ISSN 3062-262X

The Effectiveness of Images in Visual Discourse and Their Influence on the Viewer - A Semiotic Approach –

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Zineb Bouhlal

Abstract

The roots of the image and imagery date back to the Roman era, known as the era of idolatry. At that time, they referred to the masks of the dead, which served as substitutes; they also included sculpture and were associated with fear, thus fulfilling a symbolic function during this period. It then shifted from representation, imagination, and distortion to the capture of reality through the camera, thereby transforming the concept of the image in the modern era. It came to denote a visual representation of a landscape, an object, or a being. Thus, it became a simulation of the external world through a camera, a drawing, or a sculpture, and at this stage, the image belongs to the sensory world. In this era—the digital age, also known as the visual age, in which images are divided into two types: artistic images and those serving a communicative or informational role—the role of the image has shifted from mere viewing to playing a significant role in marketing and other services, thus taking on a utilitarian function.

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