On the afternoon of May 27, the fourth session of the “Arts Education Workshop” series organized by the School of Fine Arts at Nanjing Normal University was held in Room 401 of Xuezheng Building on the Xianlin Campus. Professor Yu Yang, master’s supervisor at the School of Digital Media and Design Arts, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, was invited to deliver a lecture titled “The Relationship Between Images and Text in Art Textbooks.” Combining forward-looking perspectives with reflections on teaching practice, the lecture offered faculty members and students new insights into the changing role of art textbooks in contemporary education.

Professor Yu opened the lecture by addressing the challenges currently facing art textbooks in primary and secondary education. He argued that an art textbook is not simply “a language textbook with illustrations,” but a central medium for arts education. With the rapid development of information technology, today’s students have entered the “Alpha Generation” as true “digital natives.” Their perception and aesthetic experience are increasingly shaped by an unprecedented abundance of visual information, making conventional textbook formats less suited to their learning needs.

In an age of information overload, traditional art textbooks that rely primarily on printed, two-dimensional, and static content are becoming increasingly disconnected from contemporary students’ visual experience and learning habits. Using a lesson on Notre-Dame de Paris from a textbook published by People’s Education Press as an example, Professor Yu demonstrated how immersive digital technologies such as AR and VR can transform static combinations of image and text into three-dimensional structures and dynamic digital experiences. He noted that the growing richness of online resources stands in sharp contrast to the static presentation of conventional textbooks, prompting art educators to explore innovative approaches and develop modern teaching materials that are richer in content and better adapted to contemporary learning environments.

Professor Yu then examined the contemporary reinterpretation of images from several perspectives. In terms of aesthetics, he compared Chinese and international textbooks, as well as textbooks from the 1950s, to trace changing aesthetic preferences across different historical periods and cultural contexts. Turning to the reconstruction of cultural symbols, he discussed ways of deconstructing and reorganizing images drawn from traditional folk art. He emphasized that textbook design should move beyond formal and graphic considerations to encourage deeper dialogue with the cultural meanings embodied in images. From a technological perspective, he observed that there remains considerable room for improvement in the digital transformation of art textbooks and suggested that the development of new forms of art teaching materials will become an important area of future research in art education. He also invited the audience to consider a broader question: how can art education cultivate professionals with strong capabilities in image creation? This question, he suggested, has important implications for both disciplinary development and the training of future art educators.

Addressing image selection and information visualization in art textbooks, Professor Yu outlined common relationships between text and image as well as key principles for selecting visual materials. He stressed that textbook design creates meaning through the establishment of clear visual rules. When selecting images, editors should ensure that visual materials accurately represent artists and their work in appropriate contexts. In page design, backgrounds should remain simple and consistent to minimize visual distraction, while color relationships should be carefully coordinated. He also introduced a set of practical principles for textbook design, including the use of grids to organize page layouts, the creation of intuitive visual pathways, the establishment of clear hierarchies between images and text, and the systematic grouping of different types of content. Clearly organized visual sequences can, for example, guide students through painting procedures and examples of artworks, helping them absorb information efficiently and develop a better understanding of the material.

Through comparisons of Chinese and international textbooks, multimedia case studies, and data-based analysis, the lecture highlighted the growing need to rethink art textbooks in the digital age. Professor Yu’s discussion of the relationship between images and text not only broadened participants’ perspectives on the development of art curriculum resources and visual information design, but also offered practical approaches for future teaching design, textbook development, and research into the integration of emerging media in art education.