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Week 2
This document provides an overview of rhetorical analysis and key concepts related to analyzing any text. It discusses Aristotle's definition of rhetoric as observing means of persuasion. Rhetorical analysis involves reading and critiquing a text while understanding its context and persuasive techniques. Key aspects that should be analyzed include ethos, pathos, logos, kairos, style, audience, purpose, context, metaphor, story, delivery, and culture. Examples are provided of analyzing a movie poster to demonstrate these concepts. Basic principles of design such as contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity are also explained. Readers are then asked to redesign a poorly designed event flyer using these analytical and design skills.
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Week 2
- 1. The point of rhetoricalanalysis is merely to read with understanding. (p. 320)
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- 3. Aristotle: Rhetoric may bedefined as the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.
- 4. Rhetorical analysis: to read/observe/critiqueany “text” with an understanding of the context and available
- 5. What does thatinclude?
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- 12. kairos: Fitting occasion ortiming. The “right” time or the “only” time…
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- 23. transition. Paging BolinCarroll
- 24. You have builta mental database that you can draw on to make conclusions about what a person’s looks tell you about their personality. (p.46)
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- 27. so let’s lookat a few teachers and talk first impressions based on a single photo.
- 29. heh. had tobe fair.
- 31. that is Dr.Julie Platt. Anyone know who she is?
- 33. that is Dr.Stephen Hawking. Super-genius. Seriously.
- 35. that is CameronDiaz from the movie bad teacher. She was as the title made her.
- 37. that is Dr.Cornell West. Professor at the Union Theological Seminary.
- 39. that is Dr.Gloria Anzaldua. She worked several places. She died in 2004. RIP.
- 41. that is ProfessorX. He’s not real.
- 42. Your first rhetoricalanalysis assignment (your Wednesday question of the day): Rhetorical Analysis of a Movie Poster
- 43. Let me showyou an example: Spider-Man Movie Poster
- 44. The first step,of course, is to look at the poster closely and make a list of things you notice that impact the design/think about what those things mean.
- 46. Things of note: 1)Bright-comic-book/cartoonlike orange gold sunlight! 2)Spider-Man is present and is quite large. 3)He’s on a skyscraper=NYC 4)Wait… is that?
- 48. That’s the oldWorld Trade Center towers reflected in his eye. While at the time, that would have been a big “it’s New York!” message, while the posters were on display, 9/11 happened. So these posters were recalled. I have mine because a student saved it from the dumpster for me.
- 49. I’d have twopotential avenues to write an analysis, then: 1)How this poster evokes the tradition of Spider- Man as a hero and tries to show the audience his world (to begin the films immersion) Or: 2) I could write about the impact of the towers as an image.
- 50. Robin Williams and C.R.A.P. Thisis Robin Williams. She’s not Mork, of course. She is responsible for a great many awesome design texts that are reader- friendly. She write the non-designer’s design handbook. It’s worth owning a copy, if you’re interested in design.
- 51. AND NOW SOMEC.R.A.P.
- 52. As funny asit is… … making CRAP jokes, it really is a foundational premise of design, and it’s deeply important (and thanks to our sense of humor usually quite memorable). The letters, of course, stand for: Contrast Repetition Alignment Proximity
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- 54. Contrast Basically stated, contrastmeans that things that are similar look similar but things that are different look clearly different. This keeps your reader from becoming confused and creating relationships that aren’t present. It comes, of course, from literal contrast, the light-to- dark or black-to-white of an image. In design it often ends up being about color values.
- 55. This image isa great example, and it is also a hyperlink to a great blog entry on contrast, if you want to learn more.
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- 57. Repetition Maybe the easiestof these four concepts to define, repetition is, just as you’d guess, repeating something– a color, a logo, a typeface, a type style. It unifies and organizes.
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- 60. Alignment Alignment is aboutpositioning on a page. Nothing should be put on haphazardly. There should be a reason and a measurement that guides where things are placed in relation to each other.
- 61. The image tothe right links to a post that has some cool reflection on alignment. And there’s all kinds of alignment going on with the new Windows 8 start page.
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- 63. Proximity Proximity is verysimilar in theory to alignment, but it’s more about grouping and use of white space. Basically: similar things are grouped together, different things require space.
- 65. SOMETHING BROKEN To seehow well we’re grasping our C.R.A.P., I want to look at one poorly designed flyer and make it better. This is your Friday question of the day. Prepare thyself! It’s… really bad. Seriously. Are you sitting down?
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- 67. Design choices I’m notsure I precisely understand it, but there’s sort of a sub- genre of party flyers that look a bit like this one. Knowing that, I don’t want to act as if this is absolutely hideous, but I think you can safely say, based on our readings so far, that this is not a well designed flyer. When addressing a flyer like this, we want to collect some key information. So let’s break down what we actually have here.
- 68. Elements What is theevent? What are the key brand info and what is critical to tell the audience? What is the key graphic thrust?
- 69. FIX IT! Using whateversoftware you want (other than Word– no Word), make a better flyer than the one we have. Post it when done.