Creating an Infographic about Visual Rhetoric Using Visual Rhetoric - Week 5

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    As one of our final projects, we were asked to create an infographic on a topic that we have discussed in this class. I chose to make mine on visual rhetoric, because of how interesting I think it is to study how the specificities of what we see affect our thoughts, opinions and eventually, our actions. While this infographic only touches lightly on the four basic elements of visual rhetoric, it is only meant to introduce people to the topic of visual rhetoric. 

    It lays out the four elements: 

1. Images
2. Type
3. Arrangement of space
4. Visual analysis

    When you combine all of these elements, you are left with a digital design that will accurately display and deliver a specific message. Most times, this message is meant to be persuasive, or to encourage the viewer to act or think in a certain way. This can range all the way from an idea, to donating money to a cause. Either way, the designer is making decisions that all contribute to that decided upon, common goal.
 
I’ve posted a picture of the infographic at the beginning of this post, so that you might be able to reference it when I mention specific choices I made regarding the design. I think the first thing to address is the color, given that it’s pretty outstanding. I chose the base color pink, and then decided on a few different shades of pink that I wanted to use. This technique is called graduation, where you focus the design around one color, and it is supposed to provide a sense of harmony within the design. I found that I really liked how it looked with the different shades, but that it definitely needed something to break up the pink. To do this, I included brown arrows that would not only serve a color function, but would also help provide a level of linearity for the viewer. While following the order that the arrows point in is not a complete necessity, it does allow for the reader to feel like there is some kind of order on the page. If they don’t want to abide, they don’t have to, but I think it helps make it feel a little more approachable rather than just having blurbs of text with a picture. 

Another key element in this infographic are the images, which can include the background shapes used as well. I chose to go with abstract images for the four main elements, because I felt that it would help people relate the concepts to things they are already familiar with. Abstract images are just that: representations of things that are commonly known by most people. As you can see, I also kept these images within the color palette to continue the feeling of harmony within the design. The other choice I made was regarding the background shapes. I wanted this infographic to be inviting and fun to read. To accomplish this, I used organic shapes to outline the concepts and the main ideas. Organic shapes can imitate real things in nature, but they can also just be blobs like the ones I used in my design. They are curved shapes, which give off feelings of pleasure and comfort. 

There were just a few of the concepts I incorporated into my design, but there were many more. As I’ve alluded to in a previous post, the art of persuasion is one that I find immensely interesting. I haven’t yet decided whether I think it’s being clever or sneaky. There are so many ways that we can be persuaded without consciously realizing it. I think it makes me feel a little better to know that I now have some knowledge that will make me more aware of how I might be persuaded online. With this knowledge, I can feel more confident that the choice i make are more my own, and more driven by the things that I care about. 

    An example of this that I think many of us can relate to is buyer's remorse. Have you ever bought something and the second you look at it on your own table, you wish you hadn't? I know that this has happened to me one too many times, and being aware of the fact that people are always trying to influence you to do something is the first step to avoiding unwanted influences.

References: 

Carter, L. (2003). Argument in hypertext: Writing strategies and the problem of order in a nonsequential world. Computers and Composition, 20(1), 3–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/s8755-4615(02)00176-7 


Hocks, M. E. (2003). Understanding visual rhetoric in digital writing environments. College Composition and Communication, 54(4), 629. https://doi.org/10.2307/3594188 


Ramage, J. D., Bean, J. C., & Johnson, J. (2019). Writing arguments: A rhetoric with readings. Pearson. 


Tucker, V. (2023). Visual Rhetoric in Digital Artifacts [Powerpoint Slides]. Canvas@ODU. https://canvas.odu.edu/courses/128495/files/24908780?module_item_id=4771455






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