Role of de-familiarization Approach to Visual Signs in Strengthening the Effectiveness of the Health Message

De-familiarization is one of the most important practical concepts in artistic and literary theory which was first coined by the Russian thinker, Viktor Shklovsky in his essay “Art as Device”. The objects and structures are drowned in everyday life and thus the rules of perception, actions, and speech become automatized for us. Therefore, it seems that we can transfer the intended messages in the form of signs that are effective in revitalizing a new sense of life and objects in individuals and boosting their health. A sign has a material form and refers to something outside of itself; it is the material expression of a substitute for objects, phenomena and concepts used in the process of conscious exchange. Among different kinds of signs, visual sign is the representation of something possessing a hidden and implicit meaning that needs to be interpreted and deciphered by the audience. It is crucial to note that considering the sign system in visual signs not only links its relation to different processes of individual perception, but also amplifies the significance of utilizing it in order to create and improve health communication. Health communication is the study and practice of communicative techniques to promote awareness and influence the individual and collective behaviors that improve health in society. Meanwhile, health communication provides the appropriate space for health promotions that will pave the way for educating, convincing, and raising awareness of individuals in their encounter with different subjects. The category of media messages that addresses individual and collective health including healthy lifestyle is known as health promotion. This study attempts to create the significant role of visual and conceptual signs by de-familiarizing and examining the relationship between them. This always includes two distinct fields of mind and behavior: behavioral health refers to the effects of observable actions and the behaviors that are revealed through external factors; mental health includes the effects resulting from unobservable factors which are completely subjective and internal. It is essential to note that the relation between behavioral and mental health is always complementary because behavioral health depends on mental health and reveals different results in the encounter with various communicative fields and aspects and processes of perception. In all communicative fields, the movement is from recognition to perception and values and beliefs change before the behavior changes. Here the question is that on which visual approaches, de-familiarization based on the principle of making the visual signs different is founded and by which aspects of individual perception its effects on health promotion are explained in relation to the type of message?The results showed that familiarity with the shape of the sign, the position of the sign and especially the sign, has a significant positive relationship and a direct effect on strengthening the health message. Also Familiarity with the role of mediators of mental and objective perception also has a significant positive relationship and indirect effect on strengthening the health message.