The is the example of representation in visual message. It connects to what we see on the cover. The visual message is very direct that this book cover is just showing the photograph of Yao Ming and Tiananmen Square. This is the direct reporting of visual details. When viewers look at the image, they can know that it is something aboaut Yao Ming and China instantly. It also makes the viewers to think everything about Yao MIng.
This is an abstract painting from the scan of Jean Metzinger's oil painting Still Life. Many of the visual details are taken away and visual elements are reduced. The message is depending how people percieve from the compostion and its structure. This painting I is a presentation of a group of objects on a table. Viewers can only recognize it by some parts of its compostion. The message is distilled to show the meaning of "still life" only.
This an example of applying symbolishm. There are many arrows on the cover and all of them are symbols. Thery are just shapes that combine triangle and rectangle, but people recognize them as arrows. Arrows are the symbols for direction. The arrows on the book cover are all point up and it suggest the meaning of moving up. The visual communication of this cover is simple and universal. Views can easily understand its message.
Reference
http://www.artsmia.org/mia/e_images/06/mia_6862e.jpg
