By Angela Riechers

The right images capture attention, pique curiosity, and inspire viewers to stick around long enough to read any accompanying text. Nearly everyone today needs to use or understand images in communications of all kinds, from the most formal professional publication to the most casual social media post, and knowing the basics of visual language is essential for content creators and consumers alike. However, most people aren’t taught visual grammar unless they go into art- or design-related fields.

The Elements of Visual Grammar explains image use in any media in practical terms for writers, scholars, and other professionals. Award-winning art director and design educator Angela Riechers offers a flexible set of principles and best practices for selecting images that work—and using them in the most persuasive way. The result is an indispensable guide for anyone who wants to learn how to work more successfully with images and words.

This helpful guide features more than 200 color illustrations—drawn from a wide range of styles, media, and eras—that demonstrate the principles of visual grammar and how images can support and enhance written content. The Elements of Visual Grammar introduces the practical, cultural, conceptual, and scientific factors that influence image use, analyzing images by function and describing ways to employ symbolism, synecdoche, allegory, metaphor, analogy, and iconography.

Designed by Heather Hansen

Published by Princeton University Press, 2024

Softcover, 240 pages, full color, 7.5 × 9.25 inches

ISBN: 978-0-69-123122-8