This text provides an accessible critical introduction to a variety of different analytic strategies for understanding the range of objects (paintings, sculpture, adverts, furniture, textiles, photography, fashion, etc.) that make up visual culture. Beginning with a discussion of what understanding can be taken to mean in relation to visual culture, it devotes separate chapters to different approaches to its study, using examples to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of these. The major figures associated with particular analytic strategies (Hebdige, Panofsky, Barthes, Wolff, etc.) are critically discussed throughout. Alternative, more advanced readings are also explored and crucial questions posed, such as "Are we always, or ever, in control of our understanding?"

马尔科姆·巴纳德，英国德比大学艺术和设计史高级讲师，此前曾在约克大学和沃里克大学研究法国哲学。主要研究兴趣集中在法国现代哲学、广告、时装和视觉文化等方面。除《理解视觉文化的方法——文化和传播译丛》外，他还著有《艺术、设计以及视觉文化》（1998）和《作为传达的时装》（1996）。