The interplay between language and images in various media

The texts we face today often consist of many different elements: body text, headings, pictures, captions, lists, quotes, charts, graphs. It is also more common that we get information from online sources. But we still know very little about how the reading process looks like and how readers connect information from different linguistic and pictorial sources in order to create meaning.

What is taught about readers’ interaction with complex texts are often only assumptions. In order to follow the reading process in detail, we need an advanced measurement technique (eye-tracking) in combination with interviews and surveys. I have used such an interdisciplinary approach in my research and present our results for the first time to a wider readership.

In the book Myths and facts about reading. On the interaction between language and images in various media (Norstedts 2010), assumptions and opinions on reading behaviour are confronted with the results of our new empirical research. We show how readers actually behave when they read various printed and digital documents, and we give examples of how to make it easier for readers to find and understand information and navigate in the documents. The book contains practical recommendations for the design of printed and digital documents that consist of language, images and other graphic resources. The book also gives recommendations on how to create more reader-friendly texts.

The book is used as textbook in a dozen courses around Sweden.