Book Reviews

"See What I Mean? - An introduction to visual communication." by John Morgan and Peter Welton (2nd Ed. 1992).

I chose this book as one of my reference books because it provides a useful introduction to the world of visual communication, which is what my concept of using signs and symbols to influence children, is all about.

Chapter 1 is useful because it explains the process of communication introducing us, for example, to Lasswell (1948)

 "who claimed that communication could only be adequately explained if his famous questions could be answered:

who - says what - in which channel - to whom - with what effect?"

He then analyses this theory in detail. Its relevant to my studies is that it gives me a useful tool on to which to hang my future enquiries.

In chapter 5, it goes on to talk about colour, gesture, dress etc, colour, in particular, will have a lot of relevance to my ideas when I start planning my prototype. Another chapter talks about images, symbols etc.

All in all, I find this a very useful introduction to the use of signs and symbols.

"The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Signs and Symbols" - by Mark O'Connell and Raje Airey.

In this book my main interest was in the chapter entitled "Patterns and Graphics" (Page 104 - 115) which covers subjects such as the use of numbers, dots, lines and shapes. These included triangles, squares and circles. The use of all these, particularly their use over the centuries, is discussed in detail and has a relevance to my studies because I have to decide the best way to design my signs and symbols and the effect they might have on the primary students e.g. in traffics signs we have poles with triangular and circular tops with different meanings, is the shape, therefore, important to my signs for the primary students?

Another important point in the book is the use of colour. Red, for example, is a universal sign for danger but also represents warmth. Green is associated with nature and plant life as well as the traffic signal signifying that it is safe to proceed. This section helps me to decide how important colour is on my signs and which ones I should use.