Objects and spaces: the visual language of graphics

Authors:
Yuri Engelhardt
Affiliations:
Department of Media Studies, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Venue:
Diagrams'06 Proceedings of the 4th international conference on Diagrammatic Representation and Inference
Year:
2006

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Abstract

There is undoubtedly something like a ‘grammar of graphics'. Various syntactic principles can be identified in graphics of different types, and the nature of visual representation allows for visual nesting and recursion. We propose a limited set of possible ‘building blocks' for constructing graphic spaces, and a limited set of possible syntactic functions of graphic objects. Based on these ingredients, and the rules for their combination, the syntactic structure of any visual representation can be drawn as a hierarchically nested tree. We claim that the presented visual syntax applies to all types of visual representations.