Subliminal Communication
Subliminal Communication is a major factor in any visual display.
Every word has both a message that it intends to "say," and connotations that come from how you say it. This is possibly far more true (I believe it is certainly more true) in the selection of images. A word must be parsed (beyond the subliminal communication of the sound of a language -- contrast what the sounds of Tolkein's Elven communicate, with Star Trek's Klingon), but images reach out and yank on our eyeballs.
Even something that is not meant to communicate subliminally, communicates subliminally: The generic BarCode is now a powerful symbol, communicating many ideas about identity, uniformity, anonyminity.
Examples
If you space the eyes out on a cartoon character, the character looks aloof, distant, foreign, perhaps exotic or naive.
The clothing worn by characters communicates powerful stories, based on the stereotypes of our day. The stereotype is a communication mechanism.
People frequently say that pornography has no story. However, most pornographic pictures do tell a story, if you look at it looking for the subliminal communication.
from ![[WWW]](/wiki/modern/img/moin-www.png){kind=small}
http://www.geekandproud.net/terror/ is an example of a visual language designed as a mildly humorous parody. A parody can say a lot in a few words (or a few pictures) because it pulls in the entire context of the original. I think this would be incomprehensible to someone that hasn't seen the original.
I'm not so sure. Parody is overt- we consciously recognize it in our mind. When a characters eyes are spaced further apart, though, it seems more "hidden." It seems there is likely a scale to this thing. -- 216.254.10.130 2004-05-15 19:14:12
Homework
Look at pictures and ask yourself what they are communicating. Think about, "Why does this thing communicate this message?" How does it do so? Why are the buttons square, rather than round? Why the use of thick lines? Why the use of thin lines? Or even no lines? Why FlatShading?
Consider the efforts going into FontsAndTypography. Consider the FormOfText.
Read web comics, and see what they are saying, beyond what they are saying.