Research with teenagers
Between 2023 and 2025, the Photographic Social Vision Foundation conducted a pioneering study in Catalonia on how adolescents relate to images in a society oversaturated with them.
This project was supported by the European Visual Trust project of the University of Barcelona and received key funding from the Banc Sabadell Foundation.
Visual education and adolescence
Thanks to the participation of nearly 2,000 young people between the ages of 12 and 19, we have analyzed how adolescents produce, consume, and interpret images in the digital age, and how gender, geographical location, and socioeconomic factors influence their visual literacy.
The results offer a unique perspective on their relationship with images and reveal gaps in visual education, with significant educational and cultural implications.
Does living surrounded by images mean they understand them? How do they produce and interpret photographs? How can we help them develop better visual literacy?
Results of a pioneering investigation
We present here the results of the report “Visual Literacy and Adolescence,” which we published on 2025.
Below, you can download an executive summary, which describes the most relevant aspects of the research, as well as the full report.
Visual literacy, a project for the future
The results of our research demonstrate that there is significant room for improvement in visual literacy education for adolescents.
In this regard, the Photographic Foundation is already working on a pilot program of training and educational resources in visual literacy, designed for direct implementation in classrooms.
We believe it is urgent to focus on visual literacy to strengthen young people’s critical thinking and equip them with the tools to understand and create images more consciously and responsibly.