Spatiality is especially important in the use of graphic displays for analysis and synthesis. For each of the three types of analysis identified by Upton 10 there is a primary graphic device. For classification, in which objects or events are analyzed by features and then sorted into categories, the matrix is the primary graphic device. With lines forming rows and columns that intersect to form cells (graphic "pidgeonholes"), information can be sorted into various cells to fit category headings of columns and rows. The white space of an empty cell serves as an information processing aid, and reminds one to look for information that might fit the cell .11

For structural analysis, in which the relative location of objects and/or their parts is of importance, pictures, schematics, block diagrams tree structures, or similar devices that display information spatially are the primary tools of analysis. Devices such as tables of contents and indexes display the relationships among the parts (chapters) and contents (indexed terms) of a text to the total book.

For process or procedural analysis, in which the sequencing of events over time is the object of analysis, the flow chart is the primary graphic device. With the use of special symbols such as arrowheads, the steps required to accomplish some task can be arrayed spatially, read sequentially and guide the task performance of the reader.

With each of these graphic tools, the products of analysis are synthesized into a new display in which the spatial aspect of the graphic display permits and facilitates important information processing functions. A large amount of the success of such displays reflects the fact that they take advantage of visual perception. For instance, things grouped together in close proximity tend to be perceived as distinct from other things and as belonging to one another. This is a useful method for uniting perceptual and semantic "chunking" to aid in overcoming memory load and for organizing information for learning, as in the use of "mind maps" or other forms of semantic networks .12

In Canada, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada discusses the Essential Skill of Document Use and states that it “refers to tasks that involve a variety of information displays in which words, numbers, icons, and other visual characteristics (e.g., line, colour, shape) are given meaning by their spatial arrangement. Workplace examples of documents include graphs, lists, tables blueprints, schematics, drawings, signs and labels.”

3. Light. The third major feature of graphics technology that is drawn on in literacy is the use of light. The marks that are made to produce such graphic symbols as written or printed words, numbers, arrowheads in procedural flow charts, the white space of the cells in a table (matrix) and so forth are constructed by structuring the light that leaves the surface of the graphic medium such that the eye can detect the structure in the display.

The properties of light that are used most in graphics technology are brightness and color. Brightness provides the contrast that makes writing possible. That is, the "black" of the line of writing (or type) is in contrast to the "white" background. Brightness provides contrast that can be used in conjunction with permanence and spatiality to aid information processing, such as the use of "white space" in arranging information spatially on pages to facilitate semantic "chunking" for learning.