The ability to read, produce, and share visual images, animations, and videos is a fundamental 21st Century literacy. Thanks to new writing and entertainment tools, it is increasingly easy to integrate images with words and sound. Strictly speaking, regular reading and writing are a form of visual literacy. The alphabetic, after all, is a visual ...
Learning Objectives
Think of the maps you see produced by the television station or website from which you get your weather information. While the meteorologist explains that northern Florida has highs in the 70s, central Florida has highs in the 80s, and southern Florida has highs in the 90s, that information is accompanied by a map.
We come across many images on a daily basis, but we rarely stop to think about what those images mean or about how they persuade us. Yet, images have power, which is why we need to understand how to analyze them. When you’re analyzing an image to understand the message it portrays, this is called visual rhetoric. Visual rhetoric is a means of communication that uses images to create meaning or to make an argument.
The first thing to consider when breaking down, or analyzing, an image is the rhetorical situation: the audience, context, and purpose.
Something seems wrong
A few days ago, I tweeted something that wasn’t particularly funny, but I got this response:1
I don’t know anyone named Cory Folse, and I don’t know who this @jokesallnight person is, either. So I ignored the tweet, kind of glad I had made someone happy, but kind of confused.
What is Page Design? Page design refers to “the strategic arrangement of information” on a printed or digital page. Page design is a tool writers can use to What is Scannability? Scannability refers to Pages, whether printed pages or web pages, are more readable when they’re scannable. Related Concepts: APA General Formatting Guidelines; Elements of ...
