1. Visual Rhetorical Analysis
English 1301

2. Do Now: October 21, 2014
Consider your favorite ad or commercial. Then write a short analysis which addresses the following: (you will turn this in. Be prepared to share).
1. Briefly describe the context (what’s going on, who is representing the product/issue?, etc)
2. What is the overall message?
3. How did the creator enable you to see that message (use of color, angle, use of text, etc).
4. Considering the ad/commercial carefully, do you think there is a deeper meaning ore message than you first thought?

3. Visual arguments have clout

4. Analyzing visual elements of argument
We must consider and evaluate:
Creators and distributors
Medium it uses
Viewers and readers it hopes to reach
Content and purpose
Design

5. Creators and distributors
This image from Amnesty International calls on viewers to help “Abolish the use of child soldiers worldwide,” noting that “Children have the right to be children.” This group, a nongovernmental organization with three million members in 150 countries around the globe, has its mission to end “grave abuses of human rights.” How does this information help you “read” the image? Why might an organization have chosen this image? How well does it achieve its purpose? Does it include an analogy, stereotype, hyperbole, etc.?

6. Questions to ask about creators and distributors:
Who created this visual or multimedia text? Who distributed it?
What can you find out about these people and other work that they have done?
What does the creator’s attitude seem to be toward the image(s)?
What do the creator and the distributor intend its effects to be? Do they have the same intentions?

7. Medium

8. Viewers and readers
In 1977, Paul Davis created this poster celebrating Native American political activist Leonard Crowdog. The poster uses simple language and a strong image to express solidarity among Native Americans (and their political allies) and to affirm Crowdog’s call for renewal of Native American traditions. In what ways can visual arguments invoke their audiences or even become a part of their cultural histories? With what similar visual items (posters, memes, CD art, etc.) do you identify?

9. Content and purpose
Take a close look at this photograph taken during the 2008 presidential campaign: is your eye drawn first to the earnest face in the middle, the one with a pink John McCain T-shirt on? If so, pull back and take in the whole photo: what’s with that pair of legs? An Associated Press photographer tool this photo of Sarah Palin, causing a flap: was the photo sexist or prurient, or was it upbeat and emblematic of a new kind of feminism? What was the photographer’s purpose in taking the shot? How do you read this message?

10. Design
This is the central image on the Web site of Wikipedia, a collaborative nonprofit encyclopedia project. Since its launch (as Nupedia) in 200, Wikipedia has grown to include 21 million article in 282 languages, all of them authored by volunteers around the world. This central image acts as a logo, a portal to access the site’s content, and, in a way, a mission statement for the organization. How does your eye construct this logo? What do you notice first, and how do you eyes move around the page? Do the parts make sense when you put them together?

11. When you choose images for pathos
Choose images carefully.
Every image carries a message; consider all possible interpretations of the image.
Remember the power of color.
Consider the legibility of the text.
Consider the warmth or coolness of a color
Consider social affiliations with color (political, gender, sexual orientation, organizations, community ideals)

12. When you choose images for ethos
Choose images that build trustworthiness and authority. How do the logos to the right convey credibility and authority? Do they accomplish their goals? Why/why not?
Consider how the design reflects your character
Serif/ Sans serif font
All caps, bold, italicized
Professional/informal
Follow design conventions
Science reports are sober and unembellished

13. When you choose images for logos
Organize information visually
Titles, headings, subheadings, enlarged quotations, running heads, boxes, etc.
Use visuals to convey data efficiently
Pie chart: compares to whole
Graph: comparing over time or according to variables
diagrams/drawings: used for attention to details
Maps: location and spatial relationships
Timelines: passage of time
Web pages: as an illustration
Follow professional guidelines when inserting visuals into text.
Remember copyright laws.

14. What is the overall message
What is the overall message? How do the elements of the “text” contribute to that understanding?

15. Message?