Post #2: Theorizing Visual Rhetoric

Theory of Visual Rhetoric by Sonja K. Foss:

  • DEFINITIONS OF VISUAL RHETORIC
    • study of visual imagery within the discipline of rhetoric
    • strategic use of symbol
    • advertisements, television, film, architecture, interior design and dress
  • SYMBOLS FOR THE PURPOSE OF COMMUNICATING
    • symbolic action- use of arbitrary symbols to communicate
    • human intervention- human interaction in the process of creation or interpretation
    • presence of an audience-human action in some part of the visual communication process, and it is communicative in its address to an audience
    • VISUAL RHETORIC AS A PERSPECIVE
    • set of conceptual lenses through which visual images become knowable as communicative or rhetorical phenomena
      • nature of the image- presented elements and suggested elements
      • function of the image- the action the image communicates
      • evaluation of the image- features of visual images as a means to generate rhetorical theory expanded to the visual
  • DEDUCTIVE APPLICATION OF THE RHETORICAL TO THE VISUAL
    • use of visual imagery to illustrate, explain, or investigate rhetorical constructs and theories formulated from the study of discourse
  • INDUCTIVE EXPLORATION OF THE VISUAL TO GENERATE THE RHETORICAL
    • investigation of visual features to generate rhetorical theory that takes into account the distinct characteristics of the symbol

 

Seeing the Text by Stephen A. Bernhardt

  • Visual Rhetoric- the matching of visual design to the constraints of cognitive processing
  • graphic qualities of writing
    • white space
    • illustrations
    • typeface
    • symbols
    • graphic patterning
    • enumerative sequences
    • headings
    • schematics
    • lists
  • Law of Equilibrium- balance among items in a field
  • Law of Good Continuation- pull figures out of the background
  • Law of Closure- contrast in making out text
  • Law of Similarity- homogenous grouping of similar units

Reflection on Articles:

I personally really enjoyed reading these two articles to learn a little bit more about visual rhetoric. They helped me come to an understanding of the broad category that visual rhetoric may fall under. Visual rhetoric is not just about art and pictures, but also the layout and design of many different documents. The terms introduced in these articles helped me to see that visual rhetoric can be studied by multiple perspectives instead of just from the audience.