When you read a written text analytically, you examine its parts from different angles, synthesize the material by combining it with related information, and finally evaluate or judge its significance. When you interpret an image, you do much the same, actively examining what the image connotes or suggests, speculating about what it means.

Because interpretation is more personal than observation, this process can reveal deep-seated individual and cultural values. In fact, interpreting an image is sometimes emotional or difficult because it may require you to examine beliefs that you are unaware of holding. You may even feel that too much is being read into the image because the process takes patience.

Like learning to read critically, learning to interpret images is a valuable skill. When you give an image a close, patient, in-depth examination, you can often deepen your understanding of its creator’s artistic, political, economic, or other motives. You can also become more aware of the cultural values and personal views you bring to an image and gain a better sense of why you respond to it as you do.