1. Visual Rhetoric Workshop 23 January 2007

2. Guiding questions What is visual rhetoric? What should we teach in a PWP course? Where does it fit?

3. What is visual rhetoric? Images as arguments Page design Rhetoric of whole documents

4. My take on visual rhetoric Most concepts from traditional (verbal) rhetoric have visual analogs

5. Examples: visual rhetorical appeals

11. Verbal Antithesis "It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues." — Abraham Lincoln

12. Visual Antithesis

14. What should we teach in PWP courses? What I try to teach… Visual arguments Documents as visual artifacts

15. Visual Arguments Types (photographs, diagrams, graphs, etc) Adapting for audiences (visual conventions, levels of abstraction, etc) Relationship between the visual and text Ethics (dishonest graphs, doctored images, etc)

16. Abstraction example: photographs vs. drawings vs. diagrams Compressor Combustor 1 2 3 4 Turbine

17. Visual Arguments

18. The Ethics of Representing Data Numerical increase = 37.4% Visual increase = 280%

19. Documents as visual artifacts Visually vs. non-visually informative texts Visual constraints

20. From Bernhardt’s “Seeing the Text” Rhetorical ControlVisually InformativeNon-visually Informative Visual GestaltVaried surfaceHomogenous surface DevelopmentLocalizedProgressive PartitioningIconicIntegrated EmphasisVisual stressIntensifiers, sentence position Subordinate Relations Type-sized, headings, etc.Linear sequence of sentences and paragraphs Coordinate RelationsListing structures and other graphic devices. Juxtaposition, cohesive ties (especially additives) Linking/Transitional Relations Controlled visuallyCohesive ties: conjunctives, deictics, etc Sentence PatternsVariety. Use of Q/A, imperatives, fragments, etc Complete. Little variation in mood. Mostly declaratives

21. Document Design or Which would you rather read?

22. Documents as visual artifacts

23. Readable slides Typography – font size Remember that your audience is far from the screen. Arial 32 pt 28 pt 24 pt 20 pt 18 pt 16 pt 14 pt 12 pt 10 pt TNR 32 pt 28 pt 24 pt 20 pt 18 pt 16 pt 14 pt 12 pt 10 pt Courier 32 pt 28 pt 24 pt 20 pt 18 pt 16 pt 14 pt 12 pt 10 pt Comic 32 pt 28 pt 24 pt 20 pt 18 pt 16 pt 14 pt 12 pt 10 pt Lucida Sans 32 pt 28 pt 24 pt 20 pt 18 pt 16 pt 14 pt 12 pt 10 pt

24. Readable slides Color Use dark text on a light background Or use light text on a dark background Never use red text on a green background Never use green text on a red background Colors have emotional effects. This combination is known to cause agitation in audiences Blue and green backgrounds are more soothing Red backgrounds can have a similar effect

26. Where can it fit? Document design PowerPoint / posters Constructing and incorporating graphics Ethics discussions

27. Resources Visual rhetoric bibliography Electronic resources –IX Visual Exercises –ARHU Visual Literacy SiteARHU Visual Literacy Site Me