Rhetoric and Visual Rhetoric for Professional Writers

Using Rhetorical Principles and Art / Design Theory to Analyze Images

What is Rhetoric?

?

Rhetoric

• The Art of Persuasion• The Arts and Rules of Effective

Communication• Aristotle: “the faculty of observing

in any given case the available means of persuasion.”

• The Art of Speaking and Writing Effectively.

The Five Canons or Parts of Rhetoric

• Invention inventio heurisis

• Arrangement dispositio taxis• Style elocutio lexis• Memory memoria

mneme• Delivery actio hypocrisis

The 3 Rhetorical Questions

• Who is speaking to whom?

• For what ostensible purpose?

• Through what mask?

Audience Analysis

• Who are my readers?– What do they know?– What do they need?

• What are my readers’ purposes?– Information?– Online shopping?– Customer Service?– Interactive Order Forms?

Visual Rhetoric & Visual Literacy

Ability to “unpack” images by using principles from:Classical RhetoricGestalt Principles of Visual PerceptionPrinciples from Art / Design Theory

ColorLineShapeSpatial relationships

Visual Rhetoric & Visual Literacy

Understanding how to analyze images and their effect on viewers leads to the ability to manipulate images – figures, photographs, drawings, graphs – and the visual display of documents, so that you can effectively get your message across, so that you can persuade your audience to accept your point of view.

Classical Rhetoric: Aristotle’s 3 Modes of Argument, the entechnoi

• Ethos

• Logos

• Pathos

• Kairos

Gestalt Principles

• Figure/Ground Segregation

• Symmetry

• Proximity

• Closure

Figure/Ground Segregation

Poor Figure/Ground

Conscious Manipulation

• M. C. Escher

M. C. Escher’s Moebius Strip

Art / Design Theory

• Unity– Often achieved by repetition of color and

shape

• Emphasis or Focus– Where your eye is immediately drawn to

• Balance– Symmetrical & Asymmetrical

• Visual Rhythm– The “pattern” your eye makes as it moves

from area to area on a visual field

For Example:

Metaphorical Code of Color

• Hot and warm colors -- those toward the Red end of the spectrum convey different emotional associations from

• Cold and cool colors -- those toward the Blue end

• Each color has negative and positive pathetic / emotional associations

Spatial Relationships & Affect

• Triangular Relationships – Spirituality, aspiration

• Rectangular or 4-square– Stability, groundedness, earthiness

• Circular Relationships– Movement, fluidity, dynamism, completeness

Triangularity and Aspiration

Line & Emotional Impact

• Vertical Lines– Strength, Power, Aspiration

• Horizontal Lines– Calmness, Balance, Repose, Groundedness

• Diagonal Lines– Tension, Movement, Direction

• Real, Implied, Perspective, Gestural• Circular

– Movement, Unity, Dynamism

Vertical Lines

Horizontal Lines

Diagonal Tension

Kandinsky – Yellow, Blue, Red

Search for a Universal Grammar of Color and Shape

Match the Primary Colors –Red, Blue, Yellow,

With the Primary Shapes –Circle, Triangle, Square

Kandinsky felt there must be some intrinsic match up – some universal code

The Four Contents

1. Formal ContentLine, Color, Shape, Texture, Spatial Relations

2. Narrative ContentStory, Allegory

3. Rhetorical ContentAristotle’s Appeals, 3 rhetorical questions

4. Expressive ContentCombined effect of 1, 2, and 3. Effect upon

viewer

Effective Communication for the 21st Century

• Principles of Document Design– Technical Writing Studies

• Principles from Art Theory– Color, Form, Spatial Arrangement

• Principles from Rhetoric– The Rhetorical Situation– Aristotle’s Appeals

• New Rhetorical Principles Will Evolve from the Old