Terminological inexactitudes: image functions in graphic communication

This article arises from the author's teaching notes concerning the role of images in communication and the use of information structures in transmitting messages. For those students who are potential design practitioners rather than theorists, widespread contradiction and ambiguity in the relevant literature presents many obstacles to understanding. A wide diversity of terms and definitions highlights the need for more radical analysis so that the realities represented can be effectively disclosed. To evaluate image theories and systems and the crucial issues which are raised a coherent method and framework is necessary.