Studying visual literacy means understanding the process of formal analysis of art or architecture. Formal analysis includes identifying who, what, when, where, why, and how, along with analyzing the formal elements of line, color, medium, texture, shape, and space. When formally analyzing art or architecture, visual and aesthetic qualities, composition, movement, scale, light, mood, meaning and style must also be taken into consideration. Formal art and architecture analysis is what an artist or expert critic uses to form an opinion about a piece. Identification, formal elements, and visual and aesthetic qualities are the foundation on which a person builds an educated opinion. Visual literacy can be defined as a way of using sight to evaluate, apply, or create. Education, art history, art criticism, philosophy, graphic designers, and more use the term "visual literacy" to mean different things. The term is widely contested throughout the art world. Wikipedia defines it as “The ability to interpret, negotiate, and derive meaning from information presented in image form (Visual Literacy, 2011).” There are many definitions used to define the term and all are lacking, it's like trying to fit ten pounds into a two pound bag. No one definition will suffice to encompass the full scope of what visual literacy means. Normally sighted people think of visual literacy as how we interpret and decode meaning in advertising, signage, art, and so on. This visual literacy course taught me that the term "visual literacy" can be modified depending on the individual's sense of sight. Examining three different cases in Oliver Sacks An Anthropologist on Mars; Seven paradoxical tales, “The C...... middle of paper...... These cases offer us the opportunity to question tradition, helping to broaden our horizons. Visual literacy is defined not only as what we see but also what is perceived. James Elkins comes closest to the best description of visual literacy: “Understanding how people perceive objects. Interpret what they see and what they learn from them. Being visually literate means having the ability to use the visual world around you to create and interpret from. Works CitedElkins, J (2010) The concept of visual literacy and its limits, in: Visual Literacy. New York, New York: Routledge. (217) Sacks, O. (1995) An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales. New York, New York: Vintage Books. (3-41,107-152,188 - 243) Visual literacy. (February 22, 2011). Retrieved June 5, 2011, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_literacy