Journal Description
Visual Communication provides an international forum for the growing body of work in numerous interrelated disciplines.
The journal’s definition of the visual is broad and includes:
- still and moving images
- graphic design and typography
- visual phenomena such as fashion, professional vision, posture and interaction
- the built and landscaped environment
- the role of the visual in relation to language, music, sound and action
Visual Communication is interdisciplinary bringing together articles from a range of subjects, including:
- anthropology
- communication studies
- human and cultural geography
- multimodal studies and semiotics
- media and cultural studies
- sociology
- disciplines dealing with history, theory and practice of visual design.
Members of the Visual Communication Studies division of the ICA can subscribe to the journal with a 50% discount. Interested members should email SAGE Customer Services at subscriptions@sagepub.co.uk
The worthiness and necessity of these [essays] sharply remind us how rare it is for a mainstream academic journal to do its duty for the future by reaching beyond the complacencies and hysteria of the present.” Times Higher Education Supplement
“Visual Communication offers a high-quality forum of publication for articles on the crucial visual dimension of language and communication. I am sure that for scholars and students in many disciplines of the humanities and social sciences, this new journal will be an indispensable resource for learning, teaching and research.” Teun van Dijk
Electronic Access:
Visual Communication is available to browse online.
Journal Feed
- by Nina GebraadVisual Communication, Ahead of Print. Conceptual Metaphor Theory claims that metaphors are a key instrument for making abstract and complex phenomena comprehensible. Cancer, one of the deadliest diseases in the world, is one such complex phenomenon. Hitherto, metaphors pertaining to the nature and treatment of cancer, and to coping with it, have been analysed almost exclusively in verbal communication. Cancer metaphors, however, are also often audio-visualized in animations. In this article, the authors analyse the metaphors in 30 short medical animation films. Their purpose is twofold: (1) to assess whether these animations feature the same metaphors as those prevailing in […]
- by Max HattlerVisual Communication, Ahead of Print. In recent years, a growing trend of abstract and experimental animation has emerged in Hong Kong, with an increasing number of works produced over the last two decades, particularly since around 2015. This article examines how Hong Kong artists approach abstract animation, the predominant aesthetic trends, and how these trends relate to or diverge from Western traditions in visual music, following pioneers such as Hans Richter, Viking Eggeling, Oskar Fischinger, Harry Smith and Norman McLaren. Employing content analysis, as used by Emmanouil Kanellos (2018) and textual analysis, this study investigates 95 selected works from the […]
- by D.A. Restrepo-QuevedoVisual Communication, Ahead of Print. This article presents the concept of intersemiotic emergence as a didactic strategy for design learning, discussed from the perspective of social semiotics and communication studies. With this strategy, students orchestrate autotelic relationships using modes and personalized semiotic resources. The primary value of intersemiotic emergence lies in its efficiency in making sense of the lecturer’s concepts during the design process. The selected sample of design materials was created in the context of two degree programmes – industrial design and graphic design – at two prominent Colombian universities. The methodological design uses an interpretive hermeneutical approach to […]
- by Federico LucchesiVisual Communication, Ahead of Print. This study explores visual-related conflicts, that is, interpersonal conflicts arising from the problematic use of visual communication and visual practices in close relationships. A total of 90 semi-structured pair and individual in-depth interviews with romantic partners and friends were conducted by applying a repertoire-oriented approach. The article explores how the polysemic nature of visuals and different visual practices (e.g. sharing, archiving and deleting visuals), especially related to mundane everyday visual content, contribute to conflictual situations among partners and friends. Specifically, the results highlight that visual-related conflicts occur around miscommunication through interpersonal communication, non-negotiation around visual […]
- by Richard NashVisual Communication, Ahead of Print. This practitioner piece outlines a novel method for practice-based research centred on the production of artists’ books. There is growing evidence for the benefits of artists publishing as an alternative route to disseminating academic research (see Bodman, ‘Towards a community of artists’ books’, 2019; Taylor, ‘The artist’s book as collaborative art practice’, 2017; Vieth, ‘The artist’s book challenges academic convention’, 2006). However, there is only limited research to help understand how the unique qualities of the artist’s book as a medium – and the processes and methods used in its creation – can be positioned […]
- by Luke C CollinsVisual Communication, Ahead of Print. Visual representations in news media contribute to the social construction of health concerns such as obesity. Media representations of obesity, however, have been shown to be stigmatizing, focusing on disembodied abdomens or depicting people in ill-fitting clothing, for example. In addition, analyses of image representations have typically focused on small datasets and relied upon inductive thematic coding. This article presents the application of Google Cloud Vision – an automated image annotation tool – to a collection of images collected from articles on obesity in the UK press. In addition, the World Obesity Federation (WOF) has […]
- by Hong ZengVisual Communication, Ahead of Print. In recent decades, women have increasingly left their countries of origin, leading to an increase in transnational migration. Her Trajectory (2020), a project created by the author, represents women migrants’ paths, affects and experiences through counter-mapping and data visualization. Presented in web form (see https://hertrajectory.com/), this arts-based research project shows the migratory trajectories of 18 women participants by placing them and their personal objects onto a map, alongside their own object narratives. This article reflects on how the aesthetics and deployment of the textual, visual and kinetic designs re-humanizes migrants through their own narratives. The […]
- by Yuan PingVisual Communication, Ahead of Print.
- by Francesca MarinoVisual Communication, Ahead of Print.
- by Lin WeiVisual Communication, Ahead of Print. This visual essay investigates two photographic techniques to challenge pre-existing notions of the human body that are derived from people’s locally consistent set of beliefs about bodily proportions, shapes and functions. These techniques centre around the mirror as the medium to investigate peculiar visual representations that take aim at normative concepts of what constitutes the human. The essay includes selective images of defamiliarized bodies that the author has photographed within a studio environment and that are applied within the Freudian context of the Uncanny to convey how humans seek familiarity, which is inherited through lived […]
- by Stefano PresuttiVisual Communication, Ahead of Print. Typography has always played a key role in the creation of visual identity for socio-political or commercial purposes. Today there is a growing awareness that typographic features convey social meanings in brand logos of a specific territory and community. This study examines how the idea of authenticity related to the history of the city of Rome can be visually transmitted by the presence of traditional types in its city brand. Adopting an historical, metapragmatic and empirical approach, the findings of an interview with the typographic designer of the city brand suggest that traditional typefaces can […]
- by Changling ZhaoVisual Communication, Ahead of Print.
- by Dynaya BhutipunthuVisual Communication, Ahead of Print. Today, as arts organizations, including philharmonic orchestras, look for new ways to engage their patrons and attract new audiences, the use of new media can enhance experiences at arts venues and events such as concerts, and can lead to greater appreciation of art forms that are sometimes considered outmoded and staid. This study focuses on the search for an appropriate approach, design process and implementation of new media design for symphonic orchestra performance. The case study examines the integration of new media for the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra’s live performance of The Rite of Spring, an […]
- by Orest SemotiukVisual Communication, Ahead of Print. This article integrates national and international levels of political humorous discourse and proposes a multimodal analysis of the discursive dimension of the Russian–Ukrainian war and its implementation in political humour. The author analyses the distribution of supportive/subversive humour in world, Ukrainian and Russian political cartoons targeting Ukrainian President Zelensky and Russian President Putin and representing the conflict parties, with special attention to the presentation/setting. The distribution of supportive vs subversive political humour is based on an analysis of the target, focus and setting of political cartoons depicting Putin and Zelensky, and on the interaction of […]
- by Monika MessnerVisual Communication, Ahead of Print. Materiality, mediality, locality and temporality are constitutive characteristics of texts. Various texts in mediatized everyday reality show temporal aspects that influence their perception and their functions in different ways. The present article considers diverse expressions of temporality in destination ads, a genre that is hitherto underexplored. A special focus is put on multimodal practices that express temporal aspects, for instance the timeline of pre-, on- and post-trip time, vacation time as desired time, the situationality of ads, etc. The author uses multimodal discourse analysis to examine the interplay of semiotic resources in destination ads and […]
- by Jessa RogersVisual Communication, Volume 23, Issue 2, Page 209-222, May 2024. This essay visually describes an Indigenous research project exploring digital inclusion with Aboriginal families on Mornington Island, a remote Aboriginal community in Queensland, Australia. Yarning, an Indigenous storytelling and conversational research method, was combined with photography (some participant photography, but primarily researcher photography) in a new method termed ‘show and yarn’. This method allowed community members space to show us their devices, have images taken of these devices and then use these images as a prompt for yarns about their experiences using the internet, mobile phones and technology.The author is […]
- by Kunming LiVisual Communication, Ahead of Print.
- by Jade SmithVisual Communication, Ahead of Print. As children age and learn to read words, so the pictures in storybooks decrease in frequency and readers rely less on their meaning. However, South African children are more likely to rely on pictures as a result of low verbal literacy levels, but how much meaning is construed by the pictures? In a multimodal investigation of local picture books, the authors used Painter et al.’s (Reading Visual Narratives, 2013) visual analysis framework to code interpersonal meaning in the images of picture books produced for the Nal’ibali national reading initiative. During this research, the body language […]
- by Zilong ZhongVisual Communication, Ahead of Print.
- by Rohib Adrianto SangiaVisual Communication, Ahead of Print.