"Seeing the Text" 

Stephen A. Bernhardt

Before you Read

When looking at a heavy text advertisement, I am most drawn to the pictures that describes the text.  The text emphasizes the images.  It helps to explain what the images are and why they were chosen for this advertisement.

Summary

In Bernhardt's article "Seeing the Text", he attempts to explain how visual communication and written communication work together.  He explains how formatting texts and visuals is important to the reader so they can interpret an article.  

Synthesis

Berhardt's article is all about images and understanding writing through images.  I would compare this article to McCloud's because he also thinks images are very important.  Bernhardt uses charts and graphs and McCloud uses comics to help readers understand writing.  Bernhardt article is also very different from Allen's article.  Allen explains how you should focus on just writing and not on outside sources, while Bernhardt is also about visuals and showing images to explain the text.

Response	Quotation
In this quote, he is trying to explain to teachers that if we get students to use visuals it will help people understand what they are writing about and help them to interpret it better.	“If we were to encourage students to experiment with visible features of written texts, we would increase their ability to understand and use hierarchical and classificatory arrangements.” (35)
This quote is saying that we need to start using more visuals when we write.  It is trying to tell us to get away from the regular essay organization that is taught in school.	“Through classroom teaching often assumes essay organization the norm, outside the classroom visually informative prose is persuasive, and not just scientific or technical fields.” (35)
We need to always think about our audience and who we are writing to.  Whatever you are writing need to be attractive to readers.	“These multiple considerations of audience and purpose functionally constrain the text, influencing its shape and structure” (39)
This quote is about how the pictures and texts are laid out on the page.  You want to focus on the visuals on the page to draw attention to the reader.	“Also important in the design of the fact sheet was the distribution of printed information on the page.” (39)

  

After You Read
Scott McCloud would have represented and supported Bernhardt's argument of the use of images.  McCloud believes visuals are very important.  McCloud thinks images help the reader see behind the text.  Berhardt also believes this.  He just thinks charts and graphs are better images to represent text rather than comics.

Thoughts

I really enjoy images when i read, so i found Berhardt's article to be interesting.  He explains how to put images into text to help readers understand the writing better.  It was very informative.