Questions to ask when reading a visual text:

Size:
What elements of the visual are big?
What elements of the visual are small?
What size are the elements of the visual in relation to each other?

Text:
Is any text used?
How much or little?
What font?
Long, complex words or short words?
Legal disclaimers?
Does the text go straight across, up and down, or at angles?

Color:
Black and white or color?
Is there a color scheme (warm colors, cold colors)?
Are colors used to make any part of the advertisement stand out?
Do the colors have any associations (red, white, and blue are patriotic; blue and white could
suggest Pepsi, red and white could suggest Coke; orange suggests construction)?

Symbols:
Company logos?
Common symbols (like a triangle for “play”)?
How are the symbols used in the advertisement?

Images:
Landscapes, machines, groups of people, people alone, animals, etc?
If people, one or many?
Age of people?
Expression/emotion?
Activity?
Is the person facing the reader or looking somewhere else?

Style:
Photo?
Drawing- or painting-like?
Abstract shapes?

Purpose?
Audience?
Author?
Topic?
Context?