Graphic Functions: Transformational, Procedural & Prior Knowledge

For this post, I'd like to venture a bit into the different types of graphic and/or graphic functions as outlined by Clark and Lyons (2011). The inspiration for this came as I was doing a lot of graphical work in my job over the past few weeks....especially within the past two weeks to be exact. I was preparing materials for a few training workshops and projects that I was spearheading. To this end, I was creating, editing and appropriating different visuals to accompany these ventures. For example, I decided to use certain graphics in a workshop on brain-based learning or animations in education to engage my workshop participants while at the same time creating teaching points. I used different graphic illustrations to show them how colors and images etc can mess with the dendrites in their brains. In these cases, the graphics I used fulfilled decorative and informative functions (Clark & Lyons, 2011).

But because I have been in quite a mood for humor despite my immense work schedule (humor helps to reduce the stress), I decided to go with more lighthearted graphics for this post. Now if you've been following my previous posts, you'd know I just have a love for hilarious memes. You may find the memes below to be quite humorous, but more than that, they fulfill several other graphic functions outlined by Clark and Lyons (2011). They fulfill a transformation or procedural function (Clark & Lyons, 2011) as they illustrate a process or series of steps from one point/state through a process/transformation to a different end product. The images below have been quite the buzz on social media particularly within the past few weeks….making fun/parodies of unrealistic celebrity make-up transformations. They go from the average person with various imperfections go through a quick process to miraculously look like celebrities....have a laugh 😅😂😂😂😂.

But in order to catch the humor in these memes, it helps if you are familiar with the celebrity they appear to look alike in the final part of each graphic. For example, in the last graphic, one may need to be familiar with the actor who plays Loki, the villain in the Thor as well as The Avengers movie franchises, to catch the joke. The humor is that the person really looks nothing like the actor/character but through some crazy, low-cost steps (like putting on a busted wig, using contact lenses etc) the high-priced celebrity look is easily/unrealistically achieved. And this brings us to the other function these graphics fulfill. They stimulate us to rely/use our prior knowledge. It plays on our prior knowledge of the celebrity (what he/she looks like, the work they've done etc)....and that easily, they graphics have a psychological function! Amazing huh? Here are some more for you to enjoy below: