The literature on face emojis raises the central question whether they should be treated as pictures or conventionalized signals. Our experiment addresses this question by investigating semantic differences in visually similar face emojis. We test a prediction following from a pictorial approach: small visual features of emojis that do not correspond to human facial features should be semantically less relevant than features that represent aspects of facial expressions. We compare emoji pairs with a visual difference that either does or does not correspond to a difference in a human facial expression according to an adaptation of the Facial Action Coding System. We created two contexts per pair, each fitted to correspond to a prominent meaning of one or the other emoji. Participants had to choose a suitable emoji for each context. The rate at which the context-matching emoji was chosen was significantly above chance for both types of emoji pairs and it did not differ significantly between them. Our results show that the small differences are meaningful in all pairs whether or not they correspond to human facial differences. This supports a lexicalist approach to emoji semantics, which treats face emojis as conventionalized signals rather than mere pictures of faces.

In recent years, co-creation and collaboration platforms to create and deliver new products and services have taken a step forward; this has led to the development of a new active involvement of users, who from co-designers have become independent designers, even if not experts. Co-design is dynamic and provides the tools to generate democratic design processes guided by the users themselves. The democratization of design tools is the premise for a new paradigm defined ‘Diffuse Design’ by Manzini (2015). This contribution explores the approaches of open design and open production with particular attention to the field of visual communication and the production of motion design artifacts. After an introduction to the co-design framework, the main open-production visual communication platforms are presented to offer an overview of the topic. Next, the potential of online platforms to enable non-designers to produce animated artifacts is explored by examining student projects in a motion design University course. The most significant outputs of the student experience are then described and critically analyzed. Finally, the conclusions investigate the different perspectives for reading the democratization of tools for creating visual artifacts and lay the foundations for future lines of research.

Este trabajo busca discutir los alcances y limitaciones de la aplicación del concepto de comunicación visual en el arte rupestre. Con este objetivo, se evalúa la presencia/ausencia de reglas de composición en el arte de Viuda Quenzana (Patagonia centro-meridional, Argentina), y se discuten sus variaciones a través del tiempo. Para tal fin, se analizan las características estructurales de las reglas composicionales actuantes sobre la producción de 367 motivos, distribuidos en 39 paneles correspondientes a 11 sitios, y sus cambios y/o continuidades a partir de la evaluación de cinco estratos de color. Los resultados muestran que las reglas vinculadas con las características visuales de las imágenes (forma y técnica), tienen mayor peso en la potencial codificación y decodificación de información visual, que las reglas vinculadas con el emplazamiento de las imágenes en los soportes y sus relaciones con otras imágenes.

In an on-demand media environment, the 2016 presidential primary debates provided a ratings and economic boost to host networks surpassing all prior primary debates and even major sporting events in viewership. In turn, millions of viewers were exposed to and subtly influenced by the ways in which these candidates were visually presented. We analyze how the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates were presented in their initial two debates (Fox News and CNN; CNN and CBS, respectively). Candidates are considered in terms of visual priming through aggregate camera time and average camera fixation time and how contenders were visually framed through the proportion of different camera shot types used (solo, split screen, side by side, multiple candidate, and audience reaction). Findings suggest that while the front-runners from both political parties benefited from preferential visual coverage, Donald Trump stood out in terms of the visual priming and framing that presented him as a serious contender.

Animal phobias in young people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID) can provoke behaviours that put them at risk and impede access to the community. Previous studies suggest that cognitive behavioural therapy including systematic desensitization and modelling are effective for people with ID, including those with comorbid ASD. Methods of adapting such treatment to people with little spoken language are not well described, and ethical issues concerning both young people and animals during treatment have not been addressed. The aim of this study was to describe, using a case series of consecutive referrals: (1) adaptations to systematic desensitization when communication of the young person is impaired, and (2) the ethics of involving animals in therapeutic interventions. Treatment was planned based on the use of systematic desensitization with a hierarchy of feared situations using visual symbols and schedules to communicate with the participants. Five young people with ASD, severe ID and minimal language were successfully treated for dog phobia. Modifications to treatment included both the use of non-verbal means of communication including printed symbols and graded activities such as jigsaw puzzles and picture matching to present information to clients in a more finely graded format. The treatment of specific phobias is possible with the use of minimal language provided that a variety of individualized stimuli approximating to the feared objects are developed and the safety of all participants is respected. Further work is required to develop sufficiently flexible treatment protocols, which in turn would enable a randomized controlled trial.