1. Visual Rhetoric Definition and Goals of Visual/Rhetorical Analysis
A visual document communicates primarily through images or the interaction of image and text. Just as writers choose their words and organize their thoughts based on any number of rhetorical considerations, the author of such visual documents thinks no differently. Whether assembling an advertisement, laying out a pamphlet, taking a photograph, or marking up a website, designers take great care to ensure that their productions are visually appealing and rhetorically effective.

2. Goal
The goal of any rhetorical analysis is to demonstrate your understanding of how the piece communicates its messages and meanings. One way of looking at this process is that you are breaking the piece down into parts. By understanding how the different parts work, you can offer insights as to the overall persuasive strategies of the piece. Often you are not looking to place a value judgment on the piece, and if there is an implicit or implied argument you may not be ultimately taking a side.
We now live in such a visually-dominated culture, that it is possible you have already internalized many of the techniques involved with visual communication
You may find that looking at a document from a rhetorical design perspective will allow you to view it in new and interesting ways.
Like you would in a book report or poetry analysis, you are offering your “reading” of the visual document and should seek to be clear, concise, and informative. Do not only give a re-telling of what the images look like (this would be the equivalent of stopping at plot summary if you were analyzing a novel). Offer your examples, explain the rhetorical strategies at work, and keep your focus on how the document communicates visually.

3. The Rhetorical Situation
No matter what specific direction your essay takes, your points and observations will revolve around the rhetorical situation of the document you are analyzing.
A rhetorical situation occurs when an author, an audience, and a context come together and a persuasive message is communicated through some medium. Therefore, your rhetorical analysis essay will consistently link its points to these elements as they pertain to the document under question.

4. Audience
The audience is the group of people who may or may not be persuaded by the document. Analyzing the audience for a visual production may not be all too different from analyzing an audience for a solely textual work. However, unlike academic essays or short answers written on an examination, visual productions often have the potential to reach wider audiences.
Additionally, unlike literature or poetry, visual documents are often more ingrained in our daily lives and encountered instead of sought.

5. Purpose
Visual productions have almost limitless purposes and goals. Although all parts of the rhetorical situation are linked, purpose and audience tend to be most carefully intertwined.
The purpose is what someone is trying to persuade the audience to feel, think, or do. Therefore, a well produced document will take into account the expectations and personalities of its target audience.
There are four categories of purposes and example questions to get you thinking about the rhetorical use of visuals. Note: a document may cross over into multiple categories.

6. Informational: documents that seek to impart information or educate the audience
Examples: Brochures, Pamphlets, PowerPoint presentations
•How does the layout of the information aid readability and understanding?
•How do images clarify or enhance textual information? (Try imagining the same document without the visuals and ask how effective it would be).
•What mood or feelings do the visuals add to the information? How does that mood aid the effectiveness of the information?

7. Inspirational: documents that primarily inspire emotion or feeling often without clearly predetermined goals or purposes
Examples: Photography, Paintings, Graffiti
•What emotions are invoked by the document? How?
•Can you use color symbolism to explain how the artist created a mood or feeling?
•Has the image been framed or cropped in such a way to heighten a mood or feeling? Why?

8. Motivational: documents that spur direct action, attendance, or participation
Examples: Advertisements, Flyers, Proposals
•How do images make the product look appealing or valuable?
•How do images help create excitement or anticipation in the audience?
•Is there text paired with the images that give the image added associations of value?

9. Functional: documents that aid in accomplishing tasks
Examples: Instruction Sets, Forms, Applications, Maps
•How do pictures or illustrations clarify textual directions?
•How does layout aim to make the form easy to use and eliminate mistakes?
•Has size (of text or the document itself) been considered as a way to make the document user friendly and accessible?

10. Thesis Statement and Focus
Many authors struggle with thesis statements or controlling ideas in regards to rhetorical analysis essays. There may be a temptation to think that merely announcing the text as a rhetorical analysis is purpose enough. However, especially depending on your essay’s length, your reader may need a more direct and clear statement of your intentions. Below are a few examples.
1. Clearly narrow the focus of what your essay will cover. Ask yourself if one or two design aspects of the document is interesting and complex enough to warrant a full analytical treatment.
The website for Amazon.com provides an excellent example of alignment and proximity to assist its visitors in navigating a potentially large and confusing amount of information.
2. Since visual documents often seek to move people towards a certain action (buying a product, attending an event, expressing a sentiment), an essay may analyze the rhetorical techniques used to accomplish this purpose. The thesis statement should reflect this goal.
The call-out flyer for the Purdue Rowing Team uses a mixture of dynamic imagery and tantalizing promises to create interest in potential, new members.
These are merely suggestions. The best measure for what your focus and thesis statement should be the document itself and the demands of your writing situation. Remember that the main thrust of your thesis statement should be on how the document creates meaning and accomplishes its purposes..

11. Visual Analysis in a nutshell:
1. Find a visual text to analyze. You might analyze a popular consumer product, a public building, advertising, or art.
2. INTRODUCTION: Analyze the context (the wider lens): Who is the author? What can you infer about the intended audience? What is the larger conversation going on around it? What is the setting and what events may have promoted it?

12. Body Paragraphs:
Make a claim about the visual text. Support your claim with close analysis.
CLAIM = Analysis adds a new dimension to a text; what will your analysis reveal for readers? Be sure your claim is not an over-generalizaiton and can be supported by textual and contextual evidence.
Focus on the visual text itself. Describe key features. What is the message and supporting points?
What appeals are used?
How is it arranged?
What conceptual tools are used?
How would you characterize the style?

13. Conclusion
The conclusion of a rhetorical analysis essay may not operate too differently from the conclusion of any other kind of essay. Still, many writers struggle with what a conclusion should or should not do.
In short, you should restate your main ideas and explain why they are important and restate your thesis (claim).
Ask yourself, “Have I learned anything new in this analysis?” A conclusion can be a good place to succinctly describe a larger pattern you have been tracing in a work.