Name: _________________________________________________ Date: _________________

Constructing Meaning
Directions: for each concept give an example of how it is or can be used in art

Iconography- symbolic and visual systems

Audience- target your visual communication to a specific audience, or particular type of viewer

Immediacy- the audience understands the message of the image almost immediately

Stereotypes- a fixed generalization based on a preconception

Clichés- an overused expression or a predictable treatment of an idea

Surprise- a shift in stereotypes or clichés that upset our expectations and challenges our
assumptions

Purpose and Intent- choosing the style and iconography best suited to our purpose

Context- how the composition and social atmosphere changes the meaning of the work

Connections- analogies, similes, and metaphors are figures of speech that link one thing to
another

Drama- personifying an idea can help viewer get more emotionally involved with the story

Drama- focusing on the essentials and leaving out boring parts helps viewer establish
relationship to direct experience

Anesthetic- used to induce insensitivity and unconscious numbness to scene

Asthetic- used to evoke a human response to beauty and expand understanding