[Sigia-l] visual thinking, by rudolf arnheim

[Gunnar Langemark]

On Sun, 2003-04-06 at 16:24, Karl Fast wrote:
> 
> I recently discovered this book. 
> 
>    Visual Thinking, by Rudolf Arnheim
>    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0520018710
> 
> It's from 1969, and am wondering:
> 
>   (a) if anyone knows about it
>   (b) if anyone has read it, and if so, what you thought
>   (c) what people think about the book and it's ideas, some 35 years
>      after publication
> 

During the eighties when I was a student of Art History and Film and
Media, "Visual Thinking" alongside "Art and Visual Perception" were part
of standard curriculum in Denmark at least. While I havn't read Visual
Thinking cover to cover, I think I can safely say that Arnheim is in
some ways a forerunner of cognitive psychology the way we know it today.
When Arnheim suggests that all thinking is basically "visual" - as in
visual perception, we have since then seen very convincing arguments
that this is not entirely true. Some of the first names to think of
would be Johnson and Lakoff who assert that cognitive processes have
roots in the body - are embodied, and that basic metaphors can be traced
back to fundamental bodily functions - like inside/outside the body, and
eating and the subsequent opposite.
Also in Howard Gardners theory of learning "modes"/intelligences - which
has had great impact on learning theory, pedagogy and e-learning (I
think) - would soon spring to mind if you mentioned Arnheim to me. The
assumption that different people have different modes of thinking and
learning, and that at least part of this is linked to the senses -
suggests that Arnheims theoretical work actually may have been biased by
his personal preference for the visual.

In an IA setting Arnheim would contribute to the visual part of
information design, and of interaction design, but I personally think
that both Johnson/Lakoff and Gardner hold more promise for the
development of Information Architecture.

But don't take my advice to seriously. After all, when I found my copies
of Arnheims books on my shelves, I realised that I had not read in any
of them for the past decade or two.

Best
Gunnar Langemark
www.langemark.com