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Visual perception and visual culture attempt to explain a user’s interaction with the world around them.  Visual rhetoric does not follow this pattern.  Instead, visual rhetoric attempts to develop the relationship among the speaker (writer of a document or company producing the document) and the user. (Kimball & Hawkins, 62-63) For example, book covers tend to have strong visual rhetoric.  Is the book is intended for professionals, the title will be in a serif font, producing an upscale reaction from the potential reader.  But, if it’s a children’s book, chances are that the font will be sans serif and there will be a drawing or picture on the front cover.

It is important to note that all aspects of a design contain some sort of rhetorical meaning.  Nothing about a design is on accident or not planned.  In addition, each design element contributes to the overall meaning of the design.  Bright notes, “interpretation of an advertisement hinges on “reading” the visual in terms of the graphics and layout to glean an overarching meaning instead of taking the design components as differentiating factors in cognitive development.” (2005)

What visual rhetoric strategies are used in the advertisement below?  What is the goal or purpose of the design?

Another goal of visual rhetoric is to meet the user’s expectations and desires.  Without meeting the goals of the user, visual rhetoric strategies would be pointless.  If the customer does not feel fulfilled, a company has not properly done their job.  A few user-centered visual rhetoric strategies include:

• Learnability – How quickly a document can be learned.  The easier, the better.
• Efficiency – How freely a document can be used.  The more flexible and free, the more positive the user experience.
• Memorability – The amount of reliance the user has on the document.  Users prefer documents that can be used repeatedly.
• Error avoidance – How efficient the document is in preventing user errors.  The less errors that result while reading the document, the better.
• Subjective satisfaction – How satisfied the user is with the document and its information.  Obviously, users want documents that fulfill their needs.

On a final note, effective use of visual rhetoric strategies doesn’t happen out of the blue.  It’s not a hit or miss game.  In fact, countless hours of research is needed in order to make visual rhetoric strategies a success (Kimball & Hawkins, 66-68).  Questions a researcher may ask include:

• What is the target audience?
• What are their needs and wants?
• How can we meet them?
• What can we do to set us apart from the competition?

Thanks for taking a look at my presentation!  Please let me know what you think by leaving a comment or two!

Citations:

Bright, L. (2005, October 12). Persuasive design. Retrieved February 22, 2010, from Laura Bright.com website: http://laurabright.com/papers/persuasivedesign/literature_review/visual_rhetoric/

Kimball, M. & Hawkins, A. (2008). Document design: A guide for technical communicators. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s

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