Visual (Re)Presentation: Image, Culture, and Meaning (320-0-20)

Instructors

Dr. Rafael O. Matos

Meeting Info

McCormick Foundation Ctr 3107: Mon 5:00PM - 7:50PM

Overview of class

This course explores how images - from digital media posts to paintings and political ads - communicate, persuade, and shape public understanding and collective meaning. The course bridges interpretive analysis and strategic communication by asking: What do images do, whom do they serve, and what values do they reinforce or challenge?

Students will use critical and cultural frameworks to analyze the relationship between visuals and text across journalism, advertising, and social platforms, unpacking how design, context, and technology influence interpretation. Through visual essays and cross-platform analysis, students will develop critical visual literacy for a media landscape driven by images and explore how power, bias, identity, and ethics influence the way images communicate across contexts.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

Analyze how visual images communicate, persuade, and shape public understanding across media contexts.
Apply critical, cultural, and ethical frameworks to interpret how visuals construct and circulate meaning.
Evaluate how design, context, and technology influence the perception and impact of visual communication across platforms.
Critique the role of power, bias, and identity in shaping how images represent people, issues, and ideas.
Create visual essays and analyses that connect interpretive critique with strategic communication practice.

Class Materials (Required)

Readings will be provided via Canvas

Class Attributes

Attendance at 1st class mandatory