Composing a Design Plan

The Design Plan A design plan gives you concrete and specific guidance for producing your communication.

The Process is Not Linear Figuring out the project (purpose, audience, context) Considering/Planning approach (choices you must make as a designer/writer to shape the project given audience/context) Composing draft Soliciting feedback Revising in response to feedback The Design Plan helps you narrow down choices and get feedback to ensure your strategies work!

Difference between design plan and thesis statement? Thesis can suggest the points a composer needs to make in a piece of argumentative writing Example: Modern language classes prepare students to live within the expanding global economy because modern language classes expose students to other cultures. Design plans help a composer further develop the work of a SOP, giving guidance for choosing how to shape an argument for a specific audience. Design plans help composers choose the right strategy appropriate for the rhetorical situation.

Strategies You need to start thinking about everything you say/do as a strategy for helping you achieve your SOP Example: in an essay, strategies include title, size of title, color of title, typeface of title, size of paper, color of paper, first word, placement of first word, second word, tone or mood set by first and second words, use of photos, layout etc. You must generate a lot of different possible strategies Then, use your SOP to help you decide on which strategies are most appropriate for your rhetorical situation. 1

Practice Pull up the SOP you wrote last week. Develop strategies for addressing the situation.

Logos, Ethos, Pathos Logos: how the parts of the argument are ordered/arranged. Ethos: the character of the person(s) making the argument. Pathos: the emotions engaged/provoked by the argument. Logos, Ethos, & Pathos can’t name all of what’s going on in an argument, but they can help you categorize what’s happening.

Ethos What your audience sees in you Information about your relationship to your audience is conveyed verbally/visually Ethos gives you authority Don’t have to use “I”; topics chosen, tone, vocabulary, color, framing, cropping all build/diminish ethos

Example Having seen the criminal justice system from several angles, as a police officer, a court bailiff, a defendant, and a prisoner, I am convinced that prison is not the answer to the drug problem, or for that matter to many other white-collar crimes.

Pathos Pathos is how your audience feels about what you’re doing Pathos is emotion (hence: pathetic) Pathos is often conveyed in word choice: shocked, deranged, joyful Pathos is also visual Think about emotion as cause>effect response Be aware that background emotions (like fear after (9/11) also impact the reception of your communication Over time, and audiences emotion results from a) what you’ve said (logos); how you come across (ethos); and the emotions you stir (pathos) > but they all have to work symbiotically

Example I once worked as a staff nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit. Whenever a baby died, I wrapped it in a blanket, and then around the blanket I wound a sky-blue disposable pad. I took the football sized package—baby, blanket, and pad—down to the morgue and opened the door of the refrigerator there and placed the package on the glass shelf as gently as I could. Then I closed the door, pushing it until I heard the white seal grip, the way I might close the fridge door at home after putting away a chicken. There wasn’t a way for me to close the refrigerator door with the reverence and honor the occasion deserved. This is a part of the nursing we learn early: how to do the unthinkable without falling to our knees and wailing.

Logos Logos is the reason or structure in a visual/verbal argument Logos means word Arrangement can also be a type of logos Facts + Stats are examples of logos Be careful to choose logos appropriate to the medium

Example It’s one of the most basic laws of human nature, isn’t it? (claim) The more we are denied something, the more we want it. The more silence given to this or that topic, the more power. (logical development of claim) All you need to do is look to the binge- drinking or eating-disorder cases that surround us, the multitudes of church sex scandals, to show that the demand for abstinence or any kind of total denial of thought or expression or action can often lead to dangerous consequences. When we know we can choose to do this or that, we don’t feel as frantic to do so, to make the sudden move or decision that might be the worst thing for us.

Which to use? You will probably use a combination of all three—logos, ethos, pathos—in the development of your communication, but you may decide to use one as the dominate mode of communication. Still, if you do, make sure it fits the purpose, audience and context of your communication.

Medium Think about media that are unexpected but appropriate and you might have a highly useful strategy to use. Brainstorm different media you might use (effective + appropriate) Imagine each medium in use by your audience (problems/hassle/cost?) Think practically (can you really handle the medium in terms of time, cost, experience?) Consider the kind of relationship the media has (closeness or distance to the audience e.g. photos are always more intimate than comics) 2

Practice Take the project we’ve been working on (grade arbitration) and use the previous prompts to come up with several unexpected but appropriate media you might use to satisfy the task.

Arrangement Even communication pieces that seem straightforward require some kind of order Small/Big Best/worst Before/After Near/Far Lists Comparison Juxtapositions You can arrange words, but also elements on a page List the parts of your communication to be arranged Brainstorm various arrangements Ask which possibilities support your purpose and overall strategy 3

Practice Use your SOP and think about arrangement. How will you arrange your communication to support your overall aims. Which media will you use?

Testing Gather together people from you intended audience to go over your SOP and give you feedback Get audience feedback on your design plan As you draft your project, get feedback and make iterative changes 4

Testing What to test Observe how medium is used Test parts of communication (e.g. webpage) Depends on complexity of communication What not to test Small stuff like mechanics Kinds of tests Observational tests Think-aloud protocols Read-aloud protocols 4

In-Class Exercise

Homework Wiki Discussion