Essential+Design+Elements

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. Below 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.

//Informational//: documents that seek to impart information or educate the audience Examples: Brochures, Pamphlets, PowerPoint presentations //Inspirational//: documents that primarily inspire emotion or feeling often without clearly predetermined goals or purposes Examples: Photography, Paintings, Graffiti //Motivational//: documents that spur direct action, attendance, or participation Examples: Advertisements, Flyers, Proposals //Functional//: documents that aid in accomplishing tasks Examples: Instruction Sets, Forms, Applications, Maps As you may see, analyzing how a document’s purpose is rhetorically accomplished to persuade its audience can involve many factors. Search the owl for more information on some of the concepts mentioned in these questions. Context refers to the circumstances of the environment where a piece of communication takes place. Sometimes the author has a measure of control over this context, like within the confines of a presentation (where, of course, there will still be some factors beyond control). Other times,a document is specifically made for an audience to encounter on their own terms. Either way, context is an important part of the rhetorical situation and can easily make or break the effectiveness of a document’s message. Below are some questions to get you thinking about the possibilities and pitfalls when analyzing the context of a visual document.
 * 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?
 * 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?
 * 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?
 * 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?
 * [|Visual Rhetoric]
 * [|HATS]
 * [|Using Fonts with Purpose]
 * [|Color Theory Slide Presentation]
 * [|Designing an Effective PowerPoint Presentation]
 * Context**
 * In a presentation setting with many people, has the document considered the size and layout of the room so that all participants have a chance of experiencing the document equally?
 * Does the document use any techniques to draw attention to itself in a potentially busy or competitive environment?
 * Linking is how websites get noticed and recognized. The sites that link to a web page or internet document can provide a context. Do the character of those links suggest anything about the document you are analyzing?

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