Visual Perception Analysis

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1. Short Description
1.1 Definition, origin
Visual perception is the ability to interpret the surrounding environment by processing information that is contained in visible light (Visual perception, 2016a). The resulting perception is also known as eyesight or vision. However, what people see is not simply a translation of retinal stimuli (i.e., the image on the retina) (Visual perception, 2016b). Aesthetic experience of visual perception can therefore be conceptualised in three levels: sensory perception (environmental stimuli), cognition, meanings and values that the viewer may associate with this typology (Gjerde, 2010).
The Analysis of visual perception is a method to clarify visual information in physical environment, thus parsing human’s …show more content…

Recent developments in mobile Augmented Reality go further and allow to overlay digital visualisations showing proposed future changes on top of the existing environment as experienced in the field. Thus providing a multi-sensory experience. This has the potential to lead to new routes in landscape assessment (Lange et al., 2012).

Different methods of analyzing visual perception:
Physical & Psychological paradigms:
¥ Mapping
¥ Mental map-Kevin Lynch
¥ Photograph analysis
¥ Questionnaires
¥ Virtual stimulation
¥ ……
Characteristic differences in visual stimuli include color, shape, size, quantity, direction, and distance.

1.4 Instructions for application, steps
People constantly read the city and get visual information, but what in the city triggers a sense of identity or special feeling for the space? How can we react to the existing situation and create new spaces that echo people’s perception/impression?
Some Instructions can be concluded:

1. Combine the basic theory and space scales mentioned above.
2. Refine components of visual perception.
3. Analyze photographs of different viewpoints from aspects e.g. visual elements, directionality, color composition.
4. Get the visual perception characteristics of different viewpoints and classify the different characteristics of the …show more content…

Thus give guidance to conscious intervention in designing process.

The crux of learning and applying this method is to decompose the composition of visual perception, be aware of how pedestrains would perceived the space visually and thus how to make conscious intervention.

1.5 Strengths and limitations
Strengths: Visual perception analysis jumps out of the box of macro-scale analysis of city and highlights the importance of human’s perspective and cognition in space perceiving process, which criticizes the trend studying cities with too much emphasis on the figure-ground relationship. What’s more, in this method, visual perception factors are taken into consideration when evaluating and analyzing urban space. Human experience in the space is emphasized and regarded as important as mental map, which is more real and concrete.

Limitations: The approaches relying on 2D images fail to fully express the multi-dimensional information perceived in human’s eyes and brain from the dynamic environment, which is much more complicated than simple images and will be combined and filtered by personal experiences and cultural background. All in all, unilateral visual perception cannot fully reflect a comprehensive perception from dynamic

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