Imagery Has Changed The Way We See Things

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and we see that every day. Our advertising is more image-based than ever. The advent of television has had a profound effect on how we perceive advertising. Now it’s a beautiful woman that invites us to buy something, not a drawn image. If you view ads in magazines, most will be photographs. They may have some enhancement that has been done, but still the ones that have the most impact are photos.

We have cell phones that take pictures, digital cameras for instant pictures, and are constantly bombarded by television and the internet. We process information faster than our grandparents because of this imagery. Our digital age has brought many changes. Now we expect to see an image instead of just words. A new study says that children that learn to sign have higher iq’s and learn faster. Why is not known but this is an indicator that we are image based in our learning.
Our grandparents read books and magazines, we watch television and surf the internet. Instantly, we can see a picture from half a world away, or we can catch the news 24 hours a day. Images are an everyday thing now, we’re not only used to it, but would be lost without it. During the presidential race, we say the use of holograms as a way to instantly communicate with someone.

As time goes on, we’ll find ways to use images and information to communicate ideas even more. Our book has brought us from the cave paintings through pictograms into the digital age. Isn’t it strange that we started out with imagery, progressed through written words and now have come full circle to end with imagery again?