Can you imagine a world without drawings, where the only way of education and learning is purely text without graphic references?
Even as adults it seems a bit unthinkable, or even boring also for those of us who enjoy constantly learning.
And if this is the case for us, can you imagine for children? A total nightmare! And it is not only about illustration and image as something aesthetic to make a document more beautiful, although its contribution to the aesthetics of any text is clear, it goes much further…it is a learning tool since historical times!
Can you imagine being in pre-k learning to read without a graphic reference of its meaning?
Before we can read, we understand stories and the world through illustrations. Illustrated books are the first invitation to the world of reading because by knowing the story through images, you want to know what the words say.
In an illustration, we first see the whole, then the details, and then we return to the full picture and the process starts again, and so on, throughout the whole book.
The illustrations emphasize the message that is transmitted and is defined in a tool to educate on artistic, historical, scientific, social topics, biographies, as well as narratives and fiction.
For us, working on material for Guatemalans from every corner of the country is a very important tool. We have to be aware that we live in a multicultural country, we have 22 languages and many communities only use their own language without any knowledge of Spanish, and if This is added to an illiteracy rate of 18.5% nationwide. Illustrations are definitely a learning tool!
Imagine you finally get a book on a subject you’ve always wanted to learn, but when you open it, it’s in German, or Danish, or some language you just don’t understand at all, and it just has lots and lots of text. I think the natural reaction would be to be frustrated, to let it go.
But what if this book was full of illustrations and diagrams? Even if you do not understand 100% of the content of the book, the most likely thing is that the learning will be effective, that you can process the information through the images and you will be left with new knowledge, even with the curiosity to continue learning and look for more resources to understand more and better the subject.
In conclusion, illustration is a tool for education not only for children, but for everyone, since it is a universal language, it does not know a language barrier, it does not matter if you did not have access to literacy, images have always been able to speak for themselves.
