This is Day 3 of my free 75 Days of Media Literacy series.
I need to be emphatic about this, but there are different ways to emphasize. Think about text: when you want people to know you really mean it, you can say so. I mean it. That’s a short emphatic phrase that makes my point clear. But it’s not terribly nuanced either. You could say I’m awfully concerned you don’t understand that I mean it. That’s another way to show emphasis while adding some of my personality.
Flyers often show emphasis by adding bold lettering, italics, or underlines. All caps is Trump’s favorite way of adding emphasis. All these tools are often unsuccessful. (Think about what you thought when you saw my all-caps title.) But in our culture of visual and textual plenty, those forms of emphasis often fall flat. Emphasis becomes noise when used carelessly. Restraint can foster hard-hitting, pointed moments of emphasis.
To apply this metaphor to visual imagery, consider the color red. When used sparingly, it draws the eye to that element. A red dress in a sea of black dresses is striking. A chorus wearing red dresses becomes one visual mass. In the American consumer landscape, many brands have red in their logos, like Target and McDonald’s. But because so many brands use red, it’s often hard to launch with a red logo. When something is expected, it no longer stands out.
In terms of media literacy, notice when a color draws your eye to the point. In a way, this functions as that succinct sentence in the middle of a complicated passage. For example, if you see a photograph of one MAGA red hat amongst the sea of other hats, your eye will be drawn to the outlier.
But I often use other forms of emphasis; they can make one element bathed in light, as Caravaggio did. Sometimes those rays of light act like arrows pointing to the composition's focal point.
Placing the most important element in the center is another simple way to ensure the viewer understands the point. This is a tactic. I see this very often in advertising.
Visually, one of my favorite ways artists create emphasis is by placing elements in relation to each other; for example, three figures stand slightly apart, but their heads form a triangle. Your eye moves between the elements, showing that the emphasis is the relationship between the figures.
As you explore visuals, see whether the artist, photographer, or creator uses simple emphasis tools or more complex ones. This can help you assess how much time they expect you to spend with the image. It can also help you assess how sophisticated they imagine their consumers to be.
