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        <title>Frontiers in Communication | Visual Communication section | New and Recent Articles</title>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/communication/sections/visual-communication</link>
        <description>RSS Feed for Visual Communication section in the Frontiers in Communication journal | New and Recent Articles</description>
        <language>en-us</language>
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        <pubDate>2026-04-13T13:08:16.613+00:00</pubDate>
        <ttl>60</ttl>
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        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1813101</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1813101</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Hybrid visual rhetoric across cultural contexts: a mixed-methods study of Chinese and international print advertising]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-04-10T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Siyu Wang</author>
        <description><![CDATA[This study examines how visual rhetoric varies across distinct institutional contexts by comparing award-winning print advertisements from a Chinese student competition and an internationally recognized professional festival. Drawing on a mixed-methods design, the analysis combines quantitative content analysis of 1,052 advertisements (2014–2019) with qualitative illustration to investigate variation across three dimensions of visual grammar: image, composition, and style. Results reveal systematic differences in symbolic prevalence and stylistic execution, with student campaigns relying more heavily on metaphor, deformation, and illustrative techniques, while professional entries more frequently employ photographic realism and restrained visual modification. In contrast, foundational compositional structures—such as balance and primary–secondary layout—show relatively limited differentiation across contexts. Effect sizes were largest for stylistic variables and smallest for compositional organization, suggesting that differentiation between the two competitions appears more pronounced at the level of aesthetic execution than structural visual grammar. A supplementary longitudinal comparison of post-pandemic student works provides exploratory observations suggesting continuity in visual rhetorical tendencies within the competition. By foregrounding competitions as sites of aesthetic legitimation, this study suggests that hybrid visual forms may be associated not only with cultural expression but also with institutional environments of training and professional evaluation. The findings contribute to visual communication research by integrating multimodal theory with institutional analysis and clarifying how global visual communication can exhibit both structural convergence and expressive divergence.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1795336</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1795336</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Biocultural memory in Latin America: perspectives through the visual narrative analysis of moving images]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-03-31T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Perspective</category>
        <author>Lucia Picarella</author><author>Emiliana Mangone</author><author>Flor María Ávila Hernández</author>
        <description><![CDATA[This article analyses the connection between biocultural memory, visual analysis, and moving images as a tool for cultural resistance and deconstruction of hegemonic environmental and ecological narratives. The hypothesis is that the universe of narrative with moving images offers interesting possibilities in Latin America (the context of reference) for co-constructing communication practices capable of strengthening critical thinking and awareness of the risks and impacts of climate and environmental crises. Considering this hypothesis, the objective of this article is to study initiatives that intertwine digital moving images and biocultural memory to transmit ancestral and local environmental and ecological knowledge and traditions as an alternative development model built on the narratives and memories of territories and communities. The article adopts a form of visual analysis that differentiates narrative from storytelling, since the Latin American perspective that interprets the climate crisis as a social problem is based on the signification of the past in a future perspective, a typical function of narrative and not storytelling. The emerging evidence reflects the idea that moving images become a barrier of biocultural and biosemiotic resistance, opening future research perspectives on the use of digital platforms and ecosystems as tools for counterbalancing and bottom-up care.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1789512</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1789512</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Visual identities and phygital branding in video games: symbolic consumption strategies among Spanish Generation Z]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-03-27T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Gema Bonales Daimiel</author><author>Sergio Gutiérrez-Manjón</author><author>Sergio Álvarez-García</author><author>Federico Peinado</author>
        <description><![CDATA[This study explores how Spanish university Generation Z students interpret phygital branding in video games and how these dynamics shape digital identity and symbolic consumption through avatars. Using a mixed-method design, it combines structured observation and comparative content analysis of five platforms (Zepeto, Roblox, Fortnite, Horizon Worlds, and Spatial) with two university focus groups. Results show differentiated strategies: Zepeto concentrates aspirational self-presentation via extreme customization and strong phygital continuity; Roblox displays the most intensive monetization and highest user participation; Fortnite stands out for brand integration through events and narrative spectacle; Horizon Worlds prioritizes immersive socialization and world-building with lower commercial pressure; and Spatial emphasizes hyperrealistic identity performance in cultural-professional contexts. Overall, findings indicate that phygital environments normalize spending on digital aesthetics, intensify social validation, and position the avatar as a key mediator of belonging, distinction, and desire.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1808537</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1808537</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Visual design and accessibility settings: an exploratory study on their role in technology adoption among older adults]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-03-26T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Raquel Ávila-Muñoz</author><author>David Alonso-González</author><author>Andrés Arias-Astray</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Mobile navigation is often perceived as simple and intuitive due to the apparent ease with which users can perform complex tasks. However, it remains a significant source of frustration for older adults, representing a substantial barrier to the adoption and appropriation of digital technologies. This study focuses on users aged 65 and older, a group that faces specific challenges such as difficulty performing certain gestures and interpreting the meaning of icons, with the visual style in which these are rendered being the most important factor. The research explores whether older adults are aware of and use accessibility settings, and to what extent these features enhance their user experience. Data were collected through two focus groups with participants aged 65 and older, with particular attention paid to their understanding of graphical user interface iconography in mobile apps and their ability to configure accessibility options. Findings reveal that activating accessibility features can, in some cases, negatively impact usability and user experience by altering the original visual design of the application. Moreover, many older users struggle to independently configure these settings. The study highlights the pivotal role of family members and close contacts as “warm experts” who assist older adults in the process of technology adoption.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1748774</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1748774</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Coding the ocean: methodological reflections on image-based grounded theory and visual content analysis in children's marine-themed drawings]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-03-16T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Ting-Yu Hou</author><author>Ming-Hung Cheng</author><author>Yao-Ju Wu</author><author>Shih-Min Liu</author>
        <description><![CDATA[This study explores children's conceptualizations of the ocean to bridge gaps in marine literacy assessment and overcome “textual bias” in traditional research. Integrating image-based grounded theory (IBGT), content analysis, and hermeneutics, we examined 954 drawings from a national competition in Taiwan through a four-phase analytical framework: compiling, disassembling, reassembling, and interpreting. The analysis identified 39 subcodes across three thematic dimensions, revealing significant age and gender differences; younger children favored imaginative and emotionally expressive imagery, while older children depicted more functional and socially interactive scenarios. These findings introduce the concept of “Visual Ocean Literacy” and position the “ship” as a symbolic link between humans and the sea. The results highlight critical gaps in marine industry awareness, offering insights for developing differentiated marine education curricula tailored to children's cognitive development.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1731105</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1731105</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Visualizing conflict: tracing aesthetic patterns in AI-generated images of the 2023 Israel-Hamas war]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-03-09T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Zenonas Theodosiou</author><author>Venetia Papa</author><author>Georgios E. Markou</author>
        <description><![CDATA[While much discussion is focused on the relation between generative artificial intelligence and visual culture, its implications for journalism and public perception require a more in-depth critical examination. This study examines 28 AI-generated images created using DALL-E and DeepAI tools by addressing the ways artificial intelligence constructs visual narratives of the 2023 Israel-Hamas conflict. By employing a visual discourse analysis combined with social actor theory, this essay explores how civilians are represented, categorized, and positioned within digitally rendered conflict imagery. The study highlights how AI-generated imagery reproduces dominant tropes from traditional war photography while simultaneously reshaping them within new technological frameworks. The analysis reveals that the AI-generated visuals consistently foreground the civilian experience, particularly focusing on themes of destruction, resilience, motherhood, and childhood, while omitting direct representations of the primary political actors involved in the conflict. This pattern likely reflects the characteristics of the data used to train contemporary generative AI systems, including biases toward humanitarian imagery and constraints that discourage the depiction of identifiable political actors, thereby privileging emotionally resonant civilian narratives over politically explicit representations.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1715497</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1715497</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Generative AI and the transformations of visual language: an experimental study of audiovisual production in Kuwait]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-02-27T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Mohammad Qudah</author><author>Husain A. Murad</author><author>Mohammed Habes</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming audiovisual production, yet empirical research on Gulf media ecosystems is limited. This study examines how generative AI reconfigures visual language in the Kuwaiti context, conceptualized as shifts in aesthetic conventions, stylistic patterning, and symbolic repertoires of audiovisual materials, rather than in narrative structures or production workflows, alongside audience negotiations of credibility regarding synthetic media. We constructed a multi-layered corpus of publicly accessible videos, audience comments, and metadata drawn from Kuwaiti audiovisual platforms and applied a Python-based computational research design. Visual change was operationalized using the Shot Dynamics Index (SDI), which captures pacing and editing rhythms, and the AI-Visual Index (AVI), measuring the prevalence of AI-associated visual cues. These visual measures were integrated with audience discourse analysis, including a Credibility Lexicon Score (CLS), topic modeling, sentiment analysis, and network-based diffusion, community, and centrality metrics. Descriptive fixed-effects models link these analytical layers without making causal claims and are supported by extensive robustness checks. The results showed that a sustained increase in AVI, partially decoupled from pacing (SDI), was accompanied by intensified verification discourse (higher CLS) and clustering around AI-tagged content within central network hubs and cross-platform bridging nodes. The study contributes cross-cultural evidence on algorithmic aesthetics and advances transparent, transferable measurement frameworks, highlighting provenance labeling and dialect-aware NLP as viable mechanisms for supporting credibility in AI-mediated audiovisual environments.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1759350</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1759350</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Non-verbal communication in financial reports: ethnic diversity, intersectionality, and the construction of meaning in facial images]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-02-16T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Tiago Alves Ferreira</author><author>Fabiola Jeldes</author><author>Rodrigo Ortiz-Henriquez</author>
        <description><![CDATA[This study investigates how companies visually represent ethnic diversity through facial imagery in financial reports and how such representations contribute to the construction of corporate identity and legitimacy through impression management. Drawing on social semiotics and impression management theory, the analysis examines whether these visual portrayals reflect substantive inclusion or function primarily as aesthetic forms of compliance with prevailing social expectations. Using a mixed-methods approach that combines qualitative and quantitative techniques, the dataset was compiled through web scraping of annual financial reports issued by firms regulated by the Chilean Financial Markets Commission (CMF) between 2004 and 2020. From 3,670 PDF reports, facial images were extracted and matched with firm-level data, yielding a final yearly sample of 2,085 reports from 234 unique firms. The results indicate that higher levels of displayed happiness and periods of stronger economic growth are associated with lower levels of ethnic diversity in visual disclosures. In addition, ethnic diversity shows limited intersection with stereotypical portrayals of women—typically depicted as young and smiling—pointing to the persistence of gendered and aestheticized visual patterns. Overall, the findings suggest that firms selectively mobilize visual diversity to signal inclusivity while simultaneously reproducing dominant norms embedded in corporate identity. This study contributes to research on visual corporate communication by providing large-scale evidence on intersectional diversity in financial reporting and highlighting the limitations of inclusion strategies based solely on visibility.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1629478</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1629478</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Reflection AI: teaching with AI: Facial Subjects and the politics of the face]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-02-13T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Perspective</category>
        <author>Lisa Åkervall</author>
        <description><![CDATA[This essay explores the pedagogical use of images generated by artificial intelligence (AI) to investigate the politics of facial representation. Through a media archaeological and visual culture lens, the essay outlines a classroom assignment, Facial Subjects, in which students generate photographic portraits using generative AI to critically examine how identity categories such as race, gender and class are constructed, mediated and encoded by machine learning (ML) systems. By comparing AI-generated portraits to archival and real-word photographic portraits, students engage in visual critique while developing media literacy in the analysis of images. The essay argues that teaching with AI-generated images provides new resources for critical media pedagogy and that comparing those images with archival and real-world portraits equips students with conceptual tools for thinking about questions of aesthetics, normativity, and bias central to film and media studies today. Through this exercise, teaching with AI becomes a method of inquiring into the ideological underpinnings of contemporary image systems while fostering experimental and critical approaches to media pedagogy.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1715887</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2026.1715887</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Self-representation, online identity, and visual framing of Spanish members of parliament on X]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-02-12T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Joan-Gabriel Burguera-Serra</author><author>Javier Sanz-Aznar</author><author>Maria Comabella-Costa</author>
        <description><![CDATA[IntroductionSelf-representation on social media has become a central mechanism through which political representatives construct their public image, simultaneously transforming political communication into all its dimensions. The aim of this study is to explore how the Spanish parliamentarians self-represent and construct their political image on X during the investiture of Pedro Sánchez.MethodsTo that end, a deductive content analysis is applied on the images posted by Spanish representatives present in the investiture of Pedro Sánchez, developed during 15–16th November of 2023.ResultsDuring the investiture sessions Spanish parliamentary representatives who had an active X account (90% of the total) published 204 self-representative images. The results revealed patterns in the way self-representation images are structured based on the parliamentarian’s political party affiliation.DiscussionThese findings show that most of Spanish MPs were active on X and tended to prioritize party-fidelity over individualization strategies, remaining loyal to the group image and adapting their visual self-representation in accordance with their affiliation. In addition, Spanish politicians variate their visual discourses between investiture sessions.ConclusionThis manuscript helps to understand the personalization of MP’s political image through social media and their impact on government actions, while it also highlights the necessity of inquiring into the political self-representation during in-situ events or outside media-focused periods.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1655343</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1655343</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Art for art's sake? The influence of art framing and context on the evaluation of immoral behaviour]]></title>
        <pubdate>2025-12-17T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Itay Goetz</author><author>Lara Bernhardt</author><author>Friederike Margareta Karg</author><author>Alexander (Sasha) Pastukhov</author><author>Claus-Christian Carbon</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Artists often challenge societal norms through their artworks; hence, red lines have notoriously been crossed throughout art history. This is particularly the case since the Renaissance, when artists were emancipated from craftspeople and began challenging beholders regarding visual habits, religious, and ethical norms. Because artworks possess a special status in our society, they are processed qualitatively differently from everyday life objects. Hence, they offer the opportunity for dialogue, disentangled from automatic evaluative heuristics and strict categories. We tested how labeling visual depictions of immoral acts as art vs. non-art affects the overall evaluation of such depictions. Furthermore, we explored the impact of presenting pictures in a physical art gallery on such evaluations. Participants (N = 140) were allocated into one of three viewing conditions: art-gallery, art-online, and non-art-online, where the same set of 20 pictures was presented. The pictures evoked similar adverse emotional reactions when shown as art and non-art, including in the gallery. Nevertheless, regarding beauty, interest and happiness rates, the pictures were evaluated higher when labeled art and even higher when presented in the gallery. Additionally, participants reported lower understanding rates and higher surprise rates for the art-labeled pictures, perhaps indicating that people were less likely to immediately apply standard heuristics and categorization routines when processing them. We conclude that art, especially when presented in typical art contexts, provides special conditions that invite beholders to challenge, adapt, and extend their habits. Art may offer a unique context for engaging with extreme or novel ideas, inviting reflection and even transformation.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1622613</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1622613</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Analysing of players’ perceptions on game aesthetics]]></title>
        <pubdate>2025-11-14T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Li-Chuan Evelyn Mai</author><author>Shuling Long</author><author>Yuan Yuan</author><author>Kun Fu</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Game aesthetics is a crucial multidimensional concept in understanding player experience within the gaming industry. However, limited empirical research has examined how players perceive game aesthetics and to what extent these perceptions vary among different player groups. To address this gap, this study employed a quantitative approach to identify the measures and the key dimensions of game aesthetics in Action Role-Playing Games (ARPGs), adopting the Mechanics–Dynamics–Aesthetics (MDA) framework to assess players’ perceptions of game aesthetics. A survey was conducted with 462 valid respondents who had prior experience playing ARPGs. The results demonstrated that the “Aesthesis” dimension was perceived as the most important aspect of game aesthetics, followed by “Story,” “Venture,” and “Connection.” These results indicate that visual and auditory design, narrative content, gameplay structure, and social interaction are key factors influencing players’ aesthetic experiences. Furthermore, ARPG Players with different educational backgrounds, game experiences, monthly game expenses, and playtime may perceive game aesthetics differently. Players’ perceptions of game aesthetics were also found to influence their acceptance of games, which subsequently affects their willingness to purchase or recommend them to others.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1678575</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1678575</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Guillermo Gómez-Peña’s performance praxis as decolonial public pedagogy: deconstructing borders, redefining identities, and decolonizing the gaze]]></title>
        <pubdate>2025-11-10T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Brief Research Report</category>
        <author>Laura Balán</author>
        <description><![CDATA[This article clarifies and emphasizes Guillermo Gómez-Peña and La Pocha Nostra’s long-standing articulation of performance as decolonial pedagogy, foregrounding their praxis not merely as activism or artistic provocation but as a sustained, embodied, and public form of decolonial education. The analysis highlights how Gómez-Peña’s own publications—including Exercises for Rebel Artists (2011) and La Pocha Nostra: A Handbook for the Rebel Artist (2021)—articulate the work as decolonial in essence, though its pedagogical dimensions have often remained underexamined in scholarship. Drawing on postcolonial theory (Bhabha, Said, Spivak), borderlands scholarship (Anzaldúa), performance studies (Schechner, Taylor), critical pedagogy (Freire, Giroux, Hooks), and visuality/colonial optics (Mirzoeff, Rancière), as well as recent dialogues in Global Performance Studies (2022) on decolonization and performance, the article situates Gómez-Peña’s hybrid personae, border praxis, and audience-engaged strategies as practices of radical citizenship that teach through disruption, disorientation, and imaginative intervention. His performances collapse the spectator/performer binary, mobilize linguistic and cultural hybridity as epistemic tools, and interrogate the colonial gaze by reworking the conditions of visibility and authenticity. The study argues that his work operates as public pedagogy, creating civic spaces where knowledge production, identity negotiation, and anti-colonial consciousness coalesce in performative encounter, illuminating the pedagogical intentionality that has always been central to La Pocha Nostra’s ethos.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1643776</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1643776</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Visualising climate change narratives: a comparative analysis of framing strategies on AlMamlaka TV and Jordan TV]]></title>
        <pubdate>2025-09-03T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Abd Allah Aljalabneh</author>
        <description><![CDATA[IntroductionClimate change disproportionately impacts developing nations by exacerbating existing vulnerabilities and intensifying extreme weather events, posing significant socio-economic and environmental challenges. This study investigates the framing strategies utilised by two prominent Jordanian television broadcasters, namely AlMamlaka TV and Jordan TV, to shape public perceptions of climate change.MethodsThe study employs a convergent parallel mixed-methods design that integrates quantitative visual content analysis with qualitative inductive thematic analysis. The study examined a total of 108 video clips related to climate change, published by the official YouTube channels of the two broadcasters during 2023. The quantitative analysis focused on the frequency of visual imagery, tone, guest representation, and framing categories. In parallel, a qualitative component was undertaken to explore the symbolic dimensions, affective cues, and editorial logics embedded in the media narratives.ResultsThe analysis suggests that both channels tended to adopt problem-oriented frames; however, AlMamlaka TV appeared to place greater emphasis on solutions-focused narratives, expert commentary, and emotionally resonant imagery. In contrast, Jordan TV maintained a more neutral and fact-driven approach. Their coverage emphasises governmental perspectives and local impacts. These variations highlight divergent institutional strategies and their implications for audience engagement.DiscussionThe findings illustrate the complex role of media institutions in mediating climate change discourse within the Jordanian context. The differences between AlMamlaka TV and Jordan TV indicate how editorial policies and institutional identities shape framing practices. This has broader implications for how audiences interpret climate risks and possible responses. Moreover, these results suggest that the presence of solutions-oriented narratives may enhance public trust and engagement with climate communication.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1605655</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1605655</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Data visualization in AI-assisted decision-making: a systematic review]]></title>
        <pubdate>2025-08-14T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Systematic Review</category>
        <author>Giulia Neri</author><author>Shevyn Marshall</author><author>Harry Kai-Ho Chan</author><author>Abdallah Yaghi</author><author>Dash Tabor</author><author>Rahul Sinha</author><author>Suvodeep Mazumdar</author>
        <description><![CDATA[IntroductionThis study examines the utilization, challenges, and design principles of data visualization approaches, focusing on their applications within AI-assisted decision-making contexts, by reviewing relevant literature. We explore the types of visualization approaches used and the challenges users face. We also examine key visual elements that influence understanding and the evaluation methods used to assess these visualizations.MethodsA systematic literature review (SLR) adhering to PRISMA protocols was carried out across five major academic databases, resulting in 127 relevant studies published from 2011 to July 2024. We synthesize insights from existing visualization approaches used in decision-making, and evaluates key aspects such as usability, interactivity, accessibility, and cognitive load management.ResultsWe identified a range of visualization forms including charts, graphs, dashboards, and interactive platforms aimed at enhancing data exploration and insight extraction. The identified challenges include achieving a balance between complexity and usability, fostering intuitive design, and providing sufficient training to aid accurate interpretation of complex data. Specific visual elements, such as color usage, symbolic representation, and data density control, are highlighted as essential for enhancing user comprehension and supporting effective decision-making. Interactive and customizable visualizations tailored to individual cognitive styles proved especially effective. We further underscore the importance of diverse evaluation methods, including usability testing, surveys, and cognitive assessments, to iteratively refine visualization approaches based on user feedback.DiscussionOur findings suggest that users benefit most from customizable, interactive approaches that cater to varied cognitive preferences and incorporate continuous training to reduce interpretive biases. This research contributes to best practice development for designing accessible, effective visualization approaches suited to the complex decision-making needs in data-centric environments.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1584156</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1584156</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Visual storytelling and cultural connection in GCC social media advertising]]></title>
        <pubdate>2025-08-13T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Khaled Mostafa M. Mohamed</author>
        <description><![CDATA[IntroductionSocial media has transformed brand communication in the GCC, making culturally relevant visual storytelling essential for effective engagement.MethodsA cross-sectional online survey was conducted among 231 participants across the six GCC countries to examine perceptions of visual storytelling in social media advertising.ResultsFindings revealed a strong preference for culturally aligned, narrative-driven visual content on platforms like Instagram and TikTok. Key elements such as color, authentic imagery, and cultural symbols significantly enhanced consumer trust and engagement.DiscussionThe study underscores the importance of culturally sensitive visual narratives in enhancing brand credibility and consumer loyalty in GCC markets.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1619510</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1619510</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Differentiated impacts of image samples on creative performance in cultural tourism product design]]></title>
        <pubdate>2025-07-30T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Lun Wei</author><author>Hui Wu</author><author>Mingzhu Yu</author><author>Xuan Qin</author><author>Wenpei Zhang</author>
        <description><![CDATA[PurposeCreativity plays a pivotal role in the design of cultural tourism products. This study investigates the impact of different types of image samples on enhancing the creative performance in cultural tourism product design, and and clarifies the practical role of image samples in design inspiration.MethodsA total of 66 design students were recruited and randomly assigned to three groups of 22 each. The samples of cultural tourism product design were categorized into three types: historical site, local culture and natural landscape. Each group was tasked with designing a cultural tourism product based on different samples (historical site, local culture and natural landscape). The design process was divided into three stages, corresponding to three dimensions of creativity and the related seven assessment indicators: idea generation stage—divergent thinking (fluency and flexibility indicators), idea aggregation stage—convergent thinking (adaptability and feasibility indicators), and final design performance stage—design creativity (novelty, aesthetic and practicality indicators).ResultsThe results indicate that historical site and local culture samples significantly contribute to stage 1—divergent thinking (on fluency and flexibility indicators, respectively), while natural landscape contributes to stage 3–design creativity (on both novelty and aesthetics indicators).ConclusionThis study reveals the unique role of image samples in the cultural tourism product design process and emphasizes the necessity of selecting samples based on design stages or creativity dimensions. These findings inform teaching practices, optimizing students’ innovation and cultural expression skills.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1567694</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1567694</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Art, community and AI: images for an affective memory]]></title>
        <pubdate>2025-06-25T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Jacob Bañuelos Capistrán</author><author>Diego Zavala Scherer</author><author>Nohemí Lugo Rodríguez</author>
        <description><![CDATA[This research examines the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) image generation technologies for humanistic applications, specifically focusing on the creation, reconstruction, and reinvention of nonexistent visual archives through which communities can restore affective and identity-based memories. The theoretical framework draws from multiple perspectives: affect theory of postmemory, techno-aesthetic and affective apparatus theory, the concept of insubordination of signs, distribution of the sensible, and theories of affective memory and visual archives. Through case study analysis, this investigation examines the creative, ethical, and theoretical-methodological strategies employed in four artistic and experimental projects, each driven by distinct aesthetic, emotional, political, activist, and vindicatory objectives. The research identifies three distinct levels of intervention in fractured memory through AI: the socio-political (evidenced in projects addressing historical invisibility and state violence), the community-cultural (manifested in projects recovering cultural traditions), and the therapeutic-personal (focused on individual memory restoration). The findings demonstrate the significant potential for expanding generative AI applications toward emotional repair, memory reinvention, and transformation of established sentiment structures, introducing the original concepts of “algorithmic postmemory” as a framework for understanding AI’s active role in memory construction and “affective symbolic documentalism” for comprehending the testimonial value of AI-generated imagery. These applications challenge dominant discourses that render specific social collectives invisible within society while offering new methodological approaches for the restoration of fractured memories and historical healing.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1507385</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1507385</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Digital elevation models, old maps, and cultural heritage—geospatial assets for the digital humanities]]></title>
        <pubdate>2025-05-01T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Methods</category>
        <author>Britta Ricker</author>
        <description><![CDATA[A spatial approach to the digital humanities connects tangible geographic sources from the past with clues found in the present-day landscape. Landscapes inspire both regional and national identity, while elevation maps can foster understanding of these landscapes. Digital elevation models (DEM) visualized with effective cartographic design principles can reveal spatial patterns that humans and nature have left in the landscape, and that may otherwise go unnoticed. Different types of DEMs are useful for comparing with old maps, thereby highlighting environmental relationships with cultural heritage. Cartography, the art and science of mapmaking, is riddled with decisions when creating a narrative to communicate cultural heritage. In this example from the Netherlands, I illustrate how this exploratory process can reveal minute spatial patterns that demonstrate years of incredible control over the rivers in the landscape and can serve as artifacts that illuminate examples of cultural heritage. Modifying DEM can lead to valuable digital literacy skills and cartographic communication, while also sparking critical thinking about cultural heritage. This type of precision mapping could be an asset to the digital humanities.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1577425</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1577425</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Shanzhai pictorial anti-essentialism: Varejão’s depictions of Brazilian indigenous people]]></title>
        <pubdate>2025-04-29T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Laura Balán</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Drawing on Critical Visual Discourse Analysis to examine how images reflect, produce, and challenge power relations, this paper analyzes how Adriana Varejão’s Invitation Figures I and II negotiate with historical scopic regimes and visual rhetorics of Otherness, identifying mechanisms of interpellation and viewer inclusion. I argue that Varejão’s strategy of appropriating 16th-, 17th-, and 18th-century artworks depicting Brazilian Indigenous peoples can be understood through the concept of shanzhai, as developed by Byung-Chul Han. Rather than imitating, shanzhai creations intervene in, parody, and transform original works, becoming more original than the original by addressing present concerns. This perspective contrasts with readings of her work as merely anthropophagic or simulacral. Understanding these artworks as shanzhai interventions enables an anti-essentialist reading of indigeneity in Brazil—one that challenges the racial and civilizational narratives historically used to naturalize subaltern social roles. I propose that Varejão’s images reveal how memory and imagination about the other and the self emerge as sedimented traces—constantly updated, cut, forgotten, and reassembled through the lens of the present. In this reconstruction of history, forgeries, copies, and shanzhai artifacts can carry as much epistemic weight as official documents, subverting dominant narratives and proposing alternative ways of seeing and knowing.]]></description>
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