Visual+Literacy

==For this assignment, I was asked to critique this image using the PAT model, and discuss what I thought the visual was trying to convey, the positive and negative design aspects of it, and what could be done to improve the visual as a whole.==



====The image seems to convey the idea of how much meat Americans are consuming, and with the title “Overproteined”, implies that the amount of meat that is eaten in the United States is excessive. It shows numbers in bold and explains how these numbers are related to the topic below them. Color and contrast are two of the positive aspects of this graphic. Using different colors in the four boxes with information and corresponding colored images with the information help attract interest to the message that the visual contains. The colors in the boxes are vivid, but light enough that with the black border and writing, the contrast is good and makes the visual easy to read and also helps to catch the reader’s attention. Overall, the image is also organized well. All four of the boxes are set up the same, with a number in bold, words explaining the number, and an image corresponding to the image close by. This similarity in the chart helps the reader know what to expect from the image, and maintain continuity. The proximity of the information in the visual creates an effect that gains the reader’s interest by giving them a number, but not immediately telling them what that number means. Still, there are some issues with this visual that could be improved. One of the biggest problems has to do with the alignment of the images that correspond to the information in the four boxes. They are placed in the corners between the boxes, so it is hard to tell which images correspond to which boxes. I would change this by aligning the images directly above or below the boxes that they relate to instead of in the corners of the boxes so the visual is easier to understand. While the four information boxes use the same fonts and setups, boxes one, two and four use two lines for the number in their boxes, while box three uses only one line, and has a large space in it that the other boxes don’t have. This is one place where the similarity is off in the image. I would change this by making the font a bit smaller so all the numbers fit on one line, but keep them bold to set them off from their explanations.====