The digital age has revolutionised the look of journalism, be it online or in print. The subsequent shift to multi-media and multi-platform publishing arguably makes visual appearance and branding more important than ever. Yet visual journalism remains a relatively under-theorised and under-researched field.
Visual Journalism presents a unique, critical investigation into this area. Combining theory and practice, the chapters integrate the experiences of practitioners working in photography, visual design and set design, including insights into how they work and the changing environments they find themselves in, with an innovative theory of visual communication - multimodality - that enables the text to break down and analyse the key elements and patterns of visual design.
In exploring visual journalism from these two angles, and across a range of contemporary media platforms, the text evaluates the extent to which visual communication comprises a significant part of what content means to audiences. As such, the book is an invaluable resource for students of journalism, media studies and photography, as well as for practising designers and journalists.
David Machin is Professor of Media and Communication at Örebro University, Sweden.
Introduction
1. Photojournalism: Documenting and Symbolising Events
2. Magazine Design: Ideas and Attitudes Through Visual Elements
3. Changing Newspaper Designs for New Kinds of Markets
4. Design and the Digital Media Environment
5. Staging the News for Television
Conclusion.