Realistic colour visuals are considered closest in format to entertainment visuals and, as a result, they are often judged as the least suitable. A hot medium is high in definition and low in viewer involvement. A cool medium is low in information output and requires more viewer interpretation. In this context characteristics such as realism and colour are seen as causing an image to be too easily understood and restrains new ways of seeing in the viewer. In the popular press this argument is present in criticism against the colourization of classic movies.
Visual literacy is the viewpoint which advocates the use of realistic visuals in instruction.
The more realism which is present in an image, the more the viewer is required to process and decipher. This unpacking and analysis of visual grammar is considered just as important and more efficient than reading lines of text. More complex colour images are seen as opening new ways of seeing in viewers. The literature is replete with experimental findings in which realistic colour graphics of photographs were not more effective than simplistic monochrome artistic renderings. Media forms are delivery vehicles and the real significance is in what they deliver.