Bernhardt

Before You Read

The advertisement I'm looking at is for the movie Brides Maids. The first thing the eye is drawn to is the large what text that is the movie title. The bold text is contrasted by a dark background, where underneath the girls are standing also in a dark pink. Without the text, the image would be plain, but the title brings out the lights in the image. The text is easily the most important part of the poster.

“Seeing the text” by Stephen A. Bernhardt
Even in a simple sentence, there are certain rules that are followed without thinking about it. This simple fact is what I got out of the quote from the book on page 36.	“In sentences, the non-visually informative text evidences a consistency of structure.” (page 36)
With a good sentence that really captivates the reader, it should be easy for the reader to move from sentence to sentence and farther along in the reading.	“A text is progressive if its structure leads the reader onwards, projects him forward   from one segment of text to a succeeding one.” (page 40)
When certain text is placed together that resembles each other it is easier to read   the words together as a whole.	“A fourth law of gestalt, the law of similarity, suggests that units which resemble each other in shape, size, color, or direction will be seen together as a homogenous grouping.” (page 40)
This could have been put a lot more simply than it was stated in the book. The way the words are positioned and put on a page make the message behind the words. How the words look can play just as big of role as what the words say sometimes.	“Levels of subordination are indicated by variation in typeface, type size, or placement of headings, rather than through subordinators or cohesive ties which indicate semantically dependent relations.” (page 41)

Summary

The way looks on a page can be almost as important as what the text is actually saying. Without good design quality, there will be a lack of interest from the viewer. Bernhardt talks to fellow colleges and teachers on ways to show students how to best present writing so that it is appealing to the eye and the words flow in a regular fashion. 

Synthesis

Bernhardt can connect back to McCloud through the design quality that book pieces are talking about. In McCloud's piece he discusses how the images he uses to depict the text help to show is view more. With Bernhardt's piece, it focuses more on how the actual text can be used to show emotion. 

After You Read

McCloud would have used a comic standpoint to depict what he was saying. The structure of a paper could have been done through a cartoon format and instead of explaining through words the structure of a paper, a diagram or cartoon could have been drawn to better explain exactly what was being said in the text.