1. LESSON 3
To Sense. To Select. To Perceive.
TOPICS COVERED
To Sense. To Select. To Perceive.
The Visual Process.
Visual Communication’s circle dance.
OBJECTIVES
Have you ever wondered how you sense, selecting from a myriad of sights and sounds,
perceive...The more you know the more you see. This lesson will focus on our seeing and
learning, what we remember, what we forget and what are memorable images.
By the end of this chapter you should know:
. That visual analysis is vital for understanding the visually intensive world in which we
live. . That if you can learn to be more observant, you will see, learn, and remember
more.
“ The greatest thing a human soul ever
does in this world is to see something.
To see clearly is poetry, prophecy, and
religion, all in one.”
John Ruskin 1819 – 1900

2. The day that changed everything 9/11
What do you remember?
What have you forgotten? The Art of Seeing
Sensing, Selecting, and Perceiving
“The more you know; the more you see.”
From the morning of September 11, 2001, radio, television, and print media sources
along with their Web site counterparts all went to work to try to inform and explain the
horrific personal carnage and destruction that was unleashed against thousands of
innocent Americans. Reporters gathered as much information as quickly as possible
during the confusing and unbelievable first hours after the attack. With the north tower of
the World Trade Center already on fire from a previous direct hit from a commercial
airliner, viewers on television saw live and unedited video footage of another airliner
slam into the south tower and then witnessed the collapse of both 11 O-story structures.
At least 3,000 people were killed.
Many stunned viewers watching live television reports commented that they thought the
pictures seemed more appropriate for a Hollywood movie than actual events (Figure 1.1).
In fact, it was those striking, unforgettable visual messages that made this story so
compelling and memorable. President George W. Bush acknowledged the power of
visual communication in his speech to the country the first evening of the tragedy: "The
pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing, have
filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness, and a quiet, unyielding anger:'

3. THE VISUAL PROCESS
Aldous Huxley, author of the novel Brave New World and forty-six other books of
philosophical and futuristic vision, detailed his efforts to teach himself how to see more
clearly in his 1942 work The Art of Seeing. From the age of sixteen, Huxley suffered
from a degenerative eye condition known as keratitis punctata, an inflammation of the
cornea. One eye was merely capable of light perception, and the other could only view an
eye chart's largest letter from 10 feet away. Today, the condition is rare and attributed
most likely to bacterial or viral infection. It can be treated easily with medications. In his
book Huxley described the physical exercises he used to overcome his disability without

4. the aid of glasses. However, his main idea is that seeing clearly is mostly the result of
thinking clearly. Huxley summed up his method for achieving clear vision with the
formula: "Sensing plus selecting plus perceiving equals seeing:'
The first stage of clear vision is to sense. To sense simply means letting enough light
enter your eyes so that you can see objects immediately around you. Sensing also
depends on how well the many parts of the eye work. Obviously, a damaged or improp-
erly functioning eye will hamper sensing. Think of sensing as a camera without film; that
is, there is no mental processing of the image during this phase of visual perception.
Huxley's next stage is to select a particular element from a field of vision. To select is to
isolate and look at a specific part of a scene within the enormous frame of possibilities
that sensing offers. That isolation is the result of the combination of the light gathering
and focusing properties of the eye with the higherlevel functions of the brain. In other
words, selecting is a conscious, intellectual act. When you select you engage more fully
the objects in the scene than when you merely look. Selecting starts the process of
classification of objects as harmful, helpful, known, unfamiliar, meaningful, or confusing.
To select is to isolate an object within the area where the sharpest vision takes place in
the eye: the fovea centralis region in the retina of your eyes (see Chapter 3). By selecting
individual objects within a scene, you are doing what the eye's physiology is made to do-
to focus your mental activities on a single, small object that is isolated from all others.
The last stage in Huxley's visual theory is to perceive; that is, you must try to make
sense of what you select. If your mind has any chance of storing visual information for
long-term retrieval and to increase your knowledge base, you must actively consider the
meaning of what you see.
To process an image mentally on a higher level of cognition than simply sensing and
selecting means that you must concentrate on the subjects within a field of view with the
As with your own memory, a family snapshot often contains visual messages that you will always remember, but also
elements that you have forgotten.
intent of finding meaning and not simply as an act of observation. This process demands
much sharper mental activity. Previous experience with specific visual messages is a key

5. in seeing clearly. Huxley wrote that "the more you know, the more you see." A former
baseball player watches and sees a game much more attentively than someone who
attends one for the first time. The newcomer probably will miss signals from a manager,
scoreboard details, the curve of the ball's flight as it speeds from pitcher to batter, and
many other details observed by the former player. Although you can certainly isolate a
particular visual element with little mental processing when it is a new or a surprising
occurrence, analyzing a visual message ensures that you will find meaning for the
picture. If the image becomes meaningful, it is likely to become a part of your long-term
memory.
.
Sensing, Selecting, and Perceiving
”The more you know; the more you see.”
To Sense. To Select. To Perceive.
What is the Meaning?
Graphic Clues
Symbolic Clues
Literal and Symbolic Messages
Words Hold the Answer
To Sense. To Select. To Perceive.
Other Examples:
Moving from Sensing to Perceiving
Drawn by 3 year old girl on itsy bitsy spider.

6. VISUAL COMMUNICATION'S CIRCLE DANCE

7. The more you know, the more you sense. The more you sense, the more you select. The
more you select, the more you perceive. The more you perceive, the more you remember.
The more you remember, the more you learn. The more you learn, the more you know.
For clear seeing, this circle repeats itself on and on .
The greatest aid to clear seeing isn't eyes that function with or without glasses or a
telescope that brings into sharp focus the craters of the moon. The process of sensing,
selecting, and perceiving takes a curious, questioning, and knowledgeable mind. The goal
of a visual communicator isn't simply to have an image published or broadcast. The goal
of a visual communicator is to produce powerful pictures so that the viewer will
remember their content. Images have no use if the viewer's mind doesn't use them. As
future image consumers and producers, you will want to see images that you remember
and make images that others remember.
The goal of this book is to give you a method for analyzing visual messages regardless of
the medium of presentation. Without systematically analyzing an image, you may see a
televised picture and not notice the individual elements within the frame. You might not
consider its content as it relates to the story and to your life. Without considering the
image, you will not gain any understanding or personal insights. The picture will simply
be another in a long line of forgotten ,images. Analyzing visual messages makes you take
a long, careful look at the pictures you see-a highly satisfying intellectual act. Those
images become a part of your general knowledge of the world. You discover how images
are linked in ways that you never thought of before. You also become a more interesting,
curious person.
To Sense. To Select. To Perceive.
The more you know; the more you sense.
(more light will fill your eyes)
The more you sense; the more you select.
(you will notice more)
The more you select; the more you perceive.
(you will understand more)
The more you perceive; the more you remember.

8. (long-term memory is enhanced)
The more you remember; the more you learn.
(compare and contrast more)
The more you learn; the more you know.
(you will use more of what you see)