Heather Harris, associate professor of Communication, has had her research accepted for presentation at the VISCOMM40 International Visual Communication Conference, to be held in June 2026 in Yachats, Oregon.

Her paper, “Alohomora: Unlocking the Visual Magic of Harry Potter’s First Edition Covers Across Cultures,” examines how visual framing shapes meaning through the first-edition cover art of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone."

The study compares covers from the United Kingdom, United States, Germany, and Italy to explore how different cultures visually interpret the same story for young readers. Using visual communication theory, semiotic analysis, and Molly Bang’s theory of picturacy, Harris analyzes how design elements such as shape, color, composition and symbolic imagery influence tone, emotional cues and reader expectations.

Her findings highlight how children’s book covers function as persuasive visual texts that shape meaning before the first page is ever read. This paper is the first step in a larger cross-cultural study of the full Harry Potter series.