Visual Rhetoric and Semiotics: How Images Influence Our Thinking

We live in a world saturated with images. From commercials and social media to leisure and entertainment activities, visual communication is constantly operating, producing sensations, perceptions, and generating meaning. However, we often fail to realize how profoundly these images affect our emotions, behaviors, and interpretations of reality. The article “Visual Rhetoric and Semiotic” by Marcel Danesi, published in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication, precisely explores this phenomenon.

What is Visual Rhetoric?

Danesi begins his article by explaining the distinction between two key concepts in his work: visual rhetoric (VR) and visual semiotics (VS). Here, I will provide a brief overview of these concepts. VR is the study of how images convey meanings and persuade their audience. It is based on semiotics, the study of signs and symbols, and on the psychology of visual perception. While traditional rhetoric analyzes the structure of discourses and written texts, VR investigates how visual elements such as colors, shapes, and compositions impact communication.

A classic example of this approach was produced by Roland Barthes, who, in his article “The Rhetoric of the Image” (1964), analyzed a Panzani pasta brand advertisement. He demonstrated how seemingly simple visual elements—such as the presence of tomatoes and the color palette—evoked a sense of “Italianity” and culinary sophistication. Thus, an image that at first glance appears merely informative reveals itself to be laden with symbolic connotations.

For Danesi, VR plays an essential role in analyzing how images are used to persuade and transmit meanings, highlighting that VR is not limited to aesthetics but functions as a strategic communication system that shapes behaviors and beliefs. Nor is it confined to cultural signs alone, as it involves deep psychological processes. Researchers like Rudolf Arnheim and Eleanor Rosch have shown that the way we interpret images is not purely rational but is linked to our emotions and cultural experiences. For instance, many people associate the color red with passion and urgency, while blue is often linked to tranquility. In different societies, mourning is expressed in completely distinct ways, for example, among Latinos, North Americans, Romani people, and Hindus. The production of meanings is not universal; in other words, it is not the same across all human groups but results from specific historical and cultural contexts. Therefore, while images communicate, they also shape (model) our perceptions of the world.

This perspective aligns with the thought of Yuri Lotman, in the sense that visual communication must be understood within a broad cultural system. According to Lotman, culture functions as a semiosphere, a space where signs and symbols interact and continuously transform. In this sense, the interpretation of images does not occur in isolation but within a cultural context that determines their meanings and potential readings.

Lotman further argues that all communication within the semiosphere involves translation processes, in which images and signs are constantly reinterpreted as they traverse different contexts and audiences. From this perspective, VR influences individual perception, through which collective narratives are constructed, resulting in what cultural semiotics refers to as Culture. The perspective of VR is crucial to help us understand how visual discourses shape identities, ideologies, and contemporary social dynamics.

Visual Semiotics and Cultural Signification

Another important point developed in the article concerns visual semiotics (VS), presented as a branch of semiotics that investigates how images function as signs and construct meanings in the context of human communication. This field of study seeks to understand how visual elements such as colors, shapes, textures, and compositions serve as meaning-making vehicles in different cultures and historical periods. In this sense, VS enables the decoding of symbolic codes embedded in images, uncovering how they influence viewers’ perception and cognition.

Danesi draws on the theories of Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles S. Peirce to explain how visual signs operate, emphasizing the distinction between icons, indices, and symbols and demonstrating how the interpretation of images varies according to sociocultural context.

He highlights that, according to Ferdinand de Saussure, a sign consists of two fundamental elements: the signifier and the signified. The signifier refers to the physical form of the sign—for example, the image of a lion—while the signified corresponds to the concept associated with that image, such as strength, courage, or leadership. However, this relationship between signifier and signified is not fixed, as visual signs are interpreted differently in various cultural contexts. Thus, the same symbol may acquire different connotations depending on the experiences and values shared by a given society. This enters the realm of visual cognition, which influences how we interpret images. Discussing some psychological studies, he highlights that visual perception is not passive but active, shaped by our experiences and cultural predispositions.

One of the most relevant findings of the article is the analysis of the impact of new technologies on visual communication. Danesi shows how the internet, social media, and memes have altered the way we consume and interpret images, creating new codes of meaning and new forms of persuasion.

Applying this discussion, Danesi argues that visual rhetoric is strategically used in advertising, journalism, and politics to influence opinions and behaviors. He cites examples of marketing campaigns and political propaganda to demonstrate how images are designed to generate emotional impact and shape narratives.

Expanding beyond the article’s content, in the field of health education, VR and VS can be useful in understanding the role of images in knowledge mediation, in constructing meanings about diseases, treatments, and well-being, and in communication between healthcare professionals and patients. The way visual elements are organized in public health campaigns, educational materials, and even in clinical infographics can influence perception, treatment adherence, and informed decision-making.

Moreover, VS enables the analysis of how images can reinforce or deconstruct stereotypes associated with medical conditions and patient identities. For example, the visual representation of a specific social group in health materials can affect how they perceive themselves and how they are perceived by others. In this sense, a critical understanding of VR in health education can contribute to improving communication effectiveness and promoting greater equity in access to information and representation of diverse social realities.

The Influence of Images in Contemporary Society

With the advent of the internet and social media, VR has become even more powerful. Danesi’s discussion, exploring how digital images shape opinions and influence public debates, aligns to some extent with the phenomenon widely studied by theorists such as Jean Baudrillard, who coined the concept of simulacrum to describe how contemporary society is dominated by representations of reality that become more “real” than reality itself. An example of this is Apple’s iconic 1984 commercial, inspired by George Orwell’s novel. While the company’s ad promoted a new product, it also suggested a revolution against a totalitarian system, positioning Apple at the time as a brand of innovation and resistance.

Finally, Danesi brings the discussion to the relationship between art and visual rhetoric. He examines how artistic movements have influenced the construction of contemporary visual discourses, including the use of visual metaphors and experimentation with signs.

Thus, he argues that VR and VS can help us understand the world of images and their impact on our perception of reality. By recognizing that we do not consume images in a neutral manner but interpret them based on emotions, experiences, and cultural contexts, we can become more critical readers of the visual communication that surrounds us.

References

• Arnheim, R. (1969). Visual Thinking. Berkeley: University of California Press.
• Barthes, R. (1964). Rhetoric of the Image. Communications, 4(1), 40-51.
• Baudrillard, J. (1983). Simulations. New York: Semiotext(e).
• Danesi, M. (2017). Visual Rhetoric and Semiotic. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication. DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.43
• Lotman, J. (1990). Universe of the Mind: A Semiotic Theory of Culture. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
• Rosch, E. (1973). On the Internal Structure of Perceptual and Semantic Categories. Cognitive Psychology, 7, 532-547.
• Saussure, F. de (1916). Course in General Linguistics. Paris: Payot.