Visual Thinking Research

 The visual thinking operation used for this puzzle was visual reasoning and kinesthetic imagery. My partner and I both found ourselves tracing over the shape with out fingers before attempting to complete the puzzle. By the end we found that you could really only start the shape in one spot in order to complete the shape without overlap. We often found ourselves thinking "well it has to go this way next otherwise it wont work", which is an example of this visual reasoning. 

 For this puzzle our brains went straight to matching which is a type of pattern seeking. We used the "long" way of preforming matching which was to look at each design detail by detail to find all the pairs, and then we were left with the one design that did not have a pair. 

Meaning 2: Interactions Between the 3 Levels of Meaning

In the above advertisement, from the Australian Post, which states "If you really want to touch someone, send them a letter", we can find all three examples of meaning: representational, abstract, and symbolic. The representational aspect of this advertisement is shown by the image easily recognized as a written letter. The abstract aspect is seen by the letter reaching out and hugging the woman in the image. This instills the idea in the viewer that writing and sending someone a letter is just as satisfying as giving them a hug, but it is still understood that a letter can not actually reach out and hug someone. Finally, the symbolic meaning that can be found in this advertisement is that people like to be comforted and letters are comforting. By showing a page of writing engaging in a personal interaction with the person, such as a hug, it allows us to get the deeper meaning at hand. That meaning being, writing to someone you care about shows them you care about them. I think this advertisement does an excellent job of conveying its message in a fun and inviting way.