Often in the twenty first century with the discovery of technology people are becoming consumed in the technology, focusing more on that then human interaction. Two rhetors set out to edit photographs and present them in a way that is striking to those people who seem to be so infatuated with the newest craze of smart phones.
The use of visual rhetoric through these photographs is a prominent element in persuading the audience to see the message that smart phones are taking over our lives and even ruining our relationships and social interactions with others. In the two articles that I am analyzing the rhetors use the same tactic of removing part of the photograph to make their point clear, but they take two very different approaches to this.
In the first article, the rhetor chooses to just remove the cellphones from the pictures. The result is images of people looking bored or dissatisfied, staring off into space because they do not have their phones to distract them from the real life social situations that they should be interacting in.
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2015/oct/15/life-without-smartphones-in-pictures
In the second article, the rhetor chooses to take a similar approach by removing an important element of the image. These photographs show the peoples arms with their phones in their hands, but are missing the rest of their body. Perhaps this rhetor is trying to make a similar point by saying that even though our bodies may be physically present, all that matters is our smart phones. Going into social situations people are more represented by their phone that they are playing on the whole time than the people right beside them that they could be interacting with.
In our reading by Kinross, one quote that really resonated with me was “the choice of typeface is often telling, in that it indicates the ideas and beliefs that inform the process of design” (377). I think this can relate to the articles I am analyzing because even though there are not many words with the photographs, the words that are there are important and the typeface that they are in gives a certain meaning in the message that the rhetor is trying to get across.