is essential for architects to be able to write clearly and effectively about their work.

Writing About Architecture

Why is writing an important architectural skill?

There has been a well-documented decline in writing skills among students in recent years. This trend is especially concerning in the field of architecture, where technology and construction methods are becoming increasingly complex.

In a professional environment, poor writing skills can have negative consequences such as misunderstandings or ambiguities in written communication that can have serious implications in the construction industry.

For example, unclear specifications about the environmental impact of a building can have toxic results, and ambiguity about the load-bearing capacity of a structural beam can have fatal consequences. It is essential for architects to be able to clearly and accurately convey technical information in their written communication.

Partners in several of the country’s leading architecture firms have even admitted to spending a significant portion of their time rewriting or correcting what their staff has written. This suggests that writing skills may not be a priority in the field, and that architects are not receiving adequate training in how to effectively communicate their ideas through language.

One veteran practitioner and dean of a leading architecture school even went so far as to say, “Architects who can’t write are professional toast!” This highlights the importance of good writing skills for architects’ professional success and credibility.

In an increasingly complex and technical industry, it is more important than ever for architects to have strong writing skills. Clear and accurate written communication is essential for the smooth functioning of a project and the safety of those involved.

Misunderstandings or ambiguities in written communication can lead to delays, cost overruns, and even accidents on the construction site.

By taking the time to improve their writing skills and effectively convey their ideas through language, architects can make a positive impact on the built environment and enhance the quality of our daily lives.

Writing About Architecture

Resources and strategies for better architectural writing skills

While writing about architecture can be a challenging task, there are many resources available to help architects improve their writing skills and effectively convey their ideas through language.

Some of these resources include books on writing, writing courses and workshops, along with writing groups. Practicing writing and seeking out these resources can help architects develop their skills and become more confident and effective writers.

For example, The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White is a small classic that provides guidance on the principles of clear and effective writing. On Writing Well by William Zinsser is another helpful resource that offers practical advice on how to write with clarity and simplicity.

…and of course “writing about architecture” by Alexandra Lange, The Built Environment Review provides an excellent breakdown and summary of this book, where they highlight Lange’s ability to explain complex architectural concepts in simple terms, making them accessible to students and beginners.

In addition to these books, there are also writing courses and workshops available that can help architects hone their writing skills. Participating in a writing group or workshop can provide a supportive environment for practicing and improving writing, as well as receiving feedback from peers and instructors.

There are also strategies that architects can use to improve their writing about architecture. One important strategy is to focus on clarity and simplicity. It is important to use concrete language and specific examples to help the reader understand the ideas being presented.

Avoid using jargon or overly technical language that may be confusing or off-putting to the reader. Instead, try to use language that is straightforward and easy to understand.

It is also important to consider the audience and tailor the writing to their level of understanding and interests. For example, a technical specification document for a construction project will likely have a different audience and purpose than an article in an architectural magazine.

Understanding the audience and purpose of the writing can help guide the style and content of the piece.

Examples of successful architectural writing that utilizes these strategies can be found in various sources, such as architectural magazines , journals, and websites . Reading these examples can provide inspiration and guidance for aspiring architectural writers.

Some examples of well-written architectural pieces include Robert Campbell’s Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture criticism for the Boston Globe and Shumon Basar’s writing on the work of OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen in Phaidon’s 10x10_3 book.

These pieces showcase the use of clear and engaging language to convey the ideas and experiences of architecture.

In addition to seeking out resources and implementing effective strategies, it is also valuable for architects to seek feedback and editing from others to improve their writing skills.

Receiving feedback from peers, professors, or professional editors can help architects identify areas for improvement and strengthen their writing abilities.

This can be done through formal writing workshops or by simply asking colleagues or mentors to review a piece of writing and provide constructive feedback.

Writing About Architecture

10 Tips to improve your writing about architecture

Particularly when writing pieces for the public domain, it can be difficult to get those outside of the field to understand the subject, as for many people, researching and familiarizing themselves with architectural terms may not be a priority.

This has led to architects and architectural writers struggling to find ways to convey their ideas about architecture, and face a challenge of how to best and effectively communicate their ideas.

In light of this, we have compiled a list of 10 techniques for architectural writing that will capture the reader’s attention and keep them engaged.

01 – Personal perspective

Use first-person perspective and confront your own biases to bring a unique and personal touch to your writing. This can help to add depth and credibility to your project descriptions and make your writing more engaging for the reader.

Personal perspectives and thoughts on the subject can add a unique and relatable element to your writing. However, it is important to ensure that your thoughts are well-researched and supported by facts, while also being consistent and well-organized throughout the paper to avoid confusion for the reader.

02 – Start with a quote

By opening with a quote from the architect or relevant figure for example, you can immediately provide context and insight into the their thoughts, goals and style, making the writing more engaging and meaningful for readers.

Additionally, it highlights the significance of understanding cultural, social and historical background that can shape an architect’s work, however, this technique should be used sparingly so as not to lose its effectiveness.

03 – Evocative language

Evocative language can create emotive imagery and draw readers into the sensory experience of architecture, and bring the architecture to life in the reader’s imagination. This can help to convey the philosophies and intentions behind the design and create a sense of immersion and connection with the reader.

04 – Imaginative language

Use imaginative language and playful adjectives to add depth and drama to your writing. This can give the architecture human-like qualities, and convey the building’s unique atmosphere and character. Furthermore, playful idioms and alliterations can add a layer of literary flair to your writing, making it more engaging and memorable for the reader.

This is an effective way to convey the drama and tension of a building and make it come alive in the mind of the reader.

05 – Research, research, research

When writing about architecture, it is important to display a thorough understanding of the subject to establish credibility with your audience. Prior to beginning the writing process, conduct extensive research on the topic to gather relevant facts and information that will support your arguments.

It’s also important to make use of deep factual contrasts, which provide comparisons between two things and help to highlight the strengths of your architectural project by contrasting it with others.

By presenting clear and factual information, readers will be able to clearly see your point and understand the unique qualities of your project.

Writing About Architecture

06 – Context

To fully capture the essence of an architectural project, it is important to consider its surrounding context. One effective way to do this is by providing a carefully crafted description of the area in which the building is located.

This creates a clear image in the reader’s mind of the location and provides a contrast to the building’s “material versatility and civic countenance” that he goes on to describe, giving it extra resonance and meaning.

07 – Rhetorical questions

Use rhetorical questions to strengthen arguments and make a point without the need for a direct answer.

The question itself can be a powerful tool for drawing attention to a particular aspect of the architecture or the firm being discussed, and can be used to provide context for the following analysis.

08 – Metaphorical language

Use metaphorical language and comparisons to help readers understand and envision the unique qualities of a building. This kind of language can help to make architecture more relatable and memorable for readers by giving them a tangible image to hold on to.

Furthermore, by connecting the spaces and features of the building to familiar objects or actions, it can be more easily understood and appreciated by a wider audience.

09 – Imagery

To make the built environment accessible to a general audience, imagery is a highly effective writing technique, as it allows readers to visualize and experience what you’re describing through your words alone.

Like other techniques that can aid in understanding architecture, imagery is particularly powerful in evoking vivid mental images of the subject.

An example of effective imagery would be one that focuses on the small, specific details of a scene and makes the reader feel as if they’re right there with you, observing the scene.

To effectively use imagery in your writing, you should strive to elevate your descriptive writing skills and narrate in a dramatic and lyrical style that brings the picture to life.

10 – Personification

We share many commonalities with other humans, and it’s often easier for us to understand something when it is described in human terms. Many writers have used personification to make complex ideas more relatable, and through this writers can improve their skills and more effectively communicate the value and meaning of their work to a wider audience.

Writing About Architecture

FAQ’s about writing about architecture

How do you describe architecture in writing.

Architecture can be described in writing in several ways, depending on the purpose of the writing and the intended audience. Here are a few examples:

  • Descriptive writing : This type of writing focuses on describing the physical features and characteristics of a building or architectural style. It can be used to convey the visual appearance and sensory experience of a structure, such as the materials used, the layout, the lighting, and the overall design aesthetic.
  • Analytical writing : This type of writing involves analyzing and interpreting the design and construction of a building or architectural style. It can be used to discuss the architectural principles , the historical context, the cultural significance, and the functional aspects of a structure.
  • Persuasive writing : This type of writing is used to persuade the reader to adopt a particular viewpoint or take a specific action. It can be used to present a proposal or design, convince a client or funding agency to support a project, or advocate for a particular architectural philosophy or approach.
  • Technical writing : This type of writing is used to provide detailed and accurate information about the technical aspects of building construction and design. It can be used to document building codes, regulations, and standards, provide specifications for materials and systems, and describe construction techniques and methods.

Regardless of the type of writing, it is important to use clear and concise language, providing enough detail to convey your ideas but avoiding overly technical language, which will make it difficult for the audience to understand.

Providing visual aid such as diagrams, blueprints, floor plans and photographs to complement the written work can also be quite helpful in conveying the ideas in an architecture.

It is also a good idea to use active voice and avoid passive voice and use technical terms only when required and when doing so, defining them to make sure it is clear to the audience what the term means.

Writing About Architecture

How do you write an architecture paper?

Writing an architecture essay requires a combination of research, critical thinking, and clear writing skills. Here are a few steps you can follow to write an effective paper on architecture:

  • Define your topic : Choose a specific area of architecture that you want to write about, such as a particular building, architectural style, or design movement. Make sure that the topic is focused and specific enough to be covered in the length of the paper you plan to write.
  • Conduct research : Gather information on your topic from a variety of sources, such as books, articles, online resources, and primary sources like architectural drawings and photographs. Researching the historical context, cultural influences, and design principles of your topic is important, as these will help you to understand and interpret it.
  • Formulate a thesis : State the main idea or argument that you want to make in your paper. The thesis should be specific and clear, and it should guide the structure and content of your writting.
  • Organize your paper : Use a clear structure to organize your paper and make sure that it has a logical flow. The introduction should provide background information on your topic and state your thesis. The body of the writing should be divided into several paragraphs, each of which should focus on a specific aspect of the topic. The conclusion should summarize the main points of your writting and restate your thesis.
  • Use evidence and examples : Use specific examples from your research to support the claims you make in your writing. These examples could be the building or design you’re discussing, the historical context you’ve researched or the design principles you’re arguing about. Use evidence to back up your thesis and make sure that your examples are relevant and clearly linked to your thesis.
  • Use proper formatting : Use proper formatting for your paper , such as clear headings and subheadings, and a consistent font and layout. It’s also important to follow the guidelines provided by your instructor or the publication that you’re submitting the writing to, if any.
  • Proofread and revise : Proofread your paper carefully to ensure that it is free of errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Revise your paper to improve its clarity, coherence, and overall effectiveness.

It’s also important to think about your audience and how they will be approaching the paper . This will help you to choose the right tone and language to use. If the paper is a formal academic paper, using technical terms and being more formal would be better, if it’s a piece for a general audience, it’s better to use simpler language and avoid technical terms that the audience might not understand.

Lastly, it is important to remember that writing is a process and it requires time and effort. It is okay to need multiple revisions and to reach out to others such as professors or colleagues to get feedback on your work.Regenerate response

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University of Virginia, School of Architecture

FLOODPLAINS: A VISUAL ESSAY

FLOODPLAINS: A VISUAL ESSAY

Now on view through October 14 in the Campbell Hall Elmaleh Gallery is Floodplains , an exhibition featuring different depictions of hydrological time as seen in an installation by artist Montana Torrey and the research of Brian Davis, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at the School of Architecture. Davis and Torrey spoke informally about their work on the opening night of the exhibition.

FLOODPLAINS: A VISUAL ESSAY

Montana Torrey is an American artist whose interdisciplinary work employs the landscape as a metaphorical tool to investigate sites of opposition. In her installation, Floodplain (126) , Torrey reimagines the ruined city of Wiang Kum Kam in Northern Thailand, when the Ping River changed course and caused the severe flooding that eventually led to the city’s abandonment over seven hundred years ago.

FLOODPLAINS: A VISUAL ESSAY

Using collagraphic prints sculpted into brick-like forms suspended from the ceiling, Torrey reinterprets the city ruins as suspended in time, physically existing in the present, but perpetually tied to the past, serving as a visual representation of the relentless persistence of time. Torrey incorporated sand from the Ping River when making the collagraphs—a printmaking technique she learned during a three-month artist residency in Venice.

FloodPlains

Brian Davis ’ research focuses on coastal landscape form and sea level rise adaptation approaches with a special interest in infrastructure, public space, and ecology. In Floodplains , he shares images representing the work of Healthy Port Futures, a research initiative with Sean Burkholder and Tess Ruswick, focused on two coastal landscapes along the Great Lakes: Port Bay, NY, on Lake Ontario, and Illinois Beach State Park of Zion, Illinois on Lake Michigan. Both are important cultural landscapes that are changing rapidly and marked by unique depositional landforms at a regional scale. What undergirds the images is an aesthetics of the coastal lands' processes and effects that is non-figural, yet not abstract.

FloodPlains

Special thanks to Kyle Sturgeon , Assistant Dean of Academic Support and Lecturer in Architecture and the student exhibitions team for making this exhibition possible. The student team members are Vasudha Chakravarty, Michael Gerson, Reagan McCullough, Ziang Zhang, Gwendolyn Hellen-Sands, and Maya Neal. Stay tuned for future exhibitions that bring into dialogue work from inside and outside the School of Architecture. 

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22 minute read

VISUAL ESSAY

Lara Fowler

from NEUROARCHITECTURE

by Lara Fowler

from NEUROARCHITECTURE , page 3

Article from: NEUROARCHITECTURE

LITERATURE REVIEW / METHODOLOGY

TO WHAT EXTENT DOES ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN INFLUENCE THE SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELLBEING OF SOCIETY

Figure 3 / Collage expressing distress of society trapped in an urban environment

Figure 3 / Collage expressing distress of society trapped in an urban environment

(by Author)

INTRODUCTION

According to statistics the average human being in modern day society can spend up to 80% of their life inside buildings (Channon 2018). So, when questioning the importance of how the urban environment can affect us psychologically, it is literally life changing. With one in four people in the UK living with diagnosable mental health issues, such as depression, the importance of spaces and architecture having a positive influence on our lives is highly significant (Channon 2018). Neuroarchitecture has been explored and applied by many different architects, including Peter Zumthor. As well as this, architectural practises such as The Centre for Conscious Design, founded by Itai Palti, are focussed on addressing the urban challenges that society faces today.

The purpose of this essay is to explore the ways in which humans are psychologically affected by our built environment, and to what extent we, as architects, should consider these factors when designing. The discussion draws on some of the finer topics within the theory of neuroarchitecture; how technology impacts our sensory experience of architecture, how the circadian rhythm is impacted by design, and how we can mould architectural design features to have a positive influence on wellbeing (both psychologically and physically). This discussion relates to two architectural Case Studies designed by Peter Zumthor, which focus on the methods (lighting and acoustics) of creating atmosphere (Zumthor 2006). Through the consideration of these methods, the discussion will draw on how they contribute to the psychological effect of the urban environment.

The discussion aims to explore the extent to which the architectural profession has responded to the current research of urban wellbeing and current problems within society regarding mental health. To achieve this, current studies of neuroarchitecture and surrounding topics will be included in the discussion, aiming to clarify the importance of psychological impact of the built environment on today’s society.

1. NEUROARCHITECTURE

Architecture in the English dictionary is defined as ‘the art and practice of designing and making buildings’ (McIntosh n.d.), whereas in the American dictionary the term is defined as ‘the art and science of designing and making buildings’, adding another dimension to the meaning. The term neuroarchitecture however, cannot be found within the most recognised dictionaries, this suggests and confirms that it is a relatively new term and it has only been explored recently. Despite this there are many written pieces which express its existence. Some studies have even explored the term to the extent of dividing neuroarchitecture into different categories. Melissa Marsh writes that there are three categories; ‘Neuroscience of the design process’, ‘Neuroscience of the experience of architecture’ and ‘Neuromorphic architecture’ (Marsh 2015). In contrast to this, in Peter Zumthor’s book ‘Atmospheres’ we are introduced to nine chapters outlining nine factors which contribute to the neuroarchitecture of a building.

Although there have been varying approaches to the topic of neuroarchitecture, the importance of its consideration within our built environment is highly regarded. This has been taken to the extent of scientific research being carried out in order to prove neuroarchitecture’s existence. Researcher Oshin Vartanian has found through research that our multiple sensory networks can be engaged by our built environment. For example, when experiencing architecture, ones motor responses are triggered to either avoid or approach a structure. This partially demonstrates how we are psychologically affected by our built environment (Vartanian et al., 2015).

One of the factors which determines these responses are the previous experiences of each individual person. A person’s experience of architecture largely relies on their past experiences and memories, which could pose certain dilemmas when considering the designing of architecture. How could someone design a structure for someone else who possesses different experiences? As an example of this, a young architect given the task of designing a home for an elderly person may have trouble understanding the different values and needs of the elderly person (Robinson, Pallasmaa 2015). This demonstrates the importance of client to architect relationships, as an understanding of who the space is accommodating is vital to meet the psychological needs of the person(s).

Figure 4 / Image expressing a designers mind trapped by urbanism

Figure 4 / Image expressing a designers mind trapped by urbanism

1.1 Neuromorphic Architecture

Figure 5 / Iconic Buildings with Silhouettes of People

Figure 5 / Iconic Buildings with Silhouettes of People

(Paleari 2014)

Marsh’s article ‘The Future of Neuro-Architecture Has Arrived’ introduces a new term, ‘neuromorphic architecture’ (Marsh 2015). Neuromorphic architecture refers to the question of ‘what if a building had a brain’, or more specifically, a nervous system (Robinson, Pallasmaa 2015).

Within today’s society humans are becoming increasingly comfortable with relying on technology. It could be argued that we are encouraged to rely on it due to the increasing demand for technological devices when going about everyday tasks. There are no signs of this demand decreasing, therefore it is likely that there will be an increase of technology within the urban environment. A current example of this is how modern technology has reinvented residential electronics, such as lighting and temperature systems, to be controlled through apps on our phones. Through progressions like this, in the future our surroundings may be programmed to respond to our actions to assist us through technology (Robinson, Pallasmaa 2015). Consider a home designed for the elderly which is programmed to respond to its inhabitants. A step could transform itself into a ramp in response to sensing the movement of a wheelchair approaching, or a chair could gently tilt forward in response to the shifting weight of a person struggling to stand up. The architecture would adapt to provide a ‘level of human support’, aiding nurses and other employees who would usually be providing support around the clock (Robinson, Pallasmaa 2015). There are many positive aspects of this concept, however, the demand for technology could end up having a negative effect on the mental wellbeing of society. Using the elderly as an example in this case, it would reduce the amount of human contact they would receive daily. This would cause a decline in mental health among the elderly due to the lack of human interaction, which is an already existing problem.

Although an ingenious concept, neuromorphic architecture is a somewhat terrifying possibility of the future, as we become increasingly separated from the natural world. The increasing rate of technology blocks society off from other elements which have a beneficial impact on our mental health, such as our sensory knowledge and social interactions. This is where the true importance of neuroarchitecture within design is then in need of being considered, to ensure societies mental health does not decline in correlation with the rise of technology in the built environment. The impact of technology will be further explored later in the discussion.

2. THE SENSES

Figure 6 / The five human Senses

Figure 6 / The five human Senses

(Microvector 2019)

Oshin Vartanian explains that our multiple sensory networks (vestibular, somatosensory, auditory, olfactory, and visual systems) can be engaged through the architecture around us (Vartanian et al., 2015). However, in modern design it is not uncommon that there is primarily only one sense that is being considered by architects, namely our visual sense.

Within architectural practices today it is a concern that the consideration and success of a design is primarily based on how aesthetically pleasing the design is. Although it is unquestionable that this has a positive effect on society, it is sometimes the case that the functionality and attention to detail with regards to enhancing life can be somewhat forgotten. Suggesting that it could be more important to appeal to us visually rather than address our individual mental wellbeing and the benefit to society as a whole. The question of how society is going to be psychologically affected by a building is rarely considered, especially when discussing the narrower topic of how mental wellbeing is affected. One of the contributing factors towards this could be that architects and designers are sometimes skipped in the process of construction today when possible, as they can be simply viewed as an added expense to the construction process. Despite the valuable knowledge and understanding of design which they contribute, functionality and appearance is usually placed at the forefront in achieving a successful piece of architecture (Goldhagen 2017).

Unfortunately for society this could mean the designing of an office, for example, is very efficient at fitting countless employees within a building and appearing aesthetically pleasing, however the spatial design and lighting could cause for a somewhat depressing workspace. If the design is not considered well enough, the wellbeing of these employees could suffer due to lack of knowledge in the design process. This could result in companies spending more money in the future, as they end up having their offices redesigned at a later stage due to being criticised for the lack of consideration of the psychological impact on employees. It has been shown that a well designed work environment, where all aspects of the design have been considered, results in happier employees which then in turn has a direct affect on the company’s success.

2.1 Architectural Imagery

With the progression of technology and the boom of social media sites such as Instagram and Facebook, most people are only able to experience modern architecture through online imagery. Although this creates countless opportunities for people to be exposed to what they would normally be unable to see, it also creates a culture of laziness among others due to the easy visual access that is available online. Society is somewhat left to try and create their own sensory experience of structures, fully relying on individual memories and the visual impression of images with which they are presented. This can have a negative effect on the mental wellbeing of society as it encourages people to become shut off from the physical world.

Maurice Merleau-Ponty explores the idea that only speaking to one of the senses can create the existence of a ‘Phantom’ within a person’s mental being (Merleau-Ponty 2012). Something will only approach full existence when it can communicate with at least two of the human senses. For example, if one could get a real sense of the smell or acoustics which are present within the architectural imagery engaging multiple senses thus adding multiple dimensions to a visual experience. It could be argued that although we are visually exposed to millions of images in our lifetimes, we are not experiencing them fully and therefore they simply become small memories. These memories of imagery can then be easily distorted depending on a person’s past experiences; altering the memory to suit how the individual wanted to experience the image with their own senses. Society cannot possibly protect themselves from the inevitable erosion of time, unless someone can physically experience the architecture repeatedly to remind their senses of what has been experienced (Certeau 2013, p.xxi). This is due to their individual interpretation of the structure based on unique memories and perceptions from life experiences.

Although technology and social media have brought many opportunities for spreading the appreciation of architecture, the psychological appreciation of architecture is being somewhat lost through a burgeoning spread of architectural imagery. Through society vastly experiencing modern architecture online, it is more difficult for architects to create stand out designs which would be viewed as worth a visit. This would contribute to a lack of need for the consideration of neuroarchitecture due to architecture gaining more recognition through appearance.

Figure 7 / Peter Zumthor’s studio’s proposed renderings for LACMA’s David Geffen Galleries

Figure 7 / Peter Zumthor’s studio’s proposed renderings for LACMA’s David Geffen Galleries

(Poundstone 2019)

"Digital has made architectural photography very slick, sometimes you don't know if it's a photo, or if it's a rendering, and that I find very disturbing"

- Hélène Binet (Binet 2015)

2.2 Sensory Knowledge

Figure 8 / Expression of modern society trapped in an urban environment

Figure 8 / Expression of modern society trapped in an urban environment

Within the book The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the senses, Pallasmaa states that to create ‘life enhancing’ architecture, one would have to design a structure to have a positive effect on all the senses of a visitor simultaneously (Pallasmaa 2012). This furthers the views of Merleau-Ponty and suggests that due to our lack of full experiential architecture fuelled by the rise of technology, we are no longer enhancing our knowledge and full sensory experiences. It has become too easy to flick through images without feeling the need to be physically involved with architecture. Perhaps this is what leads to the lack of consideration of the sensory experience by architects, as to cater to the exposure from social media today, the most influential factor is to be visually impressive.

Stated by Michel De Certeau ‘our society is characterized by a cancerous growth of vision, measuring everything by its ability to show or be shown and transmuting communication into a visual journey’ (Certeau 2013, p.xxi). Taking this into consideration it is not surprising that the main focus of design today lies within the visual aspect, as this is the only way that it could reach a wider market over social media, especially as the most viral imagery is that which shocks and surprises it’s viewers. Society is being considerably deprived of sensory knowledge due to the effortless access to superficial imagery of modern day architecture (Pallasmaa 2012, p.25). Our lack of wealth of sensory experiences can lead to a negative effect on our physical and mental wellbeing due to the way in which humans were designed to be an active species. In extreme cases, an attachment to technology can lead to depression and anxiety.

2.3 Isolation from Nature

In addition to our lack of sensory knowledge, due to the rapid growth of technology today, humans are becoming increasingly isolated from the natural world (Schweitzer et al. 2018) which is also in some aspect, encouraged by our built environment. With a growing population in urban environments, humans are being increasingly shut off from the natural world, despite being physically programmed to survive in the natural environment. Through research it has been found that when humans talk about their experiences with the natural world, there is a positive emotional connection (Schweitzer et al. 2018). This aids the growth of the theory of biophilia, which is becoming increasingly popular within modern architecture due to the positive outcomes it has on humans. Biophilic design, is designing in such a way that it draws on the inherent human connection with nature, aiming to benefit the psychological health of its users.

The boom of agriculture, technology, engineering, industrial revolution and modern architecture has only rapidly progressed in the last five thousand years of human history. Prior to these stages in evolution, human lives were surrounded by nature which was relied upon for daily survival. Today a lot of our logical skills, critical thinking and practical abilities, as well as the way in which we design can be related to the skills with which we evolved and used to survive in the early stages of evolution (Kellert et al. 2008). Through the growing awareness of this connection, biophilic design is increasing in popularity and being seen more frequently in modern architecture. Due to the large positive impact that nature has on human’s mental wellbeing, biophilic design is increasingly seen within office refurbishment, residential areas (figure 9), educational centres and within the design of the hospitality sector (figure 12). In addition to this it is gradually being considered more within healing spaces. Another contributing factor to the growth of biophilic design is the rise in awareness for the environment amongst younger generations. With climate activists helping to educate the public of the threats that face our natural world today, sustainable design is highly regarded in order to benefit the wellbeing of society.

Documents such as the Biophilic Design Guidebook help to inform designers how best to achieve beneficial architecture to both the environment and society (Anon 2018). With the continuing growth of biophilic design in the future it is hopeful that society will continue to benefit from its positive influence on the mental and physical wellbeing of society.

Figure 9 / Landmak architecture house residential architecture Vietnam

Figure 9 / Landmak architecture house residential architecture Vietnam

(Astbury 2020)

3. LIGHT AND ACOUSTICS

Peter Zumthor, is an award-winning architect who is famous for designing minimalist structures suchas the Thermal Baths, Switzerland (figure 11 and 12). Zumthor is an example of an architect that informs us of why there is such an importance in the atmospheres of a structural design, and thus how we are psychologically affected by architecture. Through analysing Peter Zumthor’s award winning architecture we can observe the ways in which architects can manipulate natural light, as well as tactically use artificial light, to create certain psychological effects/emotions on society. As humans we are naturally attracted by light whether artificial or natural, therefore it plays a very significant part in neuroarcitecture. There have been several findings of the psychological effect that lighting has on people. An example of research is from Dr. John Flynn in which he considered how spaces give people varying feelings/ emotions (Flynn et al., 1979). Figure 10 displays the findings of Flynn’s research:

Figure 10 / Table demonstrating results of research carried out by Dr John E. Flynn

Figure 10 / Table demonstrating results of research carried out by Dr John E. Flynn

(Flynn et al. 1979)

Flynn’s research indicates that through the manipulation of lighting, humans form subjective impressions and varying emotions depending on the intensity and distribution of light within a room. Through the results of this research, architects could benefit by making lighting choices based on what psychological feeling they want to convey to users rather than only considering aesthetic factors.

Figure 11 / Peter Zumthor’s Therme Vals Spa view of outdoor pool

Figure 11 / Peter Zumthor’s Therme Vals Spa view of outdoor pool

(Frearson 2016)

Figure 12 / Peter Zumthor’s Therme Vals Spa interior

Figure 12 / Peter Zumthor’s Therme Vals Spa interior

Figure 13 / Diagram demonstrating the Circadian Rhythm

Figure 13 / Diagram demonstrating the Circadian Rhythm

(Malczan 2019)

Light is one of the main contributors in creating atmospheres within space. As well as this it has been found through research that natural light has a large impact on our mental wellbeing as humans. This could be a result of humans originally having to rely on natural light to survive, gaining an indication of time from day to night. A lack of exposure to natural light during the day also has a negative impact on our circadian rhythms (Figure 13).

The circadian rhythm regulates our body clock throughout the day, relying on daylight to indicate to our bodies times of sleepiness and feeling awake (Channon 2018). In addition to this our circadian clock turns genes on and off around our bodies controlling our internal organs and ensuring our bodies work in routine (PANDA 2020). This is even more important now due to creation of artificial light, as our bodies are constantly adjusting to the confusion of blue light we are frequently exposed to.

Recently researchers have found a way to manipulate blue light to help people to focus more instead of creating tiredness. This has been put into testing with astronauts and so far, has proved successful (PANDA 2020). Through these findings, work spaces may thrive in the future and improve the mental wellbeing of society rather than aiding the decline of mental health.

3.2 Lighting in Working Environments

Figure 14 / Staples SAD Light Station experiment

Figure 14 / Staples SAD Light Station experiment

(Agarwal 2018)

Unfortunately, today only some people are lucky to be exposed to a healthy amount of natural light due to modern day living/ working environments. It has been explored mainly within workspaces due to these being the primary non-residential spaces used by most of the population daily. Research has shown that staff based within office spaces which don’t provide any natural light, sleep for an average of 46 minutes less than those who work in offices which do provide natural daylight (Channon 2018). However, in some country’s that lack sunlight hours during the winter months, employees may only be exposed to light when in the office, thus missing out on natural light. This causes psychological issues for some, including SAD (Seasonal affective Disorder), anxiety, stress and fatigue (Agarwal 2018). This has been demonstrated through a research project which was carried out through surveys by Arlington Research for the UK company Staples in 2018 (Figure 14).

The key findings of this research based on lighting within offices revealed that 81% of employees based in the EU expressed that their current office spaces impacted their mental health. As well as this, one in five employees described their workspace as ‘depressing’. Other research states that just 13 minutes of natural daylight has significant antidepressant benefits (Anon 2018), which proves the importance of neuroscience in the design of lighting.

3.3 Lighting in Healing Spaces

Another example to consider is the way in which we use lighting within our healing spaces such as hospitals. These are spaces which usually trigger avoidance, not only because we psychologically link them with poor health and disease, but also because many of them are not aesthetically the most welcoming of spaces. This is partially due to this psychological link, but also due to the primary factors of design being function and sanitation rather than comfort. As you walk into a hospital you are usually greeted with an uncomfortable waiting room which is filled with bright white light (Figure 15). This is often installed in healing spaces as white conveys the impression of hygiene and cleanliness. However, being the first impression on visitors, it can sometimes cause discomfort to patients and result in having a negative effect on the patient’s psychological experience.

Extra consideration needs to be taken when designing healing spaces due to the primary group of people its functioning for. Considering the impact lighting can have on a person’s health, it is a vital part of the design process, especially as patients may need to stay for an extended period. However, due to the high demand of these spaces, it is usually very difficult to provide all patients and visitors with the benefits of natural light. This could be having a negative effect on patients who aren’t near windows, as this could contribute to a disruption of their circadian rhythms causing discomfort. Moreover, in shared hospital rooms nurses will need to attend to patients during the night, turning on artificial lights which could cause disruption to patients within the same room. This causes an impairing effect on the restoration and healing process of these patients (Robinson, Pallasmaa 2015).

In contrast to public hospitals, in a different type of healing space (counselling and mental health), design can be more beneficial to visitors when lighting is dimmed and of softer tones. This induces a relaxed and more pleasant feel for visitors. This has been proven through psychological research, which also found that having more dimmed lighting within counselling spaces gave a more favourable impression of the interviewer, and self-disclosure to its visitors (Miwa & Hanyu, 2006). Considering the benefits found through this research it would be more beneficial to have zones of dimmed lighting throughout hospitals varying on the needs of the patients within the spaces. This could create a more positive relationship between societies psychological link with hospitals.

Figure 15 / Typical NHS waiting room in the UK

Figure 15 / Typical NHS waiting room in the UK

(Matthews-King 2019)

3.4 Acoustics: With the example of Healing Spaces

"I pick up a thread that I had dropped, but that was not broken"

- Maurice Merleau-Ponty (Merleau-Ponty 2012)

Zumthor compares the acoustics of a space to ‘large instruments’, referring to the way in which materiality and shape within an interior can manipulate how noise is being transmitted throughout (Zumthor 2006). When observing the noises of everyday life that surround us on a constant basis, it becomes clear that it is near to impossible to ever reach a state of complete silence. Maurice Merleau-Ponty uses a metaphor to describe the stream of constant noise around us by saying ‘I pick up a thread that I had dropped, but that was not broken’. This suggests that even when we stop consciously listening to our surroundings, we are still aware of them, contributing to the theory that we rarely experience true silence in our lifetimes (Merleau-Ponty 2012). When the acoustics of an environment become intrusive, it can begin to have negative effects on mental wellbeing, causing anxiety (Channon 2018).

Referring to the research of healing spaces, it has been found to affect the rate of revisiting patients. Patients who had been exposed to a good acoustic environment (quiet, no echoing) gave a more positive review of their experience with the working staff in the environment. In contrast to this, when patients were exposed to an uncomfortable negative acoustic experience (loud, sound bouncing), they were found to have a higher rate of re-hospitalisation (Andrade et al. 2016). This research shows the extent to which the acoustics within architectural design can affect the psychological wellbeing of society, supporting the importance of neuroarchitecture.

The presented study was undertaken to determine the extent to which the architectural design has an impact on the social and psychological wellbeing of modern-day society. One of the more significant findings to emerge from this study is that the design of artificial lighting within a space can cause disruption to the natural circadian rhythm. This causes a negative effect on the overall health of society, both mentally and physically. The findings of this research provide insights for how the built environment not only can influence mental wellbeing but also physical wellbeing. A further study could assess the extent to which architectural design can affect physical wellbeing more specifically. This would be vital to enhance our knowledge of neuroarchitecture from a different dimension.

The second major finding of this paper was the extent to which technology has a negative effect on the way in which we experience architecture today. Research suggests that due to the booming interest in social media and easy access to architectural imagery, societies sensory knowledge is suffering due to the lack of desire to physically experience architecture. The destructive nature that technology can cause to human interaction with modern architecture is alarming and causes need for concern in how architects can encourage the public to physically engage with their designs. With technology encouraging less human interaction in society, problems such as loneliness, depression and anxiety will become somewhat of a norm. Although it is not directly based on architectural design, there is a clear opportunity for architects to take neuroarchitecture into consideration and put efforts into engaging society rather than encouraging the antisocial culture of technology.

Despite the limitations of psychological research, the study certainly adds to our understanding of the significance of neuroarchitecture through the collaboration of existing studies. Although the current study is based upon a small sample of sources, the findings suggest that modern architecture is beginning to take a positive turn in relation to the mental wellbeing of its users. This is being aided by the growing awareness of environmental issues as well as mental health issues, and the encouragement for these topics to be more openly outspoken by the public.

Figure 16 / Impact of architecture on human phsychology

Figure 16 / Impact of architecture on human phsychology

(Vats 2017)

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How to Write a Visual Analysis Essay: Step-by-Step Guide

How to Write a Visual Analysis Essay: Step-by-Step Guide

Welcome to our guide on how to write a visual analysis essay. When it comes to analyzing visual objects, such as paintings, sculptures, or architectural designs, writing about them may seem like a difficult task. But fear not! This step-by-step guide will provide you with the necessary advice and suggestions to help you critically evaluate artworks and present compelling analyses.

Before we begin, let’s define what a visual analysis essay is. In essence, it is an essay where you describe and analyze visual objects, such as paintings or sculptures, in order to uncover their meanings, themes, and artistic techniques. Unlike personal essays or argumentative articles, visual analysis essays focus solely on visual objects and their contexts. This makes them unique and challenging, as they require you to think beyond the textual and consider the visual elements and textures chosen by the artists.

In evaluating visual objects, it is also important to consider different perspectives and categories. By examining different categories, such as abstract art or architectural design, you will be able to understand the specific techniques and themes involved. This will enrich your analysis and provide a deeper understanding of the artwork. Furthermore, it is important to be critical in your evaluation. This means identifying any mistakes or weaknesses in the artwork, as well as considering the possible intentions of the artists.

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Understanding visual analysis essays.

When working on a visual analysis essay, it is important to have a clear understanding of what is expected. These essays typically require you to choose an artwork and discuss its various aspects, such as the visual elements, the artist’s intentions, and the overall message conveyed. The essays should not only describe the artwork but also provide a critical evaluation and analysis of it.

Visual analysis essays often include questions that guide the analysis process. These questions can help you evaluate the focal points, the symmetry or asymmetry, the use of three-dimensional space, and the overall impact of the artwork on the viewer. By answering these questions, you can develop a deeper understanding of the artwork and its meanings.

Understanding the importance of visual elements is crucial in conducting a successful visual analysis. Visual elements such as line, shape, color, texture, and space can all contribute to the overall composition and message of an artwork. By examining and discussing these elements, you can offer a more detailed and comprehensive analysis.

Visual analysis essays can be difficult to write, especially if you do not have a background in art history or visual arts. However, by following a structured approach and incorporating the tips and techniques discussed above, you can create a well-organized and insightful analysis.

What is a visual analysis essay?

Visual analysis essays are often assigned in art history or visual communication courses, but they can also be found in other disciplines where analyzing visuals is important. These essays require you to critically analyze the artwork, discussing its various elements, perspectives, and the responses it evokes from audiences.

Importance of visual analysis

Visual analysis is a valuable skill for understanding and interpreting visual works of art. By analyzing the visual elements and principles of a piece, you can gain a deeper understanding of the artist’s message, intentions, and creative choices. It allows you to examine an artwork from different angles and discuss its historical and cultural significance.

Visual analysis also helps you develop your critical thinking and writing skills. Writing a visual analysis essay requires you to think analytically, organize your thoughts, and present your ideas in a coherent and persuasive manner. It encourages you to delve into the details of the artwork and articulate your thoughts and observations effectively.

Steps to writing a visual analysis essay

To begin your visual analysis essay, there are several steps you can follow to ensure a well-structured and insightful analysis:

  • Prepare: Before analyzing the artwork, make sure you have a clear understanding of its purpose, context, and background information. Familiarize yourself with the artist and their style, as well as the historical or cultural significance of the piece.
  • Observe: Take a few moments to carefully observe the artwork. Pay attention to the visual elements such as color, line, texture, and shape. Note your initial impressions and any areas of interest.
  • Analyze: In the next paragraph, focus on analyzing the visual elements and principles of the artwork. Discuss the use of color, line, shape, and other design elements. Consider the compositional techniques, symmetry, and balance used by the artist.
  • Discuss: After analyzing the visual elements, move on to discussing the artist’s intentions and the overall significance of the piece. Talk about the message or statement the artwork conveys and how it relates to the artist’s attitude or perspective.
  • Provide examples: Support your analysis with specific examples from the artwork. Refer to specific areas or details that illustrate your points and help convey your interpretation.

Remember to follow a logical structure in your essay, with clear topic sentences and transitions between paragraphs. Use evidence from the artwork itself to support your claims and interpretations.

Lastly, proofread and edit your essay before submitting it. Make sure your writing is clear, concise, and free of any grammatical or spelling errors.

Choosing a Subject for Your Essay

When choosing a subject, consider the context in which the artwork was created. Think about its historical and social importance, as well as the message or statement the artist may have intended to convey. Take into account the compositional structure, balance, and line of the artwork, as these elements can greatly contribute to its overall meaning.

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Make sure that the subject you have chosen allows for a thorough analysis. It should provide enough content for you to write a high-quality essay. If the subject is too simple or lacks complexity, you may find it challenging to come up with strong arguments and supporting evidence.

While fine art paintings and sculptures are the most common subjects for visual analysis essays, there are no strict limitations. You can also choose photographs, architectural works, or even abstract pieces. The key is to select a subject that you can deeply study and analyze.

Consider seeking suggestions from experts or discussing your ideas with others to gain different perspectives. This can help you see the subject from various angles and uncover new insights.

Remember, the subject you choose will set the tone for the entire essay, so be sure to make a thoughtful decision. It is in the opening paragraphs that you will introduce the chosen artwork, explain why it is significant, and give a short overview of what the essay will cover.

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In summary, when choosing a subject for your visual analysis essay, consider its significance, the context in which it was created, and the compositional structure. Make sure it is a subject that allows for a deep analysis, and seek suggestions from others to broaden your perspectives. With a well-chosen subject, you are on your way to crafting a compelling and insightful essay.

How to select a visual piece for analysis?

  • Understand the assignment: Before selecting a visual piece, make sure you thoroughly understand the assignment guidelines. Be aware of any specific requirements or expectations from your instructor.
  • Consider the theme: Think about the theme or topic you are writing about in your essay. Does the visual piece you are considering align with this theme?
  • Choose a popular or significant visual piece: Select a visual piece that is well-known or significant within its context. This could be a famous painting, sculpture, photograph, or even a cartoon. Choosing a popular visual piece will provide you with more resources and analyses to refer to.
  • Focus on the main elements: Look for the main elements in the visual piece, such as colors, shapes, objects, and balance. These elements often play a crucial role in conveying the message and creating an emotional impact.
  • Consider the context: Analyzing a visual piece goes beyond just the visuals themselves. Consider the historical, social, or political context in which the piece was created. This will help you understand the artist’s intention and the message they are trying to convey.
  • Gather observations: Before starting your analysis, spend some time observing the visual piece. Take notes on your observations, including your personal reactions and thoughts. This will help you organize your thoughts and ideas during the writing process.
  • Seek expert advice: If you are struggling to analyze a visual piece, do not hesitate to seek guidance from experts in the field. Art historians, professors, or even experienced peers can provide valuable insights and suggestions to enhance your analysis.
  • Create a thesis statement: Your analysis should have a clear and concise thesis statement that sums up your main argument or interpretation of the visual piece. This will help you stay focused and provide a clear direction for your essay.
  • Include examples and evidence: To support your analysis, provide specific examples from the visual piece and any additional sources you are referencing. Use evidence to back up your claims and provide a thorough and convincing analysis.
  • Be critical and objective: Remember to maintain a critical and objective attitude throughout your analysis. Avoid personal biases and subjective interpretations, focusing on the visual elements and their impact on the viewer.

By following these steps, you can select a suitable visual piece for analysis and create a high-quality visual analysis essay. Remember to carefully analyze the chosen visual piece, consider its context, and provide a thoughtful and insightful analysis of its elements and message.

Analyzing the Visual Elements

Let’s begin by stating that visuals can come in various forms, such as paintings, sculptures, photographs, illustrations, cartoons, advertisements, and even architectural designs. No matter what type of visual you are analyzing, the process of evaluating the visual elements remains the same.

First and foremost, when analyzing the visual elements, it is crucial to focus on the major and most common areas, such as colors, shapes, and the overall composition. By examining the colors used in the artwork, you can gain insights into the intended mood, symbolism, or political statements the artist is making. Similarly, analyzing the shapes and structure can help you understand the message or theme the artwork is trying to convey.

Next, when discussing the visual elements, be sure to include a brief description of the work and its history, if relevant. This helps provide context and allows readers to better understand the importance and meanings behind the visuals.

When analyzing the visual devices, there are several suggestions you can follow. Start by stating the major visual devices used, such as lines, texture, perspective, and space. Describe how these devices contribute to the overall image and what they may imply or represent.

In addition to the visual devices, it is important to check for any literary or critical devices that may be present in the artwork, such as symbolism or allegory. These can add depth and layers of meaning to the visuals.

Now, let’s move on to discussing the structure and balance of the visual elements. Analyze how the elements are arranged, paying attention to the placement and height of objects or figures within the picture. Consider how the artist utilizes these elements to create a visually pleasing composition and guide the viewer’s eye.

Lastly, when evaluating the visual elements, try to identify any themes or messages that the artist may have meant to convey. Consider the overall purpose and statement of the work and how the visual elements contribute to that statement.

By thoroughly analyzing the visual elements using this checklist, you can ensure that your visual analysis essay is comprehensive and insightful. Remember to provide thorough explanations and support your statements with evidence from the artwork. Instead of just listing the visual elements, delve deeper into their meanings and significance to enhance your analysis.

What visual elements to consider?

Line, shape, and composition.

One major aspect to consider when looking at the visual elements is the line, shape, and composition of the artwork. Lines can be bold and strong or fine and delicate, and they can create a sense of movement or stability. Shapes can be three-dimensional or flat, and they can help to create balance or imbalance in the composition. The composition, or how the different elements of the artwork are arranged on the canvas or paper, is also important to analyze. It can affect how the viewer perceives the artwork and the message it conveys.

Color, texture, and space

In addition to line, shape, and composition, the colors, textures, and use of space in the artwork also play a significant role. Colors can evoke certain emotions and moods, and they can be symbolic or representational. Textures can add depth and dimension to the artwork, and they can create a sense of realism or abstraction. The use of space, both positive and negative, can affect the overall balance and aesthetic of the artwork.

By thoroughly analyzing these visual elements, you can gain a deeper understanding of the artwork and its message. This analysis will also help you to write a more thorough and well-structured visual analysis essay.

Structuring Your Essay

2. body paragraphs.

The body paragraphs of your essay are where you will provide a detailed analysis of the artwork. Each paragraph should focus on a specific aspect or element, such as the use of color or the balance of the composition. Begin each paragraph with a topic sentence that introduces the main point you will be discussing. Then, provide evidence and examples from the artwork to support your observations. Make sure to analyze the artwork in detail, paying attention to the major and minor details, and discuss how these elements contribute to the overall message or meaning of the artwork.

It is important to note that although you may include your personal observations and interpretations, your analysis should primarily be based on the visual elements present in the artwork. Use this opportunity to highlight the artistic techniques and devices used by the artist, and explain how they contribute to the overall effect of the artwork.

A visual analysis essay is an essay that analyzes and interprets a visual piece such as a painting, photograph, or advertisement. It involves a detailed examination of the visual elements, such as color, composition, and symbolism, and an analysis of how these elements contribute to the overall message or meaning of the piece.

How do I choose a visual piece for my analysis essay?

When choosing a visual piece for your analysis essay, consider selecting one that you find personally interesting or that relates to a topic or theme you are studying. Look for a visual piece that has enough complexity and depth to analyze, but also consider the availability of information and resources that can support your analysis.

What should I include in the introduction of my visual analysis essay?

In the introduction of your visual analysis essay, you should provide some background information on the visual piece and its creator. You should also provide a clear thesis statement that states your overall interpretation or analysis of the visual piece. Additionally, you can include a brief description of the visual elements and techniques used in the piece.

How do I analyze the visual elements in my essay?

To analyze the visual elements in your essay, you should consider factors such as color, line, shape, texture, and composition. Analyze how these elements are used to create a specific mood or atmosphere, convey meaning, or evoke certain emotions. Discuss the overall visual effect and the impact of the visual elements on the viewer.

What is the structure of a visual analysis essay?

A visual analysis essay typically follows the same structure as any other essay. It begins with an introduction that provides background information and a thesis statement. The body paragraphs analyze the visual elements and techniques used in the visual piece, providing evidence and examples to support your analysis. The essay ends with a conclusion that summarizes your main points and restates your thesis in a new way.

A visual analysis essay is an essay that analyzes and interprets a visual artwork or image. It involves describing the visual elements, discussing their meaning and message, and analyzing the overall composition of the image.

Alex Koliada, PhD

By Alex Koliada, PhD

Alex Koliada, PhD, is a well-known doctor. He is famous for studying aging, genetics, and other medical conditions. He works at the Institute of Food Biotechnology and Genomics. His scientific research has been published in the most reputable international magazines. Alex holds a BA in English and Comparative Literature from the University of Southern California , and a TEFL certification from The Boston Language Institute.

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  • Published: 31 October 2017

The visual essay and the place of artistic research in the humanities

  • Remco Roes 1 &
  • Kris Pint 1  

Palgrave Communications volume  3 , Article number:  8 ( 2017 ) Cite this article

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  • Archaeology
  • Cultural and media studies

What could be the place of artistic research in current contemporary scholarship in the humanities? The following essay addresses this question while using as a case study a collaborative artistic project undertaken by two artists, Remco Roes (Belgium) and Alis Garlick (Australia). We argue that the recent integration of arts into academia requires a hybrid discourse, which has to be distinguished both from the artwork itself and from more conventional forms of academic research. This hybrid discourse explores the whole continuum of possible ways to address our existential relationship with the environment: ranging from aesthetic, multi-sensorial, associative, affective, spatial and visual modes of ‘knowledge’ to more discursive, analytical, contextualised ones. Here, we set out to defend the visual essay as a useful tool to explore the non-conceptual, yet meaningful bodily aspects of human culture, both in the still developing field of artistic research and in more established fields of research. It is a genre that enables us to articulate this knowledge, as a transformative process of meaning-making, supplementing other modes of inquiry in the humanities.

Introduction

In Being Alive: Essays on Movement, Knowledge and Description (2011), Tim Ingold defines anthropology as ‘a sustained and disciplined inquiry into the conditions and potentials of human life’ (Ingold, 2011 , p. 9). For Ingold, artistic practice plays a crucial part in this inquiry. He considers art not merely as a potential object of historical, sociological or ethnographic research, but also as a valuable form of anthropological inquiry itself, providing supplementary methods to understand what it is ‘to be human’.

In a similar vein, Mark Johnson’s The meaning of the body: aesthetics of human understanding (2007) offers a revaluation of art ‘as an essential mode of human engagement with and understanding of the world’ (Johnson, 2007 , p. 10). Johnson argues that art is a useful epistemological instrument because of its ability to intensify the ordinary experience of our environment. Images Footnote 1 are the expression of our on-going, complex relation with an inner and outer environment. In the process of making images of our environment, different bodily experiences, like affects, emotions, feelings and movements are mobilised in the creation of meaning. As Johnson argues, this happens in every process of meaning-making, which is always based on ‘deep-seated bodily sources of human meaning that go beyond the merely conceptual and propositional’ (Ibid., p. 11). The specificity of art simply resides in the fact that it actively engages with those non-conceptual, non-propositional forms of ‘making sense’ of our environment. Art is thus able to take into account (and to explore) many other different meaningful aspects of our human relationship with the environment and thus provide us with a supplementary form of knowledge. Hence Ingold’s remark in the introduction of Making: anthropology, archaeology, art and architecture (2013): ‘Could certain practices of art, for example, suggest new ways of doing anthropology? If there are similarities between the ways in which artists and anthropologists study the world, then could we not regard the artwork as a result of something like an anthropological study, rather than as an object of such study? […] could works of art not be regarded as forms of anthropology, albeit ‘written’ in non-verbal media?’ (Ingold, 2013 , p. 8, italics in original).

And yet we would hesitate to unreservedly answer yes to these rhetorical questions. For instance, it is true that one can consider the works of Francis Bacon as an anthropological study of violence and fear, or the works of John Cage as a study in indeterminacy and chance. But while they can indeed be seen as explorations of the ‘conditions and potentials of human life’, the artworks themselves do not make this knowledge explicit. What is lacking here is the logos of anthropology, logos in the sense of discourse, a line of reasoning. Therefore, while we agree with Ingold and Johnson, the problem remains how to explicate and communicate the knowledge that is contained within works of art, how to make it discursive ? How to articulate artistic practice as an alternative, yet valid form of scholarly research?

Here, we believe that a clear distinction between art and artistic research is necessary. The artistic imaginary is a reaction to the environment in which the artist finds himself: this reaction does not have to be conscious and deliberate. The artist has every right to shrug his shoulders when he is asked for the ‘meaning’ of his work, to provide a ‘discourse’. He can simply reply: ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I do not want to know’, as a refusal to engage with the step of articulating what his work might be exploring. Likewise, the beholder or the reader of a work of art does not need to learn from it to appreciate it. No doubt, he may have gained some understanding about ‘human existence’ after reading a novel or visiting an exhibition, but without the need to spell out this knowledge or to further explore it.

In contrast, artistic research as a specific, inquisitive mode of dealing with the environment requires an explicit articulation of what is at stake, the formulation of a specific problem that determines the focus of the research. ‘Problem’ is used here in the neutral, etymological sense of the word: something ‘thrown forward’, a ‘hindrance, obstacle’ (cf. probleima , Liddell-Scott’s Greek-English Lexicon). A body-in-an-environment finds something thrown before him or her, an issue that grabs the attention. A problem is something that urges us to explore a field of experiences, the ‘potentials of human life’ that are opened up by a work of art. It is often only retroactively, during a second, reflective phase of the artistic research, that a formulation of a problem becomes possible, by a selection of elements that strikes one as meaningful (again, in the sense Johnson defines meaningful, thus including bodily perceptions, movements, affects, feelings as meaningful elements of human understanding of reality). This process opens up, to borrow a term used by Aby Warburg, a ‘Denkraum’ (cf. Gombrich, 1986 , p. 224): it creates a critical distance from the environment, including the environment of the artwork itself: this ‘space for thought’ allows one to consciously explore a specific problem. Consciously here does not equal cerebral: the problem is explored not only in its intellectual, but also in its sensual and emotional, affective aspects. It is projected along different lines in this virtual Denkraum , lines that cross and influence each other: an existential line turns into a line of form and composition; a conceptual line merges into a narrative line, a technical line echoes an autobiographical line. There is no strict hierarchy in the different ‘emanations’ of a problem. These are just different lines contained within the work that interact with each other, and the problem can ‘move’ from one line to another, develop and transform itself along these lines, comparable perhaps to the way a melody develops itself when it is transposed to a different musical scale, a different musical instrument, or even to a different musical genre. But, however, abstract or technical one formulates a problem, following Johnson we argue that a problem is always a translation of a basic existential problem, emerging from a specific environment. We fully agree with Johnson when he argues that ‘philosophy becomes relevant to human life only by reconnecting with, and grounding itself in, bodily dimensions of human meaning and value. Philosophy needs a visceral connection to lived experience’ (Johnson, 2007 , p. 263). The same goes for artistic research. It too finds its relevance in the ‘visceral connection’ with a specific body, a specific situation.

Words are one way of disclosing this lived experience, but within the context of an artistic practice one can hardly ignore the potential for images to provide us with an equally valuable account. In fact, they may even prove most suited to establish the kind of space that comes close to this multi-threaded, embodied Denkraum . In order to illustrate this, we would like to present a case study, a short visual ‘essay’ (however, since the scope of four spreads offers only limited space, it is better to consider it as the image-equivalent of a short research note).

Case study: step by step reading of a visual essay

The images (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) form a short visual essay based on a collaborative artistic project 'Exercises of the man (v)' that Remco Roes and Alis Garlick realised for the Situation Symposium at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Melbourne in 2014. One of the conceptual premises of the project was the communication of two physical ‘sites’ through digital media. Roes—located in Belgium—would communicate with Garlick—in Australia—about an installation that was to be realised at the physical location of the exhibition in Melbourne. Their attempts to communicate (about) the site were conducted via e-mail messages, Skype-chats and video conversations. The focus of these conversations increasingly distanced itself from the empty exhibition space of the Design Hub and instead came to include coincidental spaces (and objects) that happened to be close at hand during the 3-month working period leading up to the exhibition. The focus of the project thus shifted from attempting to communicate a particular space towards attempting to communicate the more general experience of being in(side) a space. The project led to the production of a series of small in-situ installations, a large series of video’s and images, a book with a selection of these images as well as texts from the conversations, and the final exhibition in which artefacts that were found during the collaborative process were exhibited. A step by step reading of the visual argument contained within images of this project illustrates how a visual essay can function as a tool for disclosing/articulating/communicating the kind of embodied thinking that occurs within an artistic practice or practice-based research.

Figure 1 shows (albeit in reduced form) a field of photographs and video stills that summarises the project without emphasising any particular aspect. Each of the Figs. 2 – 5 isolate different parts of this same field in an attempt to construct/disclose a form of visual argument (that was already contained within the work). In the final part of this essay we will provide an illustration of how such visual sequences can be possibly ‘read’.

figure 1

First image of the visual essay. Remco Roes and Alis Garlick, as copyright holders, permit the publication of this image under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

figure 2

Second image of the visual essay. Remco Roes and Alis Garlick, as copyright holders, permit the publication of this image under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

figure 3

Third image of the visual essay. Remco Roes and Alis Garlick, as copyright holders, permit the publication of this image under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

figure 4

Fourth image of the visual essay. Remco Roes and Alis Garlick, as copyright holders, permit the publication of this image under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

figure 5

Fifth image of the visual essay. Remco Roes and Alis Garlick, as copyright holders, permit the publication of this image under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Figure 1 is a remnant of the first step that was taken in the creation of the series of images: significant, meaningful elements in the work of art are brought together. At first, we quite simply start by looking at what is represented in the pictures, and how they are presented to us. This act of looking almost inevitably turns these images into a sequence, an argument. Conditioned by the dominant linearity of writing, including images (for instance in a comic book) one ‘reads’ the images from left to right, one goes from the first spread to the last. Just like one could say that a musical theme or a plot ‘develops’, the series of images seem to ‘develop’ the problem, gradually revealing its complexity. The dominance of this viewing code is not to be ignored, but is of course supplemented by the more ‘holistic’ nature of visual perception (cf. the notion of ‘Gestalt’ in the psychology of perception). So unlike a ‘classic’ argumentation, the discursive sequence is traversed by resonance, by non-linearity, by correspondences between elements both in a single image and between the images in their specific positioning within the essay. These correspondences reveal the synaesthetic nature of every process of meaning-making: ‘The meaning of something is its relations, actual and potential, to other qualities, things, events, and experiences. In pragmatist lingo, the meaning of something is a matter of how it connects to what has gone before and what it entails for present or future experiences and actions’ (Johnson, 2007 , p. 265). The images operate in a similar way, by bringing together different actions, affects, feelings and perceptions into a complex constellation of meaningful elements that parallel each other and create a field of resonance. These connections occur between different elements that ‘disturb’ the logical linearity of the discourse, for instance by the repetition of a specific element (the blue/yellow opposition, or the repetition of a specific diagonal angle).

Confronted with these images, we are now able to delineate more precisely the problem they express. In a generic sense we could formulate it as follows: how to communicate with someone who does not share my existential space, but is nonetheless visually and acoustically present? What are the implications of the kind of technology that makes such communication possible, for the first time in human history? How does it influence our perception and experience of space, of materiality, of presence?

Artistic research into this problem explores the different ways of meaning-making that this new existential space offers, revealing the different conditions and possibilities of this new spatiality. But it has to be stressed that this exploration of the problem happens on different lines, ranging from the kinaesthetic perception to the emotional and affective response to these spaces and images. It would, thus, be wrong to reduce these experiences to a conceptual framework. In their actions, Roes and Garlick do not ‘make a statement’: they quite simply experiment with what their bodies can do in such a hybrid space, ‘wandering’ in this field of meaningful experiences, this Denkraum , that is ‘opened up’: which meaningful clusters of sensations, affects, feelings, spatial and kinaesthetic qualities emerge in such a specific existential space?

In what follows, we want to focus on some of these meaningful clusters. As such, these comments are not part of the visual essay itself. One could compare them to ‘reading remarks’, a short elaboration on what strikes one as relevant. These comments also do not try to ‘crack the code’ of the visual material, as if they were merely a visual and/or spatial rebus to be solved once and for all (‘ x stands for y’ ). They rather attempt to engage in a dialogue with the images, a dialogue that of course does not claim to be definitive or exhaustive.

The constellation itself generates a sense of ‘lacking’: we see that there are two characters intensely collaborating and interacting with each other, while never sharing the same space. They are performing, or watching the other perform: drawing a line (imaginary or physically), pulling, wrapping, unpacking, watching, framing, balancing. The small arrangements, constructions or compositions that are made as a result of these activities are all very fragile, shaky and their purpose remains unclear. Interaction with the other occurs only virtually, based on the manipulation of small objects and fragments, located in different places. One of the few materials that eventually gets physically exported to the other side, is a kind of large plastic cover. Again, one should not ‘read’ the picture of Roes with this plastic wrapped around his head as an expression, a ‘symbol’ of individual isolation, of being wrapped up in something. It is simply the experience of a head that disappears (as a head appears and disappears on a computer screen when it gets disconnected), and the experience of a head that is covered up: does it feel like choking, or does it provide a sense of shelter, protection?

A different ‘line’ operates simultaneously in the same image: that of a man standing on a double grid: the grid of the wet street tiles and an alternative, oblique grid of colourful yellow elements, a grid which is clearly temporal, as only the grid of the tiles will remain. These images are contrasted with the (obviously staged) moment when the plastic arrives at ‘the other side’: the claustrophobia is now replaced with the openness of the horizon, the presence of an open seascape: it gives a synaesthetic sense of a fresh breeze that seems lacking in the other images.

In this case, the contrast between the different spaces is very clear, but in other images we also see an effort to unite these different spaces. The problem can now be reformulated, as it moves to another line: how to demarcate a shared space that is both actual and virtual (with a ribbon, the positioning of a computer screen?), how to communicate with each other, not only with words or body language, but also with small artefacts, ‘meaningless’ junk? What is the ‘common ground’ on which to walk, to exchange things—connecting, lining up with the other? And here, the layout of the images (into a spread) adds an extra dimension to the original work of art. The relation between the different bodies does now not only take place in different spaces, but also in different fields of representation: there is the space of the spread, the photographed space and in the photographs, the other space opened up by the computer screen, and the interaction between these levels. We see this in the Fig. 3 where Garlick’s legs are projected on the floor, framed by two plastic beakers: her black legging echoing with the shadows of a chair or a tripod. This visual ‘rhyme’ within the image reveals how a virtual presence interferes with what is present.

The problem, which can be expressed in this fundamental opposition between presence/absence, also resonates with other recurring oppositions that rhythmically structure these images. The images are filled with blue/yellow elements: blue lines of tape, a blue plexi form, yellow traces of paint, yellow objects that are used in the video’s, but the two tones are also conjured up by the white balance difference between daylight and artificial light. The blue/yellow opposition, in turn, connects with other meaningful oppositions, like—obviously—male/female, or the same oppositional set of clothes: black trousers/white shirt, grey scale images versus full colour, or the shadow and the bright sunlight, which finds itself in another opposition with the cold electric light of a computer screen (this of course also refers to the different time zones, another crucial aspect of digital communication: we do not only not share the same place, we also do not share the same time).

Yet the images also invite us to explore certain formal and compositional elements that keep recurring. The second image, for example, emphasises the importance placed in the project upon the connecting of lines, literally of lining up. Within this image the direction and angle of these lines is ‘explained’ by the presence of the two bodies, the makers with their roles of tape in hand. But upon re-reading the other spreads through this lens of ‘connecting lines’ we see that this compositional element starts to attain its own visual logic. Where the lines in image 2 are literally used as devices to connect two (visual) realities, they free themselves from this restricted context in the other images and show us the influence of circumstance and context in allowing for the successful establishing of such a connection.

In Fig. 3 , for instance, we see a collection of lines that have been isolated from the direct context of live communication. The way two parts of a line are manually aligned (in the split-screens in image 2) mirrors the way the images find their position on the page. However, we also see how the visual grammar of these lines of tape is expanded upon: barrier tape that demarcates a working area meets the curve of a small copper fragment on the floor of an installation, a crack in the wall follows the slanted angle of an assembled object, existing marks on the floor—as well as lines in the architecture—come into play. The photographs widen the scale and angle at which the line operates: the line becomes a conceptual form that is no longer merely material tape but also an immaterial graphical element that explores its own argument.

Figure 4 provides us with a pivotal point in this respect: the cables of the mouse, computer and charger introduce a certain fluidity and uncontrolled motion. Similarly, the erratic markings on the paper show that an author is only ever partially in control. The cracked line in the floor is the first line that is created by a negative space, by an absence. This resonates with the black-stained edges of the laser-cut objects, laid out on the desktop. This fourth image thus seems to transform the manifestation of the line yet again; from a simple connecting device into an instrument that is able to cut out shapes, a path that delineates a cut, as opposed to establishing a connection. The circle held up in image 4 is a perfect circular cut. This resonates with the laser-cut objects we see just above it on the desk, but also with the virtual cuts made in the Photoshop image on the right. We can clearly see how a circular cut remains present on the characteristic grey-white chessboard that is virtual emptiness. It is evident that these elements have more than just an aesthetic function in a visual argumentation. They are an integral part of the meaning-making process. They ‘transpose’ on a different level, i.e., the formal and compositional level, the central problem of absence and presence: it is the graphic form of the ‘cut’, as well as the act of cutting itself, that turns one into the other.

Concluding remarks

As we have already argued, within the frame of this comment piece, the scope of the visual essay we present here is inevitably limited. It should be considered as a small exercise in a specific genre of thinking and communicating with images that requires further development. Nonetheless, we hope to have demonstrated the potentialities of the visual essay as a form of meaning-making that allows the articulation of a form of embodied knowledge that supplements other modes of inquiry in the humanities. In this particular case, it allows for the integration of other meaningful, embodied and existential aspects of digital communication, unlikely to be ‘detected’ as such by an (auto)ethnographic, psychological or sociological framework.

The visual essay is an invitation to other researchers in the arts to create their own kind of visual essays in order to address their own work of art or that of others: they can consider their artistic research as a valuable contribution to the exploration of human existence that lies at the core of the humanities. But perhaps it can also inspire scholars in more ‘classical’ domains to introduce artistic research methods to their toolbox, as a way of taking into account the non-conceptual, yet meaningful bodily aspects of human life and human artefacts, this ‘visceral connection to lived experience’, as Johnson puts it.

Obviously, a visual essay runs the risk of being ‘shot by both sides’: artists may scorn the loss of artistic autonomy and ‘exploitation’ of the work of art in the service of scholarship, while academic scholars may be wary of the lack of conceptual and methodological clarity inherent in these artistic forms of embodied, synaesthetic meaning. The visual essay is indeed a bastard genre, the unlawful love (or perhaps more honestly: love/hate) child of academia and the arts. But precisely this hybrid, impure nature of the visual essay allows it to explore unknown ‘conditions and potentials of human life’, precisely because it combines imagination and knowledge. And while this combination may sound like an oxymoron within a scientific, positivistic paradigm, it may in fact indicate the revival, in a new context, of a very ancient alliance. Or as Giorgio Agamben formulates it in Infancy and history: on the destruction of experience (2007 [1978]): ‘Nothing can convey the extent of the change that has taken place in the meaning of experience so much as the resulting reversal of the status of the imagination. For Antiquity, the imagination, which is now expunged from knowledge as ‘unreal’, was the supreme medium of knowledge. As the intermediary between the senses and the intellect, enabling, in phantasy, the union between the sensible form and the potential intellect, it occupies in ancient and medieval culture exactly the same role that our culture assigns to experience. Far from being something unreal, the mundus imaginabilis has its full reality between the mundus sensibilis and the mundus intellegibilis , and is, indeed, the condition of their communication—that is to say, of knowledge’ (Agamben, 2007 , p. 27, italics in original).

And it is precisely this exploration of the mundus imaginabilis that should inspire us to understand artistic research as a valuable form of scholarship in the humanities.

We consider images as a broad category consisting of artefacts of the imagination, the creation of expressive ‘forms’. Images are thus not limited to visual images. For instance, the imagery used in a poem or novel, metaphors in philosophical treatises (‘image-thoughts’), actual sculptures or the imaginary space created by a performance or installation can also be considered as images, just like soundscapes, scenography, architecture.

Agamben G (2007) Infancy and history: on the destruction of experience [trans. L. Heron]. Verso, London/New York, NY

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visual essay architecture

visual essay architecture

Tips for Writing An Incredible Architectural Essay

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An architectural essay can be a bit tricky to navigate and these tips would also apply to other degrees and courses other than architecture and each course has its own layout, structure and must-haves so make sure you check these with your course leader first. University level essays can be a bit different than college or school ones and actually count towards your degree in some way.

In school / college, you were probably given a certain method or structure to follow. It's similar in university but things are taken much more seriously. Like plagiarism. It's just not a good idea so don't even consider it. Neither is getting someone to write your essay for you, if thats a friend, or a paid stranger. Just follow your course outline and make sure you do the work and it'll be fine.

Everyone has their own level of writing, some are good, some are bad but it doesn't mean you can't be better. Practising writing essays and getting them reviewed very often can allow you to see the changes you need to make and the areas you can work on. For some, it could be simple as grammar and spelling (although there are spell checks embedded into all writing programs, it's always a good idea to do it manually). For others, it may be the actual content of what you're writing.

Here in the U.K. students are provided with expert teachers who have expertise in essay writing as well as profound knowledge on most of the topics you and your peers will be writing about. Make sure you use them! After all, you're paying so much money for a degree.

Essays can be a great way for you to explore the many different aspects of architecture apart from design. You could look into an architect, a building that interests you or an architectural movement. The topic can depend on the generic brief that you get as a part of your course but usually the essay question is up to you. After you start writing your essay, you might question the point of them.

Speaking from personal experience as someone who didn't really know much about the world of architecture, the essays I wrote opened up a lot sources of knowledge. I was able to recognise various architects and their works, as well as implement some tried and tested ideas and theories into my own work. The essays you write in your first and second year also gear you up for your BA dissertation and eventually a Master's thesis.

We reckon the most important part of an essay is theresearch. The research is the backbone of the essay because you’re essentiallypulling together different references and adding your own observations andopinions. Credible references are key for any essay and making sure you pick agood article or paper can really help elevate the writing.

We suggest, before even writing those first words, you should do a bit of reading into your topic and even if you don’t want to use any articles or papers, have a quick read to understand the format and the language. We know as architecture students you don't have a lot of 'free time', we get it. But there are a lot of available resources online. It can be as simple as finding the pdf of a book or article, saving it offline on your phone and reading it on your lunch break or on your way to uni.

Sometimes, if you find even one key research paper or source, it can make or break your whole essay. It’s also wise to make sure your topic is worth covering. If there are little to no sources it could get quite tricky later on in the process. Discuss this with your tutor so they can advise your further. It's also good to mention you will be writing an abstract or a short summary at some point. Ask a non-architectural friend or family member to read it and see if it makes sense regardless of the content.

So, once you have at least a handful of resources, you need to make sure you’re saving them. The best way to do this is to download the articles and save them in a ‘References’ folder. You can do this on your laptop browser or print them and keep them in a physical folder so that you have access at all times or if you'd prefer it that way.

Then, you could create a reference list in a Word document. Don’t spend a long time writing out each reference manually. Instead, go to the References tab then find Citations & Bibliography and add a new citation.

visual essay architecture

You can also change the style of the reference according to whichever one your university wants and even create a reference list or bibliography with a simple click. Make sure you check this in your course handbook or, if it's not listed anywhere, clarify it with your tutor or course leader. Some universities are also a bit iffy on the type of fonts you use or what information you have to include so make a note of it somewhere and try set it all out in the beginning.

Being organised about your references and articles means you don’t have to keep looking for that one article you are using a lot and it keeps the documents offline so even if you don’t have great Internet access, it’s available to you whenever and wherever. You can do this even when you're starting out with your writing so that everything is already there for you to use. When you finish and you're in the editing stage, you can easily go back and delete any you didn't end up using. It's basically better to have more than have none and be struggling to add your references in nearer to the deadline.

The type of references you use is also important because the markers will be looking at whether you just stuck to using the Internet or actually went and found some books or physical material to support your essay. The worst thing you could do to yourself is not use the resources given to you. Some tutors may give you reading material or a list of article to give you a start. Ask if you can include these or not!

Remember, you’re paying for the library and the Internet access as well as all your classes, so make the most of them. Markers will want to see you use books, and some will have a strong opinion if you don't. Most universities will also allow for student logins to well-known websites that can provide specific articles and research papers with tons of filters.

The Wiley Online Library is great for this sort of thing. Find it HERE .

If you’re struggling, speak to a member of the library staff or if your university has a dedicated team for help with essays (don’t get this confused, they can’t write anything for you) then try get in touch with them or ask a student support officer or your tutors. We can't stress how important it is to use all the tools given to you. If for any reason, you don't have access to anything try speak to a staff member who can help you out.

The content and quality of the essay depends on the writer so make sure you have some basic tips and method down before you get stuck in. It also helps a lot if you’re passionate or have an interest in the topic because realistically, why would you be writing about something that doesn’t interest you? It can be very difficult to write about something that a. you know nothing about and b. something you're not interested in. The topic doesn't need to relate to you directly, it can be a small aspect or link that you identify with and want to know more about. Remember, it also has to make sense with the brief / theory / topic you've been given.

The most daunting task of writing an essay is getting started. Writing the first word. Yes, a blank page is terrifying but what's more terrifying is writing a 2000 word essay the night before the hand-in. Nobody is saying you have to start with the introduction (although it would make sense) but you can start with the area you're most interested in. We often take for granted the small wonders of our computers. Everything is going to get edited at some point, so even if you write something you don't like or you think it would fit better someplace else, you can do it!

After you write the first few sentences you should be good to go. After that, you just need to keep your articles on hand and some notes or a plan of your essay. The environment you're in should be tailored to you. Where do you work best? A quiet room or in the library is usually the best place. Whether you're listening to music or watching Friends, it's up to you as long as you don't get distracted.

Take breaks! Not only while you're dedicating time to writing your essay - this is also important - but also every few days. Take a day or two to not focus on your essay and work on your other pile of design work that has accumulated. Then, when you come back to read through what you have written, it will be with semi-fresh eyes. Having a balance between the essay and other commitments is difficult but not impossible. Plan your time, have a schedule, it's things you've already been told so we won't dwell on it.

visual essay architecture

After you have written your essay, it can be the best time to come up with your essay title. A 6-8 worded sentence that summarises what you will be looking into is perfect. Coming to such perfection takes time. You could always create a few options and ask yourself or your peers which ones reads best. It could be a standout winner or a mix of a few.

But before you think you’re done, you have to take the timeto read over your essay, then read it again, and then read it again. Keep doingthis till you’re fully happy with it. A good trick can be to print out theessay so that you have something physical to read. Grab a coloured pen or highlighterand be amazed by how many spelling or grammar mistakes you could find.

Don’t always rely on the spelling checker in whichever program you are using. It can also be helpful if you want to move around chunks of your essay or figure out where you want pictures to be added. Creating physical notes for yourself is far different to seeing the same words on a screen.

Lastly, an architecture essay has got to have some visuals because after all, we are visual thinkers and designers. The most important tip is that the images should be absolutely relevant to the essay and add to it. If the images are just there to look pretty, then don’t bother putting them in because it won’t make any sense and the marker won't like it either.

You could even scan in some sketches you do to explain features of a building for example. It adds a personal touch that shows you had a real interest in the topic. Don't forget to add captions to your images and the sources for images you've taken from the Internet.

Lastly, the presentation of your essay is also important. As designers, we're expected, in a way, to create our work to the best visual standard possible. So why not get rid of the standard template essay cover (unless your university asks for something plain) and create a visual yourself. Customise the accent colours or apply a cool format - something that helps you stand out. Check out some cool layouts on Pinterest .

To summarise, the few things that will help you write a great architectural essay are to do your research, save the articles and papers you want to use, make sure you take full advantage of the university resources, proofread your work multiple times and add those useful images at the end.

Let us know what some of the things you do for essays are and if you have a foolproof method for getting through writing an essay. You can leave a comment below or contact us through our social media.

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Creative Arts Toolkit

The visual essay, what is it.

A visual essay is a sequence of photographs or other images which are either:

  • original, taken and/or created by yourself, or
  • found, and significantly processed (e.g. using Photoshop, Illustrator)

Taken together, the images provide a critical commentary of some kind on a defined topic, working as a kind of argument, explanation, discussion. The topic will have been either given to you (e.g. as an essay question) or developed by you in consultation with your tutor.

Usually the ‘reading’ of the images in a visual essay is directed by such elements as:

  • the sequence of images and how they relate to each other, the juxtaposition of one to the next and how it stands in a series
  • the layout of the page in which the image(s) is placed, and the layout of following and preceding pages
  • captions, including brief analyses, quotations, key words, provocative questions or statements;
  • text integrated within the image or as part of the image (e.g. playing with typographic elements, the visual aspects of text);
  • • a short text at the beginning (prologue, scene setting) and/or end (epilogue, codicil, reflection).

Sounds easy…?

The visual essay is not a soft option. To produce a good visual essay is as demanding as writing a good academic text, and in some ways may be considerably harder to do. Never opt to do a visual essay because you think it will be easier than a ‘normal’ or ‘proper’ essay: this will inevitably lead to poor work. Apart from anything else, the traditional essay – love it or loathe it – is ‘the devil you know’. A visual essay is always something of a risk – but also an exciting possibility, rich with potential. Think carefully about how you will approach it and what you want it to say, do, achieve.

What form should it take?

The visual essay will usually take the form of a bound sequence but might be a series of unbound cards (perhaps ‘shuffled’, with a fixed start- and end-point) if that works better with the ideas being expressed. It may possibly take the form of a PowerPoint slideshow that runs automatically, combining image and text in a meaningful, essay-style sequence.

Remember, visual design and communication are key to the success (or otherwise) of a visual essay: they work as the equivalents of correct layout, accurate spelling, clear sentence construction, and so on, in a traditional academic essay.

How many images should I include? And how many words?

A visual essay needs to be equivalent in study effort, time, and so on, to a piece of traditional academic writing at the same level. This means that there is no ‘cutting corners’ on research/enquiry, organisation, thinking, drafting, ‘writing up’ and managing references and citation.

  • Typically, to be equivalent to a 1500 word written essay, a visual essay should comprise 10-12 images, with around 500-700 words of text.
  • To be equivalent to a 2000 word written essay, it should include 12-15 images, with around 600-800 words of text.
  • To be equivalent to a 4000 word written essay, think in terms of 15-20 images, with 1200-1500 words of text.

Does a visual essay need to be referenced? Does it need a bibliography?

The visual essay must include – or be accompanied by – an annotated bibliography which uses the Harvard or Author-Date system; ‘annotation’ means ‘added notes of comment, evaluation or explanation’.

A visual essay – depending on overall design and how you are using the textual elements – might not formally cite sources, so the annotated bibliography is an absolutely vital part of the academic apparatus. (If you feel that in-text citations are not appropriate to your visual essay, you must get this agreed by your tutor in advance.)

The annotated bibliography has, for each directly relevant source, an entry in the Harvard/Author-Date format, followed by two short commentaries:

  • How and why this text was useful to you in carrying out the assignment, what it contributed to your understanding and knowledge,
  • How you used it, where in the work it belongs or is used (indicate this in some way)

Some examples and further guidance

Colomba, E. (2016) ‘Reclaiming History: A Visual Essay’. Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art . 38. 196-201.  https://muse.jhu.edu/article/639582  (accessed 5 December 2019)

Gómez Cruz, E. (2019) ‘Black Screens: A Visual Essay on Mobile Screens in the City’.  Visual Communication . 19:1. 1-14.  https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1470357219872237  (accessed 5 December 2019) – A lovely example, and recent, but rather wordy for a visual essay!

Roxburgh, M. (2010) ‘Design and the aesthetics of research’. Visual Communication . 9:4. 425-39.  https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1470357210385616  (accessed 5 December 2019)

Traverso, A. & Azúa, E. (2013) ‘Paine Memorial: a visual essay’. Social Identities . 19:3-04. 403-9.  https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/doi/full/10.1080/13504630.2013.817634?scroll=top&needAccess=true  (accessed 5 December 2019)

Van Leeuwen, T. (2007) ‘Sound and Vision’. Visual Communication . 6:2. 136-45.  https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1470357207077443  (accessed 5 December 2019)

Yagou, A. (2011) ‘Walls of Lisbon: A Visual Essay’. Visual Communication. 10:3. 187-92.  https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1470357210382363  (accessed 5 December 2019)

Suggested further reading

Not about Visual Essays as such, but about visual (and physical) thinking:

Brody, N. & Wozencroft, J. (1993) The graphic language of Neville Brody. London: Thames & Hudson.

David Carson Design (the influential graphic designer’s official website) http://www.davidcarsondesign.com   (accessed 5 December 2019)

Carson, D. & Blackwell, L. (1995) The end of print: the graphic design of David Carson. London: Laurence King.

McLuhan, M. & Carson, D. (2003) The Book of Probes. Santa Rosa, CA: Gingko Press.

Tufte, E. (1990) Envisioning Information. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press.

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Mdsb62h3: visual culture and communication.

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Visual Essays

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What is a Visual Essay?

Usually, a sequence of images (photos or otherwise) which you have found or have created yourself. 

It typically consists of a a critical commentary of a defined topic. It is similar to a traditional essay in that you are presenting an argument, discussion, or explanation of a defined topic that you have chosen. Additional topic information can be found in the assignment handout. 

How to visual essays work? 

Just like with traditional papers, visual essays are "read," meaning that they are planned and ordered. The University of Hertfordshire's guide on the Visual Essay suggests that their effectiveness can be impacted by the following elements:

  • the sequence of images and how they relate to each other
  • the juxtaposition of one to the next and how it stands in a series
  • the layout of the page in which the image(s) is placed, and the layout of following and preceding pages
  • captions, including brief analyses, quotations, key words, provocative questions or statements;
  • text integrated within the image or as part of the image (e.g. playing with typographic elements, the visual aspects of text);
  • a short text at the beginning (prologue, scene setting) and/or end (epilogue, codicil, reflection).

Form of the Visual Essay

There are various ways to structure the visual essay. For this assignment, and depending on your technical skills, you can create:

(i) a video

(ii) a voice-over PowerPoint narration (you must be the narrator) 

The visual essay should be 3-5 minutes and should be uploaded using YouTube or Vimeo. Please see assignment handout for additional information. 

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How to Write a Visual Analysis Essay: Examples & Template

A visual analysis essay is an academic paper type that history and art students often deal with. It consists of a detailed description of an image or object. It can also include an interpretation or an argument that is supported by visual evidence.

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The picture shows the definition of a visual analysis.

In this article, our custom writing experts will:

  • explain what a visual analysis is;
  • share useful tips on how to write a good visual analysis essay;
  • provide an essay sample.
  • 🎨 Visual Analysis Definition
  • 🏺 Artwork Analysis Tips
  • ✅ Visual Analysis Writing Guide
  • 📑 Example & Citation Tips

🎨 What Is a Visual Analysis?

The primary objective of visual analysis is to understand an artwork better by examining the visual elements. There are two types of visual analysis: formal and contextual.

  • A formal analysis focuses on artwork elements such as texture, color, size, and line. It aims to organize visual information and translate it into words. A formal analysis doesn’t interpret the piece.
  • Unlike formal analysis, contextual analysis’ primary goal is to connect artwork to its purpose or meaning within a culture. A contextual analysis includes formal analysis. Additionally, it discusses an artwork’s social purpose and significance.

Usually, students deal with formal visual analysis. Before starting to work on your essay, make sure to ask your professor whether to include contextual analysis or not.

The Purpose of Analyzing Images

Why is visual analysis important? What does it help to learn? There are several things that visual analysis helps with:

  • It allows students to enhance their appreciation of art.
  • It enables students to develop the ability to synthesize information.
  • It encourages students to seek out answers instead of simply receiving them.
  • It prompts higher-order critical thinking and helps to create a well-reasoned analysis.
  • By conducting visual analysis, students learn how to support and explain their ideas by studying visual information.

What Is Formal Analysis: Art History

When we look at an artwork, we want to know why it was created, who made it, and what its function was. That’s why art historians and researchers pay special attention to the role of artworks within historical contexts.

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Visual analysis is a helpful tool in exploring art. It focuses on the following aspects:

  • Interpretation of subject matter ( iconography). An iconographic analysis is an explanation of the work’s meaning. Art historians try to understand what is shown and why it is depicted in a certain way.
  • The analysis of function. Many works of art were designed to serve a purpose that goes beyond aesthetics. Understanding that purpose by studying their historical use helps learn more about artworks. It also establishes a connection between function and appearance.

Formal Analysis: Art Glossary

Now, let’s look at some visual elements and principles and learn how to define them.

Visual Elements :

Visual Principles :

🏺 How to Analyze Artworks: Different Types

Writing a formal analysis is a skill that requires practice. Being careful and attentive during the pre-writing stage is essential if you want to create a good and well-structured visual analysis. 

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Visual analysis essay mainly consists of two components:

  • Description of the selected image or object,
  • Interpretation built on the visual evidence.

During the pre-writing stage:

  • Collect general information about an artwork. Describe it briefly. Pay special attention to visual elements and principles:
  • Develop an interpretation. Think critically. What does the information in your notes imply? How can it be interpreted?
  • Support your ideas. To do it, refer to the visual elements directly. Avoid generalizing art and double-check your prompts. 

How to Analyze a Painting Using the Elements of Art

To write an excellent formal visual analysis, you need to consider as many visual principles and elements as you can apply. In the formal analysis part:

  • Target your description;
  • Address only those elements relevant to your essay;
  • Pay attention to visual elements and principles;
  • Introduce the subject of the painting and describe it;
  • Explain why you have decided to discuss specific elements;
  • Discuss the relationship between visual elements of the artwork;
  • Use the vocabulary terms.

If you are asked to do a contextual analysis , you may want to:

  • Focus on the historical importance of an artwork;
  • Explore the style or movement associated with an artwork;
  • Learn about the historical context and the public’s reaction to the artwork;
  • Learn about the author and how they’ve created the piece of art.

Painting Analysis Essay Example & Tips

Here is a template you can use for your essay.

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Now, let’s take a look at an essay example.

How to Analyze a Photograph

Analyzing photos has a lot in common with paintings. There are three methods on which photo visual analysis relies: description, reflection, and formal analysis. Historical analysis can be included as well, though it is optional.

  • Description . It implies looking closely at the photo and considering all the details. The description needs to be objective and consists of basic statements that don’t express an opinion.
  • Reflection. For the next step, focus on the emotions that the photograph evokes. Here, every viewer will have a different opinion and feelings about the artwork. Knowing some historical context may be helpful to construct a thoughtful response.
  • Formal analysis . Think of the visual elements and principles. How are they represented in the photograph?
  • Historical analysis. For a contextual analysis, you need to pay attention to the external elements of the photograph. Make sure that you understand the environmental context in which the photo was taken. Under what historical circumstances was the picture made?

Photo Analysis Essay Tips

Now that we’ve talked about analyzing a photograph let’s look at some helpful tips that will help you write an essay.

How to Analyze a Sculpture

Visual analysis of a sculpture is slightly different from the one of a painting or a photograph. However, it still uses similar concepts, relies on visual elements and principles. When you write about sculpture, consider:

Visual Analysis Essay on a Sculpture: Writing Tips

A sculpture analysis consists of the following parts:

  • Description . Include specific details, such as what the sculpture may represent. For instance, the human figure may be an athlete, an ancient God, a poet, etc. Consider their pose, body build, and attire.
  • Formal analysis . Here, visual elements and principles become the focus. Discuss the color, shape, technique, and medium.
  • Contextual analysis . If you decide to include a contextual analysis, you can talk about the sculpture’s function and how it conveys   ideas and sentiments of that period. Mention its historical and cultural importance.

When it comes to sculpture analysis, you may also want to collect technical data such as:

  • The size of the sculpture
  • Medium (the material)
  • The current condition (is it damaged, preserved as a fragment, or as a whole piece)
  • Display (Was a sculpture a part of an architectural setting, or was it an independent piece of work?)

For instance, if you were to do a visual analysis of Laocoön and His Sons , you could first look up such details:

  • Location: Discovered in a Roman vineyard in 1506
  • Current location: Vatican
  • Date: Hellenistic Period (323 BCE – 31 CE)
  • Size: Height 208 cm; Width 163 cm; Depth 112 cm
  • Material: Marble
  • Current condition: Missing several parts.

Visual Analysis Essay: Advertisement Analysis

Visuals are used in advertisements to attract attention or convince the public that they need what is being advertised. The purpose of a visual argument is to create interest. Advertisements use images to convey information and communicate with the audience.

When writing a visual analysis of an advertisement, pay attention to the following:

  • text elements,
  • illustrations,
  • composition.

All of this influences how the viewer perceives the information and reacts to it.

When you write about an advertisement, you conduct a rhetorical analysis of its visual elements. Visual rhetoric is mainly directed at analyzing images and extracting information from them. It helps to understand the use of typography, imagery, and the arrangement of elements on the page.

Think of the famous visual rhetoric examples such as the We can do it! poster or a Chanel №5 commercial. Both examples demonstrate how persuasive imagery has been used throughout history.

How to Write a Visual Analysis Paper on an Advertisement

The presentation of visual elements in advertising is essential. It helps to convince the audience. When you analyze visual arguments, always keep the rhetorical situation in mind. Here are some crucial elements to focus on:

✅ How to Write a Visual Analysis Paper: Step by Step

Now, we’ll focus on the paper itself and how to structure it. But first, check out the list of topics and choose what suits you best.

Visual Analysis Essay Topics

There are a lot of artworks and advertisements that can be analyzed and viewed from different perspectives. Here are some essay topics on visual analysis that you may find helpful:

  • Analyze Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss (1907-1908.)
  • The theme of humanity and The Son of Man (1964) by René Magritte.
  • The use of visual elements in Almond Blossom by Vincent van Gogh (1888-1890.)
  • Identity and Seated Harlequin (1901) by Picasso .
  • Explore the themes of Paul Klee ’s The Tree of Houses , 1918.
  • Objectives, activities, and instructions of Pietro Perugino’s fresco The Delivery of the Keys to Saint Peter .
  • Reflection on social issues of the time in Two Fridas by Frida Kahlo and Untitled by Ramses Younan .
  • Analyze the importance of Mural (1943) by Jackson Pollock .
  • The political message in John Gast’s painting American Progress (1872).
  • Describe the visual techniques used in Toy Pieta by Scott Avett .
  • The interpretation of the painting Indian Fire God by Frederic Remington.
  • Explore the historical significance and aesthetic meaning of Ognissanti Madonna by Giotto di Bondone .
  • Analyze different interpretations of The Three Dancers by Pablo Picasso .

Photography:

  • The idea behind Lindsay Key (1985) by Robert Mapplethorpe.
  • Explore the mythical appeal of Robert Capa’s photograph The Falling Soldier (Spain,1936) from Death in Making photobook.
  • Describe Two Boys with Fish (2018) from Faith series by Mario Macilau.
  • Kevin Carter’s Starving Child and Vulture (1993) as the representation of photojournalism.
  • The story behind Philippe Halsman’s Dali Atomicus , 1948.
  • Describe The Starving Boy in Uganda photograph by Mike Wells
  • Analyse the view of a historic disaster in San Francisco photograph by George R. Lawrence.
  • The statement behind Eddie Adams’s photo Shooting a Viet Cong Prisoner .
  • How is Steve McCurry’s perception of the world reflected in his photo Afghanistan Girl .
  • Analyze the reflection of Ansel Adams’s environmental philosophy in his photo Moon and Half Dome (1960).
  • Describe Girl on the Garda Lake (2016) by Giuseppe Milo.
  • Combination of internal geometry and true-to-life moments in Behind the Gare Saint Lazare by Henri Cartier-Bresson .
  • Modern art and Couple on Seat by Lynn Chadwick (1984.)
  • Analyze the biblical context of Pieta (1498-1499) by Michelangelo.
  • The use of shapes in Louise Bourgeois ’ Spider (1996.)
  • Analysis of the symbolism behind The Thinker (1880) by Rodin.
  • The historical meaning of Fountain (1917) by Duchamp .
  • Analyze the Miniature Statue of Liberty by Willard Wigan
  • The combination of Egyptian culture and classical Greek ideology in statue of Osiris-Antinous .
  • Reflection of the civilization values in emperor Qin’s Terracotta Army .
  • The aesthetic and philosophical significance of Michelangelo’s David .
  • Explore the controversial meaning of Damien Hirst’s sculpture For the Love of God (2007).
  • Analyze the elements of art and design used in The Thinker by August Rodin .
  • Symbolic elements in the Ancient Greek statues of Zeus .
  • Depiction of the fundamental aspects of Buddhism in The Parinirvana of Siddhartha/Shakyamuni.

Advertisement:

  • How Volkswagen : Think Small (1960) ad changed advertising.
  • Analyze the use of figures in California Milk Processor Board: Got Milk? (1993) ad campaign .
  • Analyze the use of colors in Coca-Cola — The Pause that Refreshes (1931.)
  • Explore the historical context of We Can Do It! (1942) campaign.
  • The importance of a slogan in 1947: A Diamond Is Forever by De Beers.
  • Examine the specifics of visual advert: dogs and their humans.
  • Describe the use of visual techniques in Kentucky Fried Chicken company’s advertisement.
  • Analyze the multiple messages behind the print ad of JBL .
  • Discuss the methods used in Toyota Highlander advertisement .
  • Elucidation of people’s dependency on social networks in the advertising campaign Followers by Miller Lite.
  • The use of the visual arguments in Schlitz Brewing Company advertisement .
  • The role of colors and fonts in Viva la Juicy perfume advertisement .

Visual Analysis Essay Outline

You can use this art analysis template to structure your essay:

The picture shows the main steps in writing a visual analysis essay: introduction, main body, conclusion.

How to Start an Art Essay

Every analysis starts with an introduction. In the first paragraph, make sure that:

  • the reader knows that this essay is a visual analysis;
  • you have provided all the necessary background information about an artwork.

It’s also important to know how to introduce an artwork. If you’re dealing with a panting or a photograph, it’s better to integrate them into the first page of your analysis. This way, the reader can see the piece and use it as a reference while reading your paper.

Art Thesis Statement Examples & Tips

Formulating a thesis is an essential step in every essay. Depending on the purpose of your paper, you can either focus your visual analysis thesis statement on formal elements or connect it with the contextual meaning. 

To create a strong thesis, you should relate it to an artwork’s meaning, significance, or effect. Your interpretation should put out an argument that someone could potentially disagree with. 

  • For instance, you can consider how formal elements or principles impact the meaning of an artwork. Here are some options you can consider:
  • If your focus is the contextual analysis, you can find the connection between the artwork and the artist’s personal life or a historical event.

How to Write Visual Analysis Body Paragraphs

Body paragraphs of formal analysis consist of two parts—the description and the analysis itself. Let’s take Klimt’s The Kiss as an example:

The contextual analysis includes interpretation and evaluation.

Visual Analysis Essay Conclusion

When you work on the conclusion, try to conclude your paper without restating the thesis. At the end of your essay, you can present an interesting fact. You can also try to:

  • Compare an artwork to similar ones;
  • Contrast your own ideas on the piece with the reaction people had when it was first revealed.
  • Talk about an artwork’s significance to the culture and art in general.

📑 Visual Analysis Essay Example & Citation Tips

In this section of the article, we will share some tips on how to reference an artwork in a paper. We will also provide an essay example.

How to Reference a Painting in an Essay

When you work on visual analysis, it is important to know how to write the title of an artwork properly. Citing a painting, a photograph, or any other visual source, will require a little more information than citing a book or an article. Here is what you will need:

  • Size dimensions
  • Current location
  • Name of the piece
  • Artist’s name
  • Date when artwork was created

If you want to cite a painting or an artwork you saw online, you will also need:

  • The name of the website
  • Website URL
  • Page’s publication date
  • Date of your access

How to Properly Credit an Artwork in APA

How to properly credit an artwork in mla, how to properly credit an artwork in chicago format.

Finally, here’s a sample visual analysis of Rodin’s sculpture The Thinker in APA format. Feel free to download it below.

Many people believe that works of art are bound to be immortal. Indeed, some remarkable masterpieces have outlived their artists by many years, gaining more and more popularity with time. Among them is The Thinker, a brilliant sculpture made by Auguste Rodin, depicting a young, athletic man, immersed deep into his thoughts.

You can also look at the following essay samples to get even more ideas.

  • The Protestors Cartoon by Clay Bennett: Visual Analysis
  • Visual Analysis – Editorial Cartoon
  • Visual Analysis: “Dust Storm” Photo by Steve McCurry
  • Visual, Aural, Read & Write, Kinesthetic Analysis
  • Schlitz Brewing Company Advertisement: Visual Arguments Analysis

Thanks for reading through our article! We hope you found it helpful. Don’t hesitate to share it with your friends.

Further reading:

  • How to Write a Lab Report: Format, Tips, & Example
  • Literature Review Outline: Examples, Approaches, & Templates
  • How to Write a Research Paper Step by Step [2024 Upd.]
  • How to Write a Term Paper: The Ultimate Guide and Tips

❓ Visual Analysis FAQs

To write a visual argument essay, you need to use rhetorical analysis. Visual rhetoric is directed at analyzing images and extracting the information they contain. It helps to analyze the visuals and the arrangement of elements on the page.

A well-though contextual analysis will include:

1. formal analysis, 2. some information about the artist, 3. details on when and where the piece was created, 4. the social purpose of the work, 5. its cultural meaning.

It is better to include pictures  in the introduction  part of your paper. Make sure to cite them correctly according to the format you’re using. Don’t forget to add the website name, the URL, and the access date.

To analyze means not only to describe but also to evaluate and synthesize visual information. To do that, you need to learn about visual elements and principles and see how and why they are used within artworks.

🔍 References

  • Art History: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • Visual Analysis: Duke University
  • Writing a Formal Analysis in Art History: Hamilton College
  • Contextual Analysis: Pine-Richland School District
  • How to Analyze an Artwork: Student Art Guide
  • Introduction to Art Historical Analysis: Khan Academy
  • Guidelines for Analysis of Art: University of Arkansas at Little Rock
  • Elements of Art: Getty.edu
  • Formal or Critical Analysis: LibreTexts
  • Analyzing a Photograph: University of Oregon
  • Picture Composition Analysis and Photo Essay: University of Northern Iowa
  • Visual Analysis Guidelines: Skidmore College
  • How to Analyze Sculpture: NLA Design and Visual Arts: WordPress
  • Visual Rhetoric: Purdue University
  • Formal Visual Analysis: The Elements & Principles of Composition
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How to Write a Visual Analysis Essay: Format, Outline, and Example

11 December 2023

last updated

Writing a visual analysis essay is an exciting and challenging academic exercise for art students. As a priority, before writing such an essay, learners need to familiarize themselves with design elements and principles. In this case, standard design elements are color, shape, size, and line, while common principles of design are proportion, balance, texture, and contrast. Basically, understanding these concepts would help a writer to provide an in-depth description of an image. In turn, such descriptions must make it possible for the audience to develop a mental picture of an image or visual display. Hence, students need to learn how to write a visual analysis essay correctly to shape knowledge of art.

Definition of a Visual Analysis Essay

One of the essay types that students write is a visual analysis essay. Basically, this academic writing exercise requires learners to provide a detailed description of a specific image or visual display. In doing so, students analyze an image or visual display by describing this visual in detail and explaining how different concepts fit together to make a picture in a way as it appears. Moreover, these concepts include visual elements and principles of design. Therefore, when writing a visual analysis essay, students must understand these basic concepts and relate them to an image or visual display in question before providing a detailed description. In turn, the most common subjects that writers address are drawings, paintings, sculptures, and architecture objects. Besides, the time when scholars need to write a visual analysis essay is when instructions require them to describe a given or any image, taking into account visual concepts named before.

How to write a visual analysis essay

11 Visual Elements in Writing an Analysis Essay

Based on the preceding section, one of the concepts that students must consider when writing a visual analysis essay is visual elements. In essence, these elements give an image of its visual characteristics. For example, common visual elements are composition, elements of design, focal point, color, line, texture, shape, form, value, size, and symbolic elements. In turn, it is practically impossible for a student to analyze an image or visual display without describing how some of these elements exemplify the subject’s visual characteristics.

1. Composition

When analyzing a visual display, students must address how a subject is put together. Basically, this is what is termed as composition. When talking about composition by describing a visual display, a writer must cover the placement of things in an image. Also, this aspect means describing how things relate one to another within a canvas. When analyzing an image, a student must focus on answering several questions related to composition. In turn, these include what entails a primary figure, how artists place other figures relative to a primary figure, and what they left out.

2. Elements of Design

When creating an image, artists use different approaches to bring their works to life. Basically, these approaches are what entails elements of design. Therefore, when writing a visual analysis essay, students must familiarize themselves with these elements by answering specific questions. In turn, these aspects include understanding design elements – color, shape, size, form, and line – that exemplify an image or visual display the most.

3. Focal Point

By definition, a focal point is a part of an image or visual display that an artist draws the audience’s attention. In this case, when writing a visual analysis essay, students must address this visual element by understanding this focal point and design elements, such as line, form, color, and shape, that an artist has used to exemplify this part of an image. 

When creating an image, artists use an element of color to exemplify a visual aspect of their works. In this case, the term “monochromatic” means that artists have used one color to create an image, while the term “complementary” means that they have used colors opposite each other on a color wheel. Also, when writing a visual analysis essay, students must describe how an element of color affects a visual image, focusing on colors that artists use and how they affect the tone, mood, and meaning of an image.

An element of line entails actual lines presented in an image. Typically, these lines result from the artist’s effort to place different objects in an image or visual display in question. Hence, when writing a visual analysis essay, students must describe how lines help grab the viewer’s attention toward or away from specific parts of an image. 

An element of texture refers to how smooth or rough an object is or a pattern thereof. In particular, when writing a visual analysis essay, students must understand that a texture can either be real on a three-dimensional art or represented on two-dimensional art. Besides, when analyzing an image, students must focus on a place where an artist exemplifies an element of texture and how it influences the audience to expect a particular touch sensation.

An element of shape refers to how an artist uses various shapes, including circles, ovals, rectangles, and squares, to bring their artworks to life. Basically, when writing a visual analysis essay, students should describe specific shapes that artists use to exemplify their works and where those shapes direct the viewers’ eye. In other words, they should describe how artists use specific shapes to exemplify a focal point. 

An element of form refers to an aspect of light and shading and how artists use them to bring their creations to life. Through this element of form, artists can make a two-dimensional object appear like a three-dimensional object. In turn, when writing a visual analysis essay, students should focus on where artists have applied light or shading to exemplify their work’s specific aspects.

A value element refers to a degree to which an artist has exemplified light and dark aspects in specific parts of their works. Basically, when writing a visual analysis essay, students should describe how artists have applied these aspects in their works and whether there is an indication of these concepts’ symbolic use.

An element of size refers to the overall size of an image or visual display with a relative size of figures provided in an image. In this case, when writing a visual analysis essay, students should explain why they believe an artist chose the image’s particular size and why different objects in a picture have different sizes. Notably, when an artist applies different sizes concerning lines and shapes, it means that an image is of relative significance.

11. Symbolic Elements

An element of symbolic elements refers to using objects with symbolic or historical meaning in an image or visual display. In particular, an example of these objects is the cross, which exemplifies the Christian faith. Also, when writing a visual analysis essay, students should explain whether the image has any symbolic objects and if there is, whether an artist intends to use such directly or by inverting it.

9 Visual Principles of Design in Writing an Analysis Essay

Besides visual elements described in the preceding section, artists also apply design principles when creating images or visual displays. In turn, such principles help to exemplify the visual characteristics of an image or visual display. For example, some of the common design principles include balance, emphasis, movement, pattern, proportion, variety, contrast, hierarchy, and rhythm.

A principle of balance refers to a distribution of different visual elements in an image or visual display to enhance stability or instability. Basically, when writing a visual analysis essay, students should describe images by addressing a symmetrical and asymmetrical balance. In this case, the former indicates that both sides of an image are even, and the latter means that a picture is weighted on one side. Moreover, radical balance means that an artist has organized objects in an image around a central point. Therefore, when writing a visual analysis essay, students should address these aspects of balance to give the audience a perfect understanding of an image.

2. Emphasis

An emphasis principle refers to an object that catches the viewers’ attention when they look at an image. In this case, when writing a visual analysis essay, students should describe how an artist in question has used elements of size, color, texture, shape, and others to exemplify one part of an image and make it a focal point. Moreover, when looking at an image, a viewer can identify an extent to which an artist has applied an emphasis principle by studying a focal point.

2. Movement

A principle of movement refers to an extent to which an image fosters a movement of the viewers’ eyes in a path as they view an image or visual display. In particular, a movement aspect explains why a viewer may focus on specific parts more than others. Besides, when writing a visual analysis essay, students should describe how an image influences a direction in which the viewer’s eyes move. In turn, they should also explain visual elements, such as line, color, shape, or size, which influence this eye movement.

A principle of pattern entails the use of objects in an image repeatedly. Basically, when writing a visual analysis essay, students should identify specific objects or symbols that artists use repeatedly in their works. Typically, repetition indicates that an object bears a significant meaning, and a student must explain this meaning to the audience.

4. Proportion

A principle of proportion refers to how sizes relate one to another in an image or visual display. Moreover, when writing a visual analysis essay, students should explain this principle by addressing whether the relationship among objects in an image is realistic or distorted. In either case, they should explain the meaning that an artist intended to communicate when creating an image.

A principle of variety refers to an extent to which an artist uses different visual elements to influence the audience’s perception of an image as dynamic. Basically, this principle of variety enhances an active rhythm in an image or visual display. In turn, when writing a visual analysis essay, students should explain to the audience how different elements of design, such as color, size, shape, and size, are combined to create a mood or meaning.

6. Contrast

A principle of contrast refers to a juxtaposition of opposing elements. In particular, an example of contrast in an image is the use of colors opposite each other on a color wheel, like red versus green or blue versus orange. Then, another example of contrast is a tone or value in an image, such as light versus dark, and direction, such as horizontal versus vertical. Hence, when writing a visual analysis essay, students should explain to the audience abut a significant contrast in an image, which tends to be exemplified in a focal point. In turn, an image that has too much contrast undermines the quality of unity and is likely to disgust viewers.

7. Hierarchy

A principle of hierarchy refers to a degree to which people viewing an image can process it. As such, this aspect indicates the significance of color, size, line, shape, and other elements of design in an image or visual display. Moreover, visual elements that appear prominently in an image are the most significant. In this case, when writing a visual analysis essay, students should analyze the use of titles and headings in an image. For example, the term “title” denotes a significant aspect of an artwork. Hence, artists should make it a prominent element in their creations. In turn, when describing an image in an analysis essay, a student should explain this aspect with the meaning that it bears.

A principle of rhythm refers to an extent to which an artist has used spaces between repetitive elements. For example, this aspect is similar to how a musician uses spaces between notes when composing a piece of music to create rhythm. Typically, artists create five types of rhythms in an image: random, regular, alternating, flowing, and progressive. In this case, when writing a visual analysis essay, students should describe how an artist has used these rhythm types. Moreover, what they should understand is that these rhythms differ in patterns. For instance, while random rhythms lack a discernable pattern, regular rhythms have a pattern, where an artist adopts the same spacing between elements with no variation. Consequently, alternating rhythms have a pattern where an artist adopts a set of repetitive elements but with no variation between them. About flowing rhythms, an artist uses bends and curves, like sand dunes or ocean waves.

A principle of layout refers to how an artist has used objects in an image. In other words, it entails the placement or distribution of objects, such as symbols, in an image. In this case, when writing a visual analysis essay, students should explain specific objects that an artist has used in an image under analysis and how they are placed in the work. Also, the layout is related to other principles of design, such as pattern and proportion.

How to Analyze the Meaning of an Image for Writing a Visual Analysis Essay

Based on the preceding sections, when writing a visual analysis essay, students should consider how an artist has applied different visual elements and design principles. In turn, these elements and principles exemplify an image, bringing to life specific parts, particularly a focal point. Therefore, when analyzing the meaning of an image or visual display for their essays, students should pay attention to elements and principles of design and explain to the audience their effect on a visual.

1. Visual Composition

Visual composition entails how an artist has arranged or composed an image. Basically, when analyzing such an image in a visual analysis essay, students should explain the composition’s aspects that enhance a claim. In this case, they can describe a layout, and it means specific objects in an image that an artist has used to grab the viewers’ attention. For example, they can explain how visual lines draw the viewers’ attention to a focal point. Also, writers student can describe balance. In turn, this aspect means describing the size of images and how they compare one to another. Besides, scholars should talk about a focal point by describing its placement – centered or offset.

When describing an image in a visual analysis essay, students should explain the image’s claims to the audience. Typically, there are five claim types: fact, definition, cause, value, and policy. Firstly, when talking about a fact claim, writers should explain whether an image is real, and, when talking about a definition claim, they should explain its meaning. Then, when talking about a cause claim, learners should explain the causes, effects, and relationships between these effects. In turn, when talking about a value claim, students should explain the importance of an image, and it should be evaluated. Finally, when talking about a policy claim, writers should explain a solution and how it can be achieved.

When analyzing an image in a visual analysis essay, students should interpret its meaning by explaining its genre – whether it is a movie, fine art, poster, graphic art, photograph, or pamphlet. Consequently, they should explain to the audience whether it aligns with that genre’s rules or an artist has disregarded them. More importantly, writers should explain to the audience how a genre affects the image’s meaning.

When analyzing an image in a visual analysis essay, students should address an appealing aspect. Basically, this feature means how an image appeals to the audience and influences them to believe intended claims. Here, students should explain to the audience whether an image or specific parts of it appeal to logic, emotion, authority, or character. More importantly, they should explain whether any of the appeals are deceptive.

5. Context and History

When writing a visual analysis essay, students can analyze an image by addressing its historical context. Basically, the good approach is to explain the image’s rhetorical situation to the audience. In this case, writers must familiarize themselves with the artist’s intended message and how the audience reacts when looking at this image. Moreover, the writer’s response to an image can differ from that of the initial audience. In turn, learners should use such difference as the main idea (a thesis statement ) of discussion in their visual analysis essay.

Writing a Visual Analysis Essay: A Step-by-Step Guide

Like any paper, writing a visual analysis essay requires students to observe specific strategies of persuasive writing . Basically, these strategies include preparation, stage set-up, actual writing, and wrap up. Moreover, these strategies enable students to create works that satisfy academic writing conventions, such as having a thesis statement, citations, appropriate formatting, and free from errors and mistakes.

Step 1: Preparation for Writing a Visual Analysis Essay

Preparation refers to an aspect of planning how to go about executing a task. In academic writing, preparation is the main first step to persuasive writing, and it entails reading a story or reviewing an object or subject, finding a visual, defining a topic, preparing ideas, and considering the needs of the audience. Therefore, one can argue that preparation is the stage where students develop a frame of mind necessary to conduct an in-depth analysis of an image or visual display.

A. Reading A story or Reviewing an Object or Subject.

In many instances, an image that students analyze in a Visual Analysis essay is found in texts, such as books, journal articles, reports, or novels, or galleries. Therefore, reading a text is the first activity that a writer should undertake when analyzing an image. Also, students may go to museums to observe specific artworks. In turn, if it is a text, learners should read an article at least twice to grasp essential details that are pertinent to their visual analysis essay.

B. Finding a Visual

As students read a text, they should focus on identifying an image or visual display that they should analyze in a visual analysis essay. While it is standard practice for instructors to guide students on where to find an image, sometimes, they may have to choose an image for themselves. In the latter context, identifying an image that writers find understandable to them in terms of its visual elements is the best approach in writing a visual analysis essay.

C. Defining a Topic

Although the objective of a visual analysis essay is to describe an image or visual display’s visual characteristics, students should come up with a topic that best describes this endeavor. By considering the essence of elements and principles of design that apply to an in-depth analysis of an image, students have a broad scope when it comes to defining a topic for their visual analysis essays. As such, the secret to finding the right essay topics is to decide on what aspect of analysis – elements or principles – they intend to focus on.

D. Preparing Ideas

It is common practice for students to come up with ideas when writing any type of academic text. Basically, this phase of preparation helps learners to develop a mindset about a task at hand. In essence, ideas that students generate should align with a topic they have already defined. In this case, writers cannot think about aspects of writing that would not further their agenda. For example, learners cannot develop ideas about the significance of design elements when their topic is about values that principles of design provide in a visual display.

E. Considering Readers

When writing a visual analysis essay, students should not only think about an image from the perspective of elements and principles of design. Basically, writers should think about how their visual analysis essay would help the audience understand this image better. In this case, learners should understand the audience and what might be of interest to them. For example, students of history might want to know how a particular image influenced the perception of those who saw it first. To address this need, a writer may have to address the image’s rhetorical situation more than its visual characteristics.

Step 2: Stage Set-Up for Organizing a Visual Analysis Essay

After preparation, the second step in writing a visual analysis essay is setting up the stage for the actual writing. Here, students spend time finding credible sources , making notes, creating an essay outline , and writing an annotated bibliography. Moreover, it is a stage where writers get down and start doing some work to bring their goal to fruition.

A. Finding Credible Sources

Unlike other academic texts, visual analysis essays that require students to analyze an issue, phenomenon, or object require some degree of research. In particular, when writing a visual analysis essay, learners may have to find reliable sources that help them to conduct an in-depth analysis of an image at hand. For example, writers may have to find out what critics have said about an image with the meaning of applicable concepts, such as balance, movement, shape, size, and proportion. As such, finding academic sources that can provide some insight into these essential details is a crucial step when writing a visual analysis essay.

B. Making Notes

As students read through study sources that they identify for writing a visual analysis essay, they should make notes relevant to a task. In this case, learners should read through their sources while making notes about important concepts that they find relevant to their analysis, such as proportion, context, and balance. Also, these notes are essential in supporting points that writers generate, influencing new ideas.

D. Writing an Outline and Annotated Bibliography

Like any other essay, a visual analysis essay should have an outline that follows an essay structure . In this case, the standard outline for essays entails three main sections: introduction, body, and conclusion. When writing a visual analysis essay, students should follow this outline. Then, an annotated bibliography is a text that summarizes each of the sources that students have identified and used to find critical information. Generally, learners do not need to write this summary in writing a visual analysis essay. However, to simplify their work for finding information, students may write an annotated bibliography when writing a visual analysis essay.

Step 3: Actual Writing of a Visual Analysis Essay

The third step in writing a visual analysis essay involves the actual process of writing a paper. Here, students should begin with the first draft. In this case, the advantage of this draft is that it is not a final document that students submit or publish, meaning that they have an allowance of making mistakes and correcting them. In short, the first draft enables writers to organize their thoughts and arguments in a paper and develop a working thesis.

Step 4: Wrap Up

The last step in writing a visual analysis essay is where students get to wrap up their work. In this case, students identify weak points in their papers and address them to come up with high-quality essays. Moreover, such a paper must have no spelling or grammatical errors, such as missing or wrong punctuation. In turn, it must not have notable inconsistencies, such as flawed arguments and illogical conclusions. Besides, students must use this step to revise and edit their visual analysis essays and ensure their papers satisfies all academic writing rules.

A. Revisions and Editing

Since it is natural for students to make errors and mistakes when writing academic texts, the final step of writing a visual analysis essay allows authors to identify them and make corrections. Firstly, revision entails identifying and eliminating all inconsistencies that undermine a natural flow of arguments and ideas. In turn, editing helps to correct spelling and grammatical mistakes, such as missing punctuation marks.

B. Topic and Concluding Sentences

When writing a visual analysis essay, students should ensure the first draft has paragraphs in the main text (body). Basically, these paragraphs should start with a topic sentence and end with a concluding sentence. In this case, the former introduces a single idea that writers intend to focus on in one paragraph, and the latter’s function is to link this idea in a topic sentence to the paper’s thesis.

C. Transitions and Formatting

One of the aspects that determine an essay’s quality is the natural flow of arguments and ideas. For example, some elements that foster this flow are transitions, which entail words and phrases like – “consequently,” “thus,” “hence,” “ more importantly,” and “meanwhile.” Then, another aspect that students should consider in the last phase of writing a visual analysis is the paper’s formatting. In this case, writers must ensure that they have formatted their papers according to appropriate formats – APA 7, MLA 8, Harvard, and Chicago/Turabian. Also, some of the formatting rules that must satisfy are citation and use of headings and subheadings.

D. Peer Review and Final Draft

After completing the first draft and making the necessary changes, students should subject their visual analysis essays to a peer review. Basically, this aspect involves giving their works to a friend, tutor, or mentor to identify any errors and mistakes. Then, if such errors and mistakes are noted, writers should revise their papers. However, if a visual analysis essay is found perfect, learners should proceed to write the final draft, which they must read and reread to make sure no mistakes have been made in the course of typing.

Outline Template for Writing a Visual Analysis Essay

I. Introduction with a Thesis Statement II. Body Paragraphs III. Conclusion

1. Defining Features of a Visual Analysis Essay Outline

As indicated previously and as exemplified in the visual above, an outline of a visual analysis essay entails three main sections: introduction, body, and conclusion. Basically, this structure’s defining features are the thesis statement that must appear in the introduction, main points in body paragraphs, and a restatement of the thesis and a summary of the main points in the conclusion.

2. How to Know if a Paper is a Visual Analysis Essay

As indicated in the introduction, a visual analysis essay analyzes an image or visual display by giving an in-depth description of how an artist has applied elements and principles of design. In this case, if students want to know that their texts are visual analysis essays, they need to evaluate how they address the use of these elements and principles in their papers concerning a given image.

3. How a Visual Analysis Essay Differs From Other Essays

The central point of difference between a visual analysis essay and other types of essays is the content. For example, while the content of an argumentative essay is the writer’s arguments in favor of a particular stand, the content in a visual analysis essay is the writer’s description and analysis of an image or visual display. Moreover, in an informative essay , the content is information that authors find insightful and necessary in educating the audience about a topic or an issue.

Easy Strategy For Writing Each Section of a Visual Analysis Essay

When writing a visual analysis essay, students should adopt a strategy that makes their work high-quality, meaning it satisfies academic writing rules. These strategies are as follows:

I. Introduction

  • Introduce an image, art, object, or subject under analysis.
  • Provide a brief background of this image and author.
  • Develop a thesis.
  • Create several paragraphs as appropriate.
  • Begin each paragraph by making a claim. It is a topic sentence.
  • End each paragraph with a concluding sentence.
  • Use transitions sufficiently and appropriately.
  • Observe a sandwich rule: introduce a claim in a topic sentence, provide supporting facts (evidence), and explain a specific connection between the claim and the thesis.

III. Conclusion

  • Restate the thesis.
  • Summarize the main points.
  • Ensure that no new information is presented.
  • Provide the writer’s objective opinion about a topic, such as new insight or criticism.

An Example of a Writing a Visual Analysis Essay

Reclining Woman on a Leopard Skin by Otto Dix

Otto Dix’s (German, 1891–1969) Liegenede auf Leopardenfell (Reclining Woman on a Leopard Skin) , 1927. Oil on panel (70 x 99 cm), 55.031.

I. Introduction Sample of a Visual Analysis Essay

Analyzing an image or visual display is an exciting and challenging academic undertaking for many students. Unlike other academic texts that focus on what other scholars have said, written, and documented through research studies, a visual analysis focuses on an image. As such, the student’s work is to provide an in-depth description of how the artist has appropriated elements and principles of design in their work. Looking at Otto Dix’s “Reclining Woman on a Leopard Skin” image above, it is evident the artist has appropriated contrast, color, size, and texture, among other elements and principles of design, to make a picture come to life.

II. Example of a Body in a Visual Analysis Essay

A. reclining position of a woman.

Dix’s image above reflects a woman in a dress and stockings in a reclining position. Besides two different types of textile around her, there is a leopard fur beneath her body’s upper side. Behind a woman is a snarling animal resembling a dog, and on the far right of the painting is wood flooring. Looking at the woman’s face, one can notice that this the focal point. Basically, it is where the artist has concentrated sharp detail, thus making her face confront the audience instantly. Concerning principles of contrast and emphasis, a red lipstick contrasts sharply with the woman’s light skin, while using her hand as a frame beneath her face emphasizes a focal point.

When it comes to design elements, the artist has used the green, red, white, and brown colors to exemplify the image. In this case, a closer look indicates that Dix has contrasted red and green, a warm and cold color, respectively, particularly on the woman’s skin and face. Moreover, he has contrasted dark and light, whereby her face and body exemplify a light theme, while other objects in a picture exemplify have a dark theme.

Regarding a line element, Dix has used smooth curves around the woman’s lower body, particularly around her hip and thighs. In particular, doing so has helped bring out the aspect of “femininity.” Interestingly, the use of angular lines around the face, jaw, fingers, and shoulders emphasizes the “masculine” aspect. Besides strong lines that make the cheeks and jaw prominent, the artist has also used a line element to exaggerate the woman’s eyes, which takes the shape of cat eyes or curved almonds.

About an element of texture, it is evident that the artist has gone into great lengths to create an illusion of texture. Notably, an image has no literal texture because it is a two-dimensional painting. Moreover, Dix’s effort in creating texture is evident by many objects that he includes in his painting. In turn, these objects include the leopard fur; the woman’s dress, stockings, and hair; the materials that look like velvet; and the fur of the dog-like animal. Besides, all these objects create a temptation to touch. In this case, the texture of the woman’s evening wear and the curtain in the background with a velvet-look suggest a sense of costume and luxury. Collectively, they enhance a visual and material richness of an image.

III. Conclusion Sample of a Visual Analysis Essay

There is doubt that analyzing an image or a visual display is an exciting and challenging academic endeavor for students of art. In particular, Dix’s “Reclining Woman on a Leopard Skin” image shows a master with which the artist has appropriated contrast, color, size, and texture, among other elements and principles of design to make his work come to life. About a painting, the artist has used these concepts to exemplify the woman’s face, which is the painting’s focal point.

Summing Up on How to Write a Good Visual Analysis Essay

Writing a visual analysis essay is an essential academic exercise for students. Since such an essay aims to analyze an image or visual display, learners must familiarize themselves with elements of design, such as color, size, and texture, and principles of design, such as emphasis and contrast. In essence, students use these concepts to provide an in-depth description of an image. Hence, when writing a visual analysis essay, scholars must learn the following tips:

  • provide a vivid description of an image, so that the audience can have a mental picture of it;
  • give a rhetorical situation of an image – its historical context;
  • explain the artist’s intended message;
  • cover details about any controversy or misunderstanding regarding a visual object or subject.

To Learn More, Read Relevant Articles

492 problem and solution essay topics: lists & ideas, how to write a term paper with examples and tips.

Hippocampus Magazine

CRAFT: Let’s Get Graphic: A Look at the Visual Essay by Nicole Breit

August 1, 2018.

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If you’re keen to tell new kinds of stories – or old stories in new ways – consider these ten “visual” approaches to writing short-form memoir.

1. The Photo Essay

The art of the photo essay lies in the writer’s careful selection of images balanced with the inclusion of text. Will the photos drive the narrative, or will they fill in textual “gaps” to move the story forward? Vivek Shraya strikes an elegant balance of “showing” and “telling” in her compelling photo narrative, “ Trisha .”

2. The Concrete Essay

This form is the next evolution of concrete poetry (A.K.A. shape or pattern poems), reincarnated as CNF. Jennifer Wortman’s “ Worst-Case Scenario ” presents the story of her husband’s 35-feet fall into a gap while rock climbing, visually – via text shaped like the rocks he fell through.

3. The Illustrated Essay

There’s something so charming about a notebook doodle – perhaps because sketches convey the character of the artist in such an immediate way. I love the narrator’s personality as it comes through Randon Billings’ Noble’s drawings in “ Accidental Notes on the Syllabus .”

4. The Graphic Essay

Check out the masters of graphic memoir – Maggie McKnight , Riad Sattouf , Alison Bechdel , Marjane Satrapi, Kristen Radtke, Nicole Georges and Ellen Forney – and understand how powerful comics can be as a medium for personal storytelling.

5. The Paper Craft Essay

If you’re wondering what to do with your stockpile of scrapbooking supplies, look no further than Erica’s Trabold’s “ Swedish Rye Bread ”– an essay constructed as a collage of typed index cards, digital scans, the pages of a vintage cookbook, and scrapbooking paper.

6. The Quilted Essay

Quilting has a long history of embodying narrative in carefully chosen patterns, colours, and symbols. Learn more about textile-based narratives in Sarah Minor’s article “ What Quilting and Embroidery Can Teach Us about Narrative Form ” and by reading her visual essay, “ Log Cabin Quilt .”

7. The Schematic Essay

The Process of Becoming Informed is a found schematic essay  published by The Diagram and credited to Michael K. Buckland of Library Services in Theory and Context,  Pergamon Press, 1983. Where might you find a visual essay just waiting to be discovered?

8. The Graphic Hermit Crab

The hermit crab essay appropriates a found text – also known as a “false document” – as a “shell” to protect the vulnerable story it contains. The textual form’s logical progression is visual, in which a found graphic is adopted as the essay’s structure. J. Robert Lennon’s “ Turnabout: A Story Game ” is a graphic hermit crab essay that can be read starting at any point, proceeding in any direction.

9. The Video Essay

Video is a natural medium for personal narrative, and John Breslund is known as a pioneer of the visual essay form. This article includes a Q and A with Bresland and his collaborator, poet and essayist, Eula Biss, with links to some of their groundbreaking work including “Ode to Every Thing.”

10. The Interactive Essay

“Hypertext is spatial in every direction, truly nonsequential—nothing follows by necessity anything else in the essay” write Brenda Miller and Suzanne Paola in Tell It Slant . Exemplary interactive hypertext CNF include Dinty W. Moore’s “ Mr. Plimpton’s Revenge: A Google Map Essay ,” Christine Wilks’ “ Fitting the Pattern ” and the work of Eric LeMay .

I hope this survey of the visual essay, in all its weird and wonderfully varied forms, inspires you to try a new approach to telling your stories. No matter your level of skill, experience, or talent with the visual arts, you can start including visuals in your work easily – and to great effect – incorporating images or multi-media collage.

Which visual essay format appeals to you the most? I’d love to hear which visual essays inspire your next project!

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Visual Essay: My Life as a Fake

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Introduction

The array of design work presented on the following pages is comprised of a set of images I created as part of my professional practice between 2003 and 2006. They emerged as I engaged in the process of designing covers for novels written by the contemporary Australian author Peter Carey.

Often considered merely catalytic to what will emerge as the final outcome of the design process, graphic explorations such as these are often discarded. However, when they are preserved and intentionally displayed, they constitute a visual and ontological representation of the ideas that occur during the design process and inform its progression. [1] Reflection on these various test pieces guided a form of analysis, “a designerly way of knowing,” [2] that allowed me to examine how materially-led explorations with paper could enable the translation of abstract design concepts into visual forms.

The first half of this visual narrative depicts the design process that guided the development of the cover designs for the first Australian edition of Peter Carey’s novel My Life as a Fake on behalf of Random House in 2003. The second half recounts my engagement in the design process that resulted in a more recent—2006—version of the cover design for the same novel, but this latter version was designed for Random House as an integral part of a series of nine covers for books authored by Peter Carey.

This visual narrative is an example of asserting the idea of transmediation, (transfer to a different medium), within the context of a specific graphic design project. By intentionally changing the materials with which I was designing, I employed a strategy to promote ideatic renewal (Stamm, 2013). [3] As described in a 2007 article by Aaron Seymour that was published in ‘Eye Magazine’ about my design work for the covers of Carey’s books, this intentional paradigm shift enabled me to “Do it again (Seymour, 2007).” [4]

My Life as a Fake, 2003

The plot of the novel is centered on a series of actions set in motion in the mid 20th century by a frustrated poet named Christopher Chubb, who perpetrates a literary hoax in Australia by creating poetry authored by a fictitious, working class Australian poet named Bob McCorkle. Chubb creates McCorkle and his work to demean and disrupt modernist poetic doctrine and to humiliate an editor who has rejected his work, and who Chubb regards as pompous. The poetry Chubb writes under McCorkle’s name is compiled into a manuscript that, as the plot of the book progresses, becomes symbolic of the dubiousness and false pretention that pervades many of the characters and the world they inhabit. Eventually, amidst all of the posing and fakery, a man emerges who successfully and monstrously passes himself off as Bob McCorkle, and becomes the only character in the book who emerges as genuine.

When I first received the manuscript for My Life as a Fake , it came to me on approximately 250 sheets of A4-sized, 80gsm (grams per square meter) Bond typing paper. This is a ubiquitous tool in publishing in Australia, New Zealand and much of western Europe. Being cheap, available and conceptually relevant—Chubb typed the fictitious McCorkle’s poetry on the same type of paper—I decided to experiment with white pages of Bond during my design process, and much of it involved my investigation of its physical properties and image-making potential.

Viewed as a sequence, the images signify depictions of the choices I made that guided the direction of the design for this piece and that also offer visual evidence of Schön’s theory of “refection-in-action.” [5]

Displayed more or less chronologically, the narrative begins with sketches (depicted in Figures 1 through 4) that recorded my thoughts [6] during my initial study of Carey’s manuscript. Recording the iterative progression from literal to abstract concepts, the sketches reflect my intention to achieve an experimental result. For example, Chubb is initially rendered as a person with arms, legs and a face (as shown in Figures 1 and 2), and later, in order to express characteristics that are temperamental rather than physical, Chubb is realized as a smudge (as shown in Figure 3), and also as two characters to portray his schizoid nature (as shown in Figure 4).

Sketching my thoughts about various means to visually communicate the book’s essential themes onto paper gave them visible presence, and made them physically tangible enough for me to manipulate and hybridize more easily. This aided my conceptual development process by providing evidence that could facilitate the process of critical appraisal. [7] Inspired by Carey’s reference to “sparagmos,”a concept from Greek mythology that implies dismemberment, or tearing things apart, the later sketches are attempts to encode this concept visually [8] by allowing the composition to be dominated by an apparently haphazard arrangement of pieces of Bond paper (as shown in Figures 5–7). The pages appear to be thrown up and are being dismembered in mid-air.

Additional reflection on these sketches enabled me to realize that these falling pages could be encoded on a further level and composed to simulate [9] a despairing author’s face (as shown in Figure 6). Satisfied that this concept was inherent to both the fictional themes being explored in Carey’s narrative as well as in the material—the Bond paper—being tested, the second half of the narrative illustrates a transmediation process, from sketching to material testing (as shown in Figures 8–16).

These images demonstrate how haptic experiments (in this case, literally involving material handling) facilitated the creation of an abstraction of a face that I created from pieces of backlit Bond paper. Figure 8 depicts one of my tests that involved overlapping pieces of Bond paper to render this illusion. This type of test is an example of materially-driven visual encoding. [10] One piece placed horizontally at the top of the composition signifies the forehead, two splayed pieces placed in the midst of the composition signify the cheeks, and one piece placed below these implies a chin or a neck. The areas of overlap contribute two eyes, a nose and a mouth. The fact that none of the pieces is arranged in “perfect” vertical or horizontal alignment helps to visually communicate that the persona being rendered is anything but a well-adjusted citizen of a modernist society.

Subsequent experiments proved the paper’s ability to hold a curl and cast a shadow when lit by a single source of light (as shown in Figures 10-12). These images demonstrate how particular placements of these curls within the abstract rendition of a facial structure could be used to encode various expressions.

Given its recognizable structure and long history of being abstracted in a variety of materials and across a diverse array of mediums, I surmised the face in these designs would be decoded quite easily by the intended audience [11] for this piece. I also surmised that this audience would be less apt to decode the reference to a literary manuscript typed on Bond paper, although I didn’t consider this necessary to the success of the design. As this design is unpublished as of this writing, these predictions remain untested.

Typographic tests (as shown in Figures 11 and 12) provided an alternate design direction to my idea of arranging pieces of Bond paper to create the perception of faces. Starting with graphic representations of a spare, empty page, (as shown in Figures 14 and 15), I trialed overlaid placements of pieces of paper containing portions of letterforms and noticed that since they were the same color as the background, this gave the effect of corroding the page edges and fracturing the surface of the design (as shown in Figure 16). Decoding these material behaviors as I designed, I made an intellectual connection between the appearance of this fragmentation, the creative challenge of writing, and “sparagmos.” Considering the sophistication of Carey’s prose, this less figurative, more abstract option depicted in Figure 16 was the one proposed to the publisher.

  • Cross, N. (2007). Designerly ways of knowing. Basel : London: Birkhäuser ; Springer distributor.
  • Downton, P. (2003). Design research. Melbourne: RMIT Publishing.
  • Goldschmidt, G. (2003). “The Backtalk of Self-Generated Sketches.” Design Issues, 19(1), 72-88. doi:10.1162/074793603762667728
  • Gursoy, B. (2015). Visualizing making: Shapes, materials, and actions. (Report). 41, 29. doi:10.1016/j.destud.2015.08.007
  • Schön, D. A. (1983). The reflective practitioner : how professionals think in action. Aldershot: Avebury.
  • Sennett, R. (2008). The craftsman . New Haven & London: Yale Universtiy Press.
  • Seymour, A. (2007). “Do it Again.” Eye Magazine, 17(65).
  • Stamm, M. (2013). Reflecting reflection(s) – Epistemologies of Creativity in Creative Practice Research. In J. V. a. B. Pak (Ed.): LUCA, Sint-Lucas School of Architecture (Ghent, Belgium).
  • Tyler, A. C. (1992). “Shaping belief: The role of audience in visual communication” (Vol. Design Issues 9, pp. 21-29).
  • Viray, E. (2011). Why Material Design? (Vol. Material Design, Informing Architecture by Materiality, pp. 8-10). Switzerland: Birkhåuser GmbH.
  • Walwin, J., & Krokatsis, H. (2006). You’ll never know : drawing and random interference. London: Hayward Gallery.

Jenny Grigg is an Australian graphic designer, a lecturer in visual communication at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, and a Ph.D. candidate at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University. Since graduating from the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia, Jenny has held several professional graphic design positions. These include stints as Art Director at Rolling Stone Magazine Australia, Art Director at HQ Magazine and MTV Australia. After a year in London designing for Pentagram and Faber & Faber, she became the Creative Director for Harper Collins Publishing in Sydney. Jenny continues to operate her design practice and is an Industry Fellow at RMIT University.

Designing graphic materials to support and promote the work of authors such as Peter Carey—Australia’s best-known contemporary novelist—and on behalf of clients such as Granta Portobello Books in London, her creative inception begins with a deeply probative analysis of a given author’s written words. As a Ph.D. candidate, she has begun to make use of the variety of epistemological understandings she has been able to cultivate by doing this.

She is currently conducting collective case study research about various forms of graphic design ideation (the formulation of ideas). Specifically, she is researching how professionals use materialistic approaches to guide regenerative, creative processes in graphic design practice.

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Visual Arts Extended Essay Topics: Exploring the World of Art

Visual Arts Extended Essay Topics

Luke MacQuoid

Visual Arts is a fascinating and diverse field that encompasses various forms of art, including painting, sculpture, architecture, and photography, among others. Writing an extended essay on Visual Arts offers an opportunity to delve deeper into the creative world of art, its history, and its impact on society. Therefore, selecting the right Visual Arts extended essay topic is essential for a successful paper. 

Yes, a well-chosen topic is key to crafting a successful Visual Arts extended essay. To ensure that you create an engaging and informative essay, consider selecting a topic that resonates with you personally. 

Your passion for the topic will show in your writing and make the research process more enjoyable. However, ensuring that the topic and research question is feasible, and not too general , and can be thoroughly researched within the word count limit is essential. 

To do this, narrow your focus to a specific question or issue that can be analyzed in depth. By selecting a specific and focused topic, you’ll be able to craft a clear and well-supported argument in your essay. And this is one of the most important parts of the IB EE rubric .

List of Visual Arts IB Extended essay topics

Below are some intriguing Visual Arts extended essay topics that can help you kickstart your research:

The Significance of Color in Contemporary Art: An Analysis of the Work of Henri Matisse and Mark Rothko.

With this topic, the student can begin by researching the use of color in art, its significance, and its impact on the viewer. The student can then choose specific works of Henri Matisse and Mark Rothko that use color in interesting ways and analyze the color schemes, techniques, and meanings behind them. 

The essay can also explore the similarities and differences between the two artists’ approaches to color and the influence of their work on contemporary art.

Examining the Importance of Context in the Interpretation of Contemporary Art: A Case Study of Banksy’s Graffiti.

To approach this topic, the student can begin by researching the concept of context in art and its role in shaping meaning. The student can then analyze Banksy’s graffiti, specifically focusing on one or more pieces that are known to have created controversy or sparked public discourse. 

Such an extended essay can explore how the context in which the graffiti was created, the location, and the message conveyed by the artwork affect its interpretation and reception.

How Have Women Artists Contributed to the Development of Art Movements in the 20th Century?

With this topic, the student can begin by researching the history of women artists and their struggles for recognition in the male-dominated art world. 

The IB student can then choose one or more women artists who played a significant role in the development of a particular art movement, such as Frida Kahlo in Surrealism or Mary Cassatt in Impressionism. 

The essay can analyze the artist’s work, their impact on the art movement, and the challenges they faced as a woman in the art world.

A Comparative Analysis of the Relationship between Art and Society in Renaissance Europe and Modern America.

To approach this topic, the student can begin by researching the historical and cultural contexts of Renaissance Europe and modern America and how art reflects and responds to the social and political changes of the time . 

Moreover, the student can then choose specific works from both periods that illustrate the relationship between art and society, such as Michelangelo’s David and Shepard Fairey’s Hope poster. 

This IB EE can compare and contrast the works’ meanings, techniques, and the social and cultural contexts that shaped them.

An Exploration of the Intersection of Technology and Art: The Emergence of Digital Art in the 21st Century.

Working on this topic, the student can begin by researching the history of digital art, its emergence as a new art form, and the impact of technology on artistic expression. 

Following this topic, the student can then analyze specific examples of digital art, such as Cory Arcangel’s Photoshop gradient demonstrations or Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s interactive installations, and explore the ways in which technology has influenced the creation, reception, and interpretation of these works.

The Role of Art in Documenting Historical Events: An Analysis of Goya’s The Third of May 1808 and Picasso’s Guernica.

To approach this topic, the student can begin by researching the role of art in documenting historical events and the ways in which artists use their work to respond to social and political issues. 

The student can then analyze specific works of Goya and Picasso that depict significant historical events, such as The Third of May 1808 and Guernica. 

The essay can explore the ways in which these works convey meaning, the social and political contexts in which they were created, and the ways in which they have influenced art and society.

The Significance of Architecture in Shaping Urban Environments: A Case Study of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.

With this topic, the student can begin by researching the significance of architecture in shaping urban environments and the ways in which buildings can impact their surroundings. The student can then analyze the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao as a case study, exploring its design, construction, and impact on the city of Bilbao. 

IB EE can also explore the ways in which the museum’s architecture reflects its function as an art museum and its relationship to the artworks displayed within it.

The Impact of the Avant-Garde Movement on Contemporary Art Practices.

To approach this topic, the student can begin by researching the history of the Avant-Garde movement and its influence on contemporary art practices. The student can then analyze specific works of contemporary artists who the Avant-Garde movement, such as Yayoi Kusama or Marina Abramovic have influenced. 

This extended essay can explore the ways in which these artists have incorporated Avant-Garde concepts and techniques into their work and the impact of this influence on contemporary art practices.

The Influence of African Art on European Modernism: An Analysis of the Work of Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse.

To approach this topic, the student can begin by researching the influence of African art on European modernism and the ways in which European artists incorporated African aesthetics into their work. An IB student can then analyze specific works of Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse that show the influence of African art, such as Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon and Matisse’s Blue Nude. 

The essay can explore the ways in which African art influenced these artists’ techniques and aesthetics and the impact of this influence on modern art.

An Exploration of the Concept of Beauty in Contemporary Art: An Analysis of the Work of Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami.

The student can begin by researching the concept of beauty in art and its evolving meaning in contemporary art. One can then analyze specific works of Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami that explore the concept of beauty, such as Koons’ Balloon Dog and Murakami’s Superflat. 

The essay can explore the ways in which these artists challenge traditional notions of beauty and the impact of this challenge on contemporary art.

Each of the Visual Arts extended essay topics listed above requires thorough research and analysis of specific artworks, artists, or movements. To successfully approach each Visual Arts idea, an IB student should begin by conducting preliminary research on the topic and then choosing specific artworks or artists to analyze. 

The student should then carefully analyze the works, explore their meanings and impact, and relate them to the larger context of art and society. With dedication and focus, an IB student can produce a compelling and informative Visual Arts extended essay.

Ready to select an appropriate topic for your VA extended essay?

When selecting a Visual Arts extended essay topic, it is important to choose a topic that you are passionate about and interested in exploring further. A topic that resonates with you will make it easier to research and write about, and your passion will be evident in your writing, making it more engaging for your readers.

visual essay architecture

Need help with your IB EE?

You can also use our extended essay writers team’s services if you need assistance selecting a topic . Furthermore, we can also help you write your extended essay from scratch or edit your draft following the IB criteria.

Additionally, it is crucial to ensure that your topic is feasible and has enough information available for research. The best way to ensure this is to conduct preliminary research on your EE topic before finalizing it. 

This will help you determine whether there is enough information available and whether the research will be manageable within the given word count .

All our team at ExtendedEssayWriters wishes you to construct a research question of your dream and complete a good IB extended essay following the structure and general IB criteria. With good topic you can be almost 100% sure that you will not fail your IB extended essay .

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Luke MacQuoid has extensive experience teaching English as a foreign language in Japan, having worked with students of all ages for over 12 years. Currently, he is teaching at the tertiary level. Luke holds a BA from the University of Sussex and an MA in TESOL from Lancaster University, both located in England. As well to his work as an IB Examiner and Master Tutor, Luke also enjoys sharing his experiences and insights with others through writing articles for various websites, including extendedessaywriters.com blog

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Graphic with the words AI + Design 2024 AI + Design Symposium "Learning from AI"

AI + Design Symposium: Learning from AI

The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts is hosting the second annual AI + Design symposium, “Learning from AI.” This event provides a unique opportunity for both students and faculty to delve into the intersections of artificial intelligence and design. Panel discussions will address the creative design process and machine-augmented vision, focusing on understanding how perspective gained from AI can impact and influence creative practices.

The symposium raises a crucial question: What perspectives has AI offered on design itself? Drawing a parallel to Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown’s exploration of the changing role of architecture in Las Vegas amid a transforming built environment, we can now turn to new AI systems for insights into ongoing transformations. The symposium invites architects, artists, and designers working with AI to share their experiences and speculate on how they envision artificial intelligence shaping the future of design.

Presented by the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts sessions will take place in Weil Hall and are open to the WashU community.

Carmon Colangelo Ralph J. Nagel Dean of the Sam Fox School E. Desmond Lee Professor for Collaboration in the Arts

Matthew Allen Visiting Assistant Professor

This panel focuses on the creative design process. It probes moments in design workflows where AI is disrupting established methods, calling for concepts of creativity to be updated. How is the nature of creativity being redefined due to designers’ work with AI-generated projects?

Ewan Branda architect, University of Montreal and McGill University

Karel Klein architect, SCI-Arc / Los Angeles and WashU

Amelia Winger-Bearskin artist, University of Florida

Moderator: TBD

Has the idea of “computer vision” limited our understanding of how AI operates? While computers certainly “see” the world differently than human eyes, they also open up more complex pathways of analysis. From urban form to social structures, AI systems construct multi-dimensional models that challenge humanistic analogies. This panel address the potentials and pitfalls at the forefront of visual and spatial analysis.

Carla Diana designer, Cranbrook Academy of Art

Catherine Griffiths artist and researcher, University of Michigan

Andrew Witt architect and researcher, Harvard University

Moderator: Jonathan Hanahan

visual essay architecture

Matthew Allen

visual essay architecture

Ian Bogost is a philosopher, computationalist, and award-winning game designer.

His 10 books include Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames , Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System (with Nick Montfort), Alien Phenomenology, or What it’s Like to Be a Thing , and Play Anything: The Pleasure of Limits, the Uses of Boredom, and the Secret of Games .

Bogost is also a contributing editor at The Atlantic , where he writes and edits on science, technology, design, and culture. He is co-editor of the Platform Studies book series, about how the technical design of computing systems influences creativity, and the Object Lessons book and essay series, about the secret lives of ordinary things.

Bogost’s games about social and political issues cover topics as varied as airport security, consumer debt, disaffected workers, the petroleum industry, suburban errands, pandemic flu, and tort reform. His games have been played by millions of people and exhibited or held in collections internationally, at venues including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Telfair Museum of Art, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, the Laboral Centro de Arte, and The Australian Centre for the Moving Image.

His independent games include Cow Clicker, a Facebook game send-up that was the subject of a Wired magazine feature, and A Slow Year, a collection of videogame poems for Atari VCS, Windows, and Mac, which was a finalist at the Independent Games Festival and won the Vanguard and Virtuoso awards at the IndieCade Festival.

visual essay architecture

Ewan Branda

visual essay architecture

Carla Diana

visual essay architecture

Catherine Griffiths

visual essay architecture

Jonathan Hanahan

Jonathan Hanahan is a researcher, critical designer, and educator who loves technology and is equally terrified by it.

He uses technology to critique technology. His speculative practice explores the physical, cultural, and social ramifications of digital experiences and the role technology plays in shaping our everyday realities. He makes thick interfaces — tools, devices, software, artifacts, websites, and videos that agitate the digital facade and reveal the complexity underneath our devices’ thin veneer.

Currently, Hanahan’s research prioritizes alternative and ambient interfaces with technology. In 2022, he founded the Sensory and Ambient Interfaces Lab (SAIL). SAIL investigates a future with fewer screens and how non-visual interfaces and interactions lead to a more digitally enhanced yet less digitally imposed future. The lab works in compromised environments where a screen is either unavailable, dangerous or distracting and investigates how information might be relayed through ambient design strategies that compliment human experiences.

Hanahan earned his bachelor of architecture from Virginia Tech and master of fine arts from the Rhode Island School of Design. Hanahan is an associate professor at the Sam Fox School, where he teaches interaction design and creative technologies. He is also the co-founder and co-director of Fox Fridays, an interdisciplinary workshop series encouraging experimentation with tools, processes, and technology.

visual essay architecture

Karel Klein

visual essay architecture

Amelia Winger-Bearskin

visual essay architecture

Andrew Witt

IMAGES

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COMMENTS

  1. Architecture Essays 101: How to be an effective writer

    Architecture essays, thus, serves as a bridge between the visual and the textual, allowing for a comprehensive exploration of architectural ideas and their implications. The ability to articulate thoughts, analyses, and observations on design and theory is as crucial as creating the designs themselves. An architectural essay is not just about ...

  2. How to Write a Killer Architecture Essay

    This must be written in the form of a paragraph, and should not be longer than five sentences. It must be crisp, yet interesting enough to appeal to the readers. Usually, the introductory paragraph is the one part that gives an opportunity for the writer of the essay to create an impact on the reader.

  3. Writing About Architecture: 10 tips to becoming a better writer

    Providing visual aid such as diagrams, blueprints, floor plans and photographs to complement the written work can also be quite helpful in conveying the ideas in an architecture. ... Writing an architecture essay requires a combination of research, critical thinking, and clear writing skills. Here are a few steps you can follow to write an ...

  4. FLOODPLAINS: A VISUAL ESSAY

    FLOODPLAINS: A VISUAL ESSAY. Feature. 09.22.22. PHOTOGRAPHS BY TOM DALY. ... Assistant Dean of Academic Support and Lecturer in Architecture and the student exhibitions team for making this exhibition possible. The student team members are Vasudha Chakravarty, Michael Gerson, Reagan McCullough, Ziang Zhang, Gwendolyn Hellen-Sands, and Maya Neal

  5. Rethinking doors (a visual essay of architectural possibility)

    Rethinking doors (a visual essay of architectural possibility) ... That's because door size and treatment in architecture are excellent ways to shift scale with little effort. By contrast, residential construction has historically employed essentially one size door: 3 feet wide and 7 feet tall, drawn from the rough proportions of its ...

  6. VISUAL ESSAY

    VISUAL ESSAY. from NEUROARCHITECTURE. ... Architecture in the English dictionary is defined as 'the art and practice of designing and making buildings' (McIntosh n.d.), whereas in the American ...

  7. How to Write a Visual Analysis Essay: Step-by-Step Guide

    Pay attention to the visual elements such as color, line, texture, and shape. Note your initial impressions and any areas of interest. Analyze: In the next paragraph, focus on analyzing the visual elements and principles of the artwork. Discuss the use of color, line, shape, and other design elements.

  8. PDF VISUAL ESSAY GUIDELINES

    WHAT IS A VISUAL ESSAY? A visual essay can be an entirely visual piece or it can combine image and writing. The length of these essays varies (usually between 6 and 12 pages). A visual essay can focus on any social or political aspect of visual communication, it can be a response to the visual work of others, a commentary on visual processes ...

  9. The visual essay and the place of artistic research in the ...

    The visual essay is an invitation to other researchers in the arts to create their own kind of visual essays in order to address their own work of art or that of others: they can consider their ...

  10. Tips for Writing An Incredible Architectural Essay

    Creating physical notes for yourself is far different to seeing the same words on a screen. Lastly, an architecture essay has got to have some visuals because after all, we are visual thinkers and designers. The most important tip is that the images should be absolutely relevant to the essay and add to it.

  11. Architectural Visual Analysis

    Author Michael C. Abrams, Architectural Visual Analysis, Architecture. Architectural Visual Analysis. Posted on: June 15, 2021. Written by Michael C. Abrams, Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Maryland-College Park and author of The Art of City Sketching: A Field Manual now in its second edition.. Architects study a site or a building through observation, reflection, and ...

  12. Visual Research Methods in Architecture on JSTOR

    Visual agency:: Participatory painting as a method for spatial negotiation Download; XML 'just painting':: Performative painting as visual discourse Download; XML; Visual heuristics for colour design Download; XML; Digitally stitching stereoscopic vision Download; XML; Audio-visual instruments and multi-dimensional architecture Download; XML

  13. The visual essay

    A visual essay is a sequence of photographs or other images which are either: original, taken and/or created by yourself, or. found, and significantly processed (e.g. using Photoshop, Illustrator) Taken together, the images provide a critical commentary of some kind on a defined topic, working as a kind of argument, explanation, discussion.

  14. Expanding the boundaries of architectural representation

    They present a diverse set of intentions, methods and visual and verbal evidence by architects and artists testing and redefining the boundaries of architectural representation and architecture itself. Ranging in focus from illustrations in newspapers, to dioramas, axonometric drawings, bubble diagrams, photographs and critical writings that ...

  15. Visual Essays

    Form of the Visual Essay. There are various ways to structure the visual essay. For this assignment, and depending on your technical skills, you can create: (i) a video (ii) a voice-over PowerPoint narration (you must be the narrator) The visual essay should be 3-5 minutes and should be uploaded using YouTube or Vimeo.

  16. How to Write a Visual Analysis Essay: Examples & Template

    The primary objective of visual analysis is to understand an artwork better by examining the visual elements. There are two types of visual analysis: formal and contextual. A formal analysis focuses on artwork elements such as texture, color, size, and line. It aims to organize visual information and translate it into words.

  17. How to write a Visual Arts Extended Essay [2022 Ultimate Guideline]

    Edit and proofread your essay. 11. Visual Arts Extended Essay topics. 12. Visual Arts Extended Essay. The visual arts extended essay includes architecture, design, and contemporary visual culture. It's important to note that film is not included in this essay, so ensure that you remember this when selecting your topic.

  18. How to Write a Visual Analysis Essay: Format, Outline, and Example

    Therefore, when writing a visual analysis essay, students must familiarize themselves with these elements by answering specific questions. In turn, these aspects include understanding design elements - color, shape, size, form, and line - that exemplify an image or visual display the most. 3. Focal Point.

  19. How to Make a Visual Essay

    Step-by-Step Instructions. Step One: You need to brainstorm, plan, and research for your essay. Follow my steps below to plan your essay. I also give you links on where to find images to put in your essay and quotes to use. Step Two: Gather your images and video.

  20. CRAFT: Let's Get Graphic: A Look at the Visual Essay by Nicole Breit

    2. The Concrete Essay. This form is the next evolution of concrete poetry (A.K.A. shape or pattern poems), reincarnated as CNF. Jennifer Wortman's " Worst-Case Scenario " presents the story of her husband's 35-feet fall into a gap while rock climbing, visually - via text shaped like the rocks he fell through. 3.

  21. Visual Essay: My Life as a Fake

    My Life as a Fake, 2003. The plot of the novel is centered on a series of actions set in motion in the mid 20th century by a frustrated poet named Christopher Chubb, who perpetrates a literary hoax in Australia by creating poetry authored by a fictitious, working class Australian poet named Bob McCorkle. Chubb creates McCorkle and his work to ...

  22. IB Visual Arts Extended Essay Topics: Exploring the Ideas

    Visual Arts is a fascinating and diverse field that encompasses various forms of art, including painting, sculpture, architecture, and photography, among others. Writing an extended essay on Visual Arts offers an opportunity to delve deeper into the creative world of art, its history, and its impact on society.

  23. Visual Essay Projects

    Behance is the world's largest creative network for showcasing and discovering creative work

  24. AI + Design Symposium: Learning from AI

    Matthew Allen researches the history and theory of architecture, computation, and aesthetics. Allen is the author of the forthcoming book, Architecture becomes Programming: Modernism and the Computer, 1960-1990, as well as essays in venues such as Log, e-flux, Domus, and the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians.Allen holds a PhD and a Master of Architecture degree from Harvard ...