Aesthetics Theory… Perception of the Transmitted Message

DAKE, D. (2005a) Aesthetics Theory. In: K. SMITH, S. MORIARTY, G. BARBATSIS and K. KENNEY (Eds) Handbook of Visual Communication: Theory, Methods, and Media. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. pp3-22.

“Significant aesthetic perception begins, however, before conscious awareness processes can make reasoned decisions. Aesthetic perception preceded cortical information processing and therefore any conscious awareness of associative symbolic inferences.” (p7)

Annotation:
Dake connects the perception of the transmitted message as resultant to how the aesthetic helps that transmission. The aesthetic of the visually communicated message in any one interaction will only aid perceived understanding if the semiotics used in the visual to communicate what was meant. If this fails then the aesthetic is simply noise leading to incorrect interpretations as to what to do next.