V i SUAL COMMUN i CATION

What does it mean to communicate visually? Visual comm./graphic comm. seems to be a trendy field these days. Clemson's graphic comm. major has a 100% job placement rating. The students paint, print and practice layout among other things. They create. In some ways the major seems similar to fine arts.

Thought that visual comm. this semester would be similar to the digital side of graphic comm. Not so much. We're working in the virtual world Second Life and creating projects such as websites, games and films.

I expect that when we study(?) Second Life, we will find that questions of visual appeal influence every aspect of the program. In this way, I do not believe that Second Life is different from the "real" (outside of the program) world; questions of visual appeal influence every aspect of existence. However, with Second Life, the visual is (virtually) all we have access to. The visual is the conditioned sense (of the main six...excluding, say, common sense, memory, sense of style). In the arguably more-interactive non-Second Life world, the other five senses are able to compete with the visual. The visual becomes seamless. I would suppose that those who pay attention to the visual in every situation would have an advantage.

For example, it would seem that visual communication includes the furnishings we choose and the way we arrange them. The visual space we choose to create for ourselves and our guests. Take a walk through an office building. Notice the different ways people have chosen to arrange their furniture and belongings. Unless these workers' guests will touch/interact with the objects, the design of space is mostly visual design.

V i SUAL COMMUN i CATION isn't new. It isn't a secret formula that originated in the 60s or a market that McDonald's, Coke, and Apple have cornered. Rather, visual communication and questions of the aesthetics of appearance, have become more easily apparent in our scopophilic world.