Thinking about visual literacy

This semester, I am on leave to work on a book for the Visual Literacy course that I teach at James Madison University. So far, I have outlined the book and have written most of the first chapter. At this point, I am dissatisfied with all of the WORDS and have decided to switch gears. I realize verbal explanations are important, but I am going to practice what I will be teaching and attempt to integrate meaningful PICTURES! 

While it is tempting (and easier) to use clipart, I am developing my own symbols, icons, and images to explain some of the concepts I will be trying to teach. This is a time consuming project, which definitely will take me longer than one semester to finish!

I would like to use some color illustrations, but that will need to come later. In the meantime, I will be kicking in to high gear to get a rough draft of the book ready for the spring.

Middle Matter Website

picture book!

Rough Draft to Picture Book

http://www.bookemon.com/book_read_flip.php?book_id=191634&checke=22b4505ef2861ccca6fc4828cedf4003&inviter_id=193091&email=BROWN2RA%40JMU.EDU

More work still to come.

Thanks for any feedback on my start!

Middle Matters Websites

http://www.wix.com/atlas1922/middle-matters-hcps#!about

This is still a work in progress.

Middle Matters Website Draft

http://middlematter.weebly.com

This is not complete at all. I need to add text

McMullin - Picture Book

Here is a link to the draft of my picture book. 

Use the book link below to read the book. http://www.bookemon.com/book_read_flip.php?book_id=190747&checke=c8962282c8c541cd09b0ff9459b4950e&inviter_id=192196&email=mmcmullin21%40hotmail.com

Middle Matters Website: In Progress!

Here is the link to the website I am creating. It is no where near done, but I have gotten a good start on it, and will continue to fill it out. Feedback is welcomed!

www.wix.com/taylorjl2012/middle-matters

Kendra's Draft of Website Link

http://www.wix.com/scottkw/middlematters#!home|mainPage

That is my link the website...in progress! There is a page where there are pictures of breads - disregard, I'm going to replace those with photos and benefits of being a teacher! On the page with "about the program" there is a button that says "learn more" -- I still have to create that page! I also added pages for testimonials and a resource section, which have little information currently. Please any feedback or comments is very appreciated! Right now my audience is to focus on the benefits of the program and the benefits of becoming a teacher! (I'm also using an older theme that I used for my brochure and/poster...).

Thanks!!!

M2 website-- Dingo

Here is a link to a draft of my website. As I am hosting on the JMU server with my portfolio, I have 2 crossed links I have to work out. The blank spaces will have photos that I will shoot on Friday.

http://student.coe.jmu.edu/educ570k/dingomt/about.html

4/17/12
Disregard the above link. I have had to publish this on another server as to avoid some crossed links and CSS issues. Muse will auto name certain pages and until I learn to work around that I will have to host it on another server. here is the new link:

http://middlematters.businesscatalyst.com/index.html

Eric - M2 info website

Here's a preview of the website I am working on. If you wish to comment, you can leave remarks on each page at the bottom on the site itself.

www.jmumiddlematters.wordpress.com

picture book

Making the newspaper easier to navigate through visual literacy

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2010094593_apuswashingtonpostredesign.html

This article talks about how the Washington Post was redesigning their paper for easier navigation, because they know that  "their readers are busy." They mention making the typeface bigger, adding more graphics, labeling sections, and making headlines more informative. The article is a few years old, so at this point these changes have probably been made, but I thought that it was interesting because so many people read the Washington Post and it makes sense to make it as easy to navigate as possible.

1. Do you think these changes were necessary?


2. What other ideas can you come up with to make a newspaper more accessible for readers?

Kelly's Middle Matters Picture Book

Middle Matters by Renee Peterson | Make Your Own Book