Most usually words and images are used together; either text or image may dominate, or each may have its meaning determined by the other. Some of the most sophisticated examples of graphic design have relied on the precision of words to give an exact meaning to an ambiguous image.
When printed, the word, as a form of recorded speech, loses a whole range of expression and inflection. Contemporary graphic designers (and particularly their precursors, the Futurists) have tried to break this limitation. By increasing or reducing the relative sizes, weights and position of the letters, their typography can give a voice to the text. There is an instinctive urge to do more than merely convey a message, a desire to give that message a unique character.
Context also determines the sense of the design and how it is read. One of the best-known modern graphic designs - ' i love new york ' a mixture of pictogram and alphabetic signs, depends for its message on an agreed understanding of meaning and convention.