‘Centrality’ is a Signifier potential of ‘that which is central’. Depending on the overall
visual design of a visual space the element that is placed in the centre can mediate the
other elements in the composition. The marginal elements are then in some sense the
elements that belong to or are subservient to the central elements, depending on the
context.
The term ‘framing’ is used to indicate that elements of a composition can either be
given separate existence, or represented as belonging together. In other words,
framing connects or disconnects elements. Disconnection can be created in many
ways, through frame-lines, through empty space between elements, but also through
contrasts of colour or form, or any other visual feature, in short through any form of
discontinuity, disconnection or contrast that can be visually signified. Connection can
be achieved in exactly the opposite way, through similarities and rhymes of colour
and form, through vectors that connect elements, and of course through the absence
of frame-lines or empty space between elements. In every case the discontinuity or
continuity between elements expresses what it is that the elements are separated by or
made to belong together. This broad meaning potential can then be made more
precise through the context, and also through the means of framing chosen. In this
thesis I show that when applied to the computer screen the concept of compositional
meaning or visual design can be realised through the composition of the elements on
screen, hyperlinks and editing.
The term ‘salience’ is used by Kress and Van Leeuwen to indicate that some elements
are given semiotic prominence or made to ‘stand out’. Salience can be realised in a
range of ways, through size, through colour contrasts (red is always a very salient
colour), tonal contrast, in short through anything that can make a given element stand
out from its surroundings.
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