Academic Research

Piper Wolfe is a student in the Whitehurst Family Honors Program at Barton College, which entails conducting research projects within Mass and Visual Communications.

Below are her completed projects.

A History of Communications:

The Influence of Visuals

FALL

Click on the .pdf file below to download and view!

Research Paper

Annotated Bibliography

Literature Review

20

Abstract

Visual communication was examined via a historical analysis in the context of researching historical events. The history of imagery in communication was analyzed in order to identify trends and phenomena that grew into modern visual communication. Historical uses of imagery proved to be more effective than text alone, and therefore fueled a shift toward visuals in mass communication. As new specialities within communication increased, the possibilities for their combination increased as well. Many practices began to intercombine and complexify the field. Due to its accessibility, visual communication continues to climb in relevance in many forms, especially social media. Visual communication has grown exponentially as a field and as a practice due to its historical events and trends, intercombinance of specialties, and its general accessibility to the public.

Findings

Many specialties in communications have become intertwined with each other. For example, while Bernays worked for Lucky Strike he was hired to improve the relationship between the public and the company. However, by doing so and feminizing the color green, he also incorporated marketing strategies. This meant that Bernays was practicing both marketing and public relations. His strategies also largely revolved around visual components, such as the Green Ball. Therefore, the visual component of his work is what brought together and blurred the lines between the previously distinctly separate practices.

Over the course of communications in history, visuals and imagery have become more and more relevant and necessary. From the aesthetic posters by PT Barnum to the visual propaganda involved in both World War I and World War II, the implementation of pictorial information has continued to become increasingly effective. Now, with the rise of social media, visuals have become a social currency. Visually pleasing graphics catered to each viewer cover most social media platforms, simply because text and written data is no longer the most effective method at communicating.

This rise in visual communications is due in part to the diminishing value of the written word. In about 130,000 B.C.E the first cave paintings were recorded. These were early methods of communication between humans, using visuals on cave walls. These existed before literacy and written communication. With literacy came communication via letter writings and the printing press, but photography began in the early 1800s. Photography evolved into television, the internet and social media. The era of the written word was somewhat short lived, as visuals returned and humans began communicating with imagery again.

Visual communication is the most accessible method of communication. The use of imagery or graphics represents the unification of a people that could not communicate via written words. Visuals transcend language boundaries, as it is understandable regardless of the language a person speaks.

Due to the inclusion of visuals in new fields of communication, the rise of the relevance of visuals, the return to visuals phenomenon, and the blatant accessibility of imagery, visual communications will only continue to become more and more predominant.

Want to cite my work?

Wolfe, Piper. A History of Communications: The Influence of Visuals. 30 November 2020, Barton College, North Carolina. Unpublished paper.

MLA 8th Edition