In "Understanding Visual Rhetoric in Digital Writing Environments," Hocks discusses the importance of transparency when creating digital and visual documents. This means that the writer should design the document in a way that their audience will understand easily by using common and established conventions.
To demonstrate the importance of transparency as it pertains to online documents, I searched Google for the "Worst Websites of 2012." I came across a site for Don Swanson Racing school. While this website was obviously made on a low budget and probably not by professional web designers, it goes against a lot of established conventions for websites.
For example, there is a small banner at the top that includes the links for the different pages on the site; the links are small enough that viewers might not even notice that they are links. The only consistency between pages is this single banner and a small footer all the way at the bottom of the page. Each page requires a lot of scrolling because there is a lot of random image content as well as inconsistent text styles, sizes, and colors. It's also confusing because whenever you click on the "home" link from a different page on the site, it opens up in a new tab. I've included a screenshot of the home page, but check out the link and see what I mean. Websites need to follow certain standards (within reason) in order for audiences to process them easily.
http://donswansonracingschool.com/index.htm
Trap. The combination of the genres of trance and rap usually through sound mixing and editing, has become a staple of parties and festival shows. They share similar use of synth, heavy base and spoken words to create music.
When we talked in class about usability and the internet, it sounded like the conclusion as to what makes a usable website is simplicity. Creating a website to serve a very obvious purpose is the key to usability.
Every day we are faced with multiple typefaces: the good, the bad and the ugly. Some help us to read faster and more clearly, some to invoke a specific feeling or emotion, all the while persuading us to do something (or buy something).
... and how clashing implications continue to shape our reactions to these colors.
Depending on the region and cultural upbringing, one may have different connotations associated with the colors black, white, and red.
Depending on the region and cultural upbringing, one may have different connotations associated with the colors black, white, and red.
When talking about the ethics and rhetoric of data displays in class, I brought up the example of geographic information system (GIS) and their technique of interpolation.
"The Cognitive Style of Powerpoint" makes the assertion that:
The core ideas of teaching- explanation, reasoning, finding
things out, questioning, content, evidence, credible authority not patronizing
authoritarianism-are contrary to the cognitive style of PowerPoint.
The core ideas of teaching- explanation, reasoning, finding
things out, questioning, content, evidence, credible authority not patronizing
authoritarianism-are contrary to the cognitive style of PowerPoint.
When I first pulled out Tufte's packet on Power Point, it looked like one of the most boring texts on the planet. 30 pages on the style of Power Point? But as I read, I started to see his point and even found myself laughing at certain parts (talking about the “stupefied audience”).
Since media technology has advanced past the typewriter, the capabilities of visual, and eventually digital, rhetoric using images have grown exponentially. By appealing to different human attitudes and emotions, digital images have the ability of persuasion and gaining compliance alike.
Often referred to as graffiti, tagging, or more negatively as vandalism, street-art has been around for 40ish years as it was birthed in the 70 but only gained a real popularity in the mid-80’s.
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