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Free English Language Essays - While visual communication has been an important aspect of human existence since our early ancestors painted on the walls of their caves, it is only relatively recently that it has been the subject of serious academic analysis alongside the traditionally more respected form of verbal communication.

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In the modern technological world, non-verbal communication, (i.e. “all means of human communication other than words” (Graddol, Cheshire & Swann 1994:146)), is often integrated with verbal communication thereby producing what is known as a multimodal text. Kress and Leeuwen (2001) consider a multimodal text to be one that deploys a number of communication modes such as writing, images, speech and music in an integrated way in order to convey a message. One such example is a newspaper article. The words of the article clearly constitute the verbal aspect of the text and its function is to inform the reader. However, the article might also include photographs that, in an integrated way, provide the reader with a visual stimulus. The image will undoubtedly correspond with the article’s verbal content and might serve the purpose of eliciting an emotional response from the reader or simply aiding comprehension through the means of a pictorial mode of communication. The article might also have an attention-grabbing headline the typeface of which might differ from the rest of the article. All these non-verbal modes of communication are carefully structured to address the reader in a particular way and, by complementing each other, function in a variety of ways to express certain messages.

In Redesigning English: new texts, new identities David Graddol addresses the issue of multimodal texts and engages in a thorough analysis of a wine label drawing attention to its multimodal characteristics and how they function. The choice of a wine label is a significant one as it is an example of one such text that reflects the consumer society that the Western world lives in today. In this example, then, the label is constructed in such a way that it addresses a “multiple readership” (Graddol 1996:73) and conveys multiple, and often contradictory, messages. Despite its small size, the label combines a variety of semiotic modes including words, numbers, graphic design features, and different forms of typography. The complex interaction between these modes means that “different messages may be conveyed through each mode, and these may reinforce each other or give rise to tensions and even contradictions – not necessarily in the basic information conveyed but in the way the reader is addressed” (Graddol 1996:73). One such contradiction arises from the fact that the wine label is designed with several readers in mind each of which require different information from the label. The consumer, for example, is prioritised as s/he is the one that will eventually look at the label and might make a decision to purchase the product on the basis of the information it provides. Therefore, the main area of the label which is larger than other parts of the label, is positioned at the top, and is marked off from other parts of the label with a line, contains the sales pitch for the wine. As Graddol states, in the supermarket the label “must speak to purchasers, persuading them that the product is attractive and worth the price being asked” (Graddol 1996:74). The bar code, on the other hand, is a very different mode of communication and addresses the retailer. While the consumer will recognise what this mode of communication is and might be aware of its function, it does not address him/her directly and is likely to be overlooked. However, the person at the checkout will look for this visual form of communication in order to process the sale of the item and it therefore addresses this reader very differently. As a multimodal text, the label serves a variety of functions. One such function regards the legal information that must be included on the label. Therefore, as Graddol clearly demonstrates, “consumers are simultaneously told that this wine will enhance their life, and that it will damage it”. This conflict between the two messages is further highlighted by the typographical forms adopted for each. While the positive message is conveyed using a typeface that is associated with culture and history, the negative message is conveyed using a typeface that is associated with the serious transmission of information (Graddol 1996:80). It is evident from Graddol’s meticulous analysis, then, that multimodal texts communicate a variety of complex messages to a variety of readers and that these messages are not always in agreement with each other.

The World Wide Web has revolutionised the way in which we consider texts as it often combines a vast array of semiotic modes of communication to convey a number of messages to its readers. Sometimes, the interaction of such modes as verbal text, photographs, music and film is successful and serves to provide the reader with a well-structured and well-integrated text that fulfils its function, whether informative or entertaining. The following webpage (http://www.discovery .com/guides/history/titanic/Titanic/titanic.html?11110) is just one example of how successful a multimodal text can be in its aim to provide its readers with information through a variety of semiotic modes. As part of the Discovery Channel’s Titanic series, this interactive webpage combines verbal text, static images, photographs, music, film, colour and typography to create a fully integrated multimodal text that addresses a wide readership and effectively fulfils its purpose to both inform and entertain. As Simeon Yates points out in Chapter 3 of Redesigning English: new texts, new identities, the internet makes it “easier to set out the page typographically and in many different ways” (Yates 1996:119). This webpage has chosen its typography carefully to convey the sense of history that the story of the Titanic conjures up. The use of a font that immediately suggests the past in the image at the top of the page is designed to draw the reader into the historical world of the doomed ship that sank almost one hundred years ago. This is coupled with the use of a sepia tone which, again, suggests the past. The image of the ship itself is a famous one and is likely to be familiar with some readers. The words themselves also address the reader directly and, for those who are familiar with the story of the Titanic, are clearly ironic as they state that “The times demand confidence – a confidence so bold as to declare the largest man-made seagoing object unsinkable”. The reader is directly invited to participate in an interactive experience via the words “you are about to set sail on the Titanic” and other verbal tags such as “SELECT A PASSENGER”. The webpage uses the visual element of communication very well as the portrait of each of the passengers is hidden in shadow before their story is told. The passengers’ stories unfold using words, archive photos from the time, music, speech and other images. The words address the reader directly as if they are spoken by the passenger him/herself. These words are often coupled with photographs and images that serve to heighten their emotional impact or add a visual representation of the message that is being conveyed. The use of music is particularly effective as it alternates between the ragtime that was popular at the time, the Irish music that was played in the lower decks, and the hymn that was played when the ship was sinking. These are interspersed within the passengers’ accounts and correspond with the mood that is prevalent at the time or the information that is being conveyed by means of verbal and/or visual communication. It is evident, therefore, that the complexity of multimodal texts can be highly successful in expressing a number of messages in an interesting, informative and entertaining manner.

It is an incontrovertible fact that texts in the twenty-first century are becoming increasingly multimodal as the importance of multimedia grows. The long-established significance of verbal text is no longer considered the superior mode of communication but rather one form of semiotic communication among many that include images, photographs, music, speech, film, graphic design features and typography. As both Graddol’s example and the above example demonstrate, the deployment of a variety of modes can be conflicting and confusing or integrated and successful. The intended readership can be as specific as a certain age group within a particular region of just one country or as wide-ranging as all women in the continent of Europe and this has implications on how s/he is addressed. Words, therefore, are often only a part of a larger and more complex text. The example taken from the internet is particularly indicative of how the incorporation of a wide variety of semiotic modes into one text can serve to enhance the reader’s pleasure and educational experience. Not only does it operate on several levels of communication, it also appeals to a wide readership as there are elements that would interest a child as much as an adult. In this way, texts function in a more complex and yet more comprehensive manner. They are both multimodal and multifunctional.