Examination of pictograms in terms of visual literacy in graphic design

In today's World, graphic design enters every area of life. It is used in many different fields for the purpose of informing and directing the individual and the society. In these design products, there are some considerations that need to be taken into consideration to enable the message that is intended to be given to the audience. A randomly generated design product does not succeed in effectively reaching the target audience for the message. Pictograms designed according to a universal level of perception effectively convey the desired message and become a powerful means of communication. Perception of generated pictogram designs is also directly related to the level of visual literacy. Visual literacy includes the ability to read and understand the message that is intended to be given. Visual literacy for the individual is a developmental process. The way in which a community living anywhere in the world, the smallest part of that community, perceives and makes sense of the images differs. The designer's goal is to be clear and to convey the message he wants to give to people of different sociocultural structures by using a common language in his design. For this purpose, the designer tries to achieve his goal by obtaining a guide to the basic design principles and elements that are accepted by the world and founded on Universal foundations. All applications made in graphic design are visual communication tools that have been used for centuries and have an important place in today's life. Pictograms that appear in every aspect of our daily life are intended to create a common visual language that people from all walks of life can understand. Pictograms, which aim to reach all segments in the easiest and most understandable way, are constructed visually based on the idea of delivering messages in the most effective and short time. The tool examined in this thesis by experts in the field samples a strong message pictogram, pictograms selected to determine the effectiveness in terms of clarity of the level of visual literacy has been studied. In this research, the main structural content of the thesis, such as problem status, purpose of the research, importance of the research, limitations of the research and assumptions, were mentioned in the introduction section of the thesis. In the first part, the definition, birth, historical development, design concept, design principles and elements of graphic design are examined in detail. In the second part of the thesis, the concept of pictograms, the concept of historical development and manipulation, the concept of literacy, and the concept of visual literacy in pictograms were examined in detail. Changing technologies have also affected visual literacy. In this context, the importance and history of visual literacy are discussed and the ways in which visual perception and understanding should be followed are explained through selected pictograms. Review of pictograms from the point of view of visual literacy is given the opinions of experts. It was analyzed how a graphic designer chose the elements he used, according to which principles and elements he put together, so that the pictograms encountered every day in our daily lives are clear and understandable. In addition, graphic design, which is an art of visual communication, is also explained how the message intended to be given to the audience can become more effective and how to understand and interpret the concept of visual literacy and its purpose of use. In the third part, the basic structural content of the thesis, such as the model of the research, the universe and sampling, data collection techniques and data analysis, is mentioned. In the fourth part of the thesis, 25 pictograms were selected; visual literacy levels were determined with the "expert opinion form" answered by 33 experts and the data were tabulated. In the results and Recommendations section, the visual literacy levels of pictograms, which are evaluated according to basic design principles and elements based on the opinion of experts in the field, are explained.