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Introduction to Visual Rhetoric: The Basics. Romberger. Visual Rhetoric Definition. Visual rhetoric applies the rhetorical situation to decision making about images and document layout Visual rhetoric understands that images carry meaning and can be analyzed and interpreted
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Visual Rhetoric Definition • Visual rhetoric applies the rhetorical situation to decision making about images and document layout • Visual rhetoric understands that images carry meaning and can be analyzed and interpreted • Visual rhetoric understands that design and images should assist the audience’s ability to read and understand
Rhetorical Situation • Audience - those who will use the document; you must consider their previous experience with similar documents and the topic • conventions - audiences have expectations based on their previous experience • Purpose - what you want the document to accomplish • Context - circumstances in which your readers use your document
Design Strategies • Arrangement • Clarity • Conciseness • Tone • Ethos
Arrangement • Alignment • Proximity • Repetition • Contrast
Alignment • Items on the page are lined up with each other, both horizontally and vertically. • There are three basic alignments: centered, left justified and right justified.
Proximity • Refers to the relationships that items develop when they are close together. • Implies items are related (for example, the bullets on this list appear related because they are in close proximity to each other).
Repetition • Refers to the idea that designers should repeat certain elements to tie the disparate parts of a document together. • Makes it seem like the individual pages or slides are all part of the same document or presentation.
Contrast • Establishes a hierarchy of information • Can be obtained by manipulating font (style and size), color, background designs, etc. • Establishes a focal point
Clarity • Helps the receiver decode the messages. • Can be achieved through choice of readable typefaces - • Serif for body text • Sans seriffor headings and graphic (display) • Enhanced through spacing between characters, choice of color
Conciseness • Refers to the visual bulk and intricacy of the design • Means generating designs that are appropriately succinct within a particular situation • Achieved through controlling details in images, variations in size, ornateness, and spacing of text
Tone • Demonstrates attitude toward readers and subject • Achieved through style of type and images relative to subject and audience
Ethos • Refers to building trusting relationship between writer and reader • Sense of character and credibility established through creating both credible, interesting content and design that is appealing and useful in helping the audience read andunderstand the document
Interdependence • Each of these strategies is interdependent: • with each other • with the verbal content
Recap of Terms • Arrangement • Contrast • Repetition • Alignment • Proximity • Clarity • Conciseness • Tone • Ethos
Web Site Examples • www.apple.com • www.zingermans.com
Sources Robin Williams’s The Non-Designer’s Design Book (Peachpit Press, 1994) • Charles Kostelnick and David Roberts’s Designing Visual Language (Allyn and Bacon, 1998)