Visual Rhetoric

Jenna Sutherland

WRTG 150

December 5, 2014

Visual Rhetoric (EC Blog Post)

            As we have learned this semester, rhetoric is the art of persuasion, and it is often found in literature. However, rhetoric is found in other aspects of life outside of writing. One example of this is visual appeal. There are many ways in which individuals and organizations use visual rhetoric to either make a statement, draw attention to, or express themselves.

            The most obvious of these examples is the way we dress. We dress differently for different activities, such as going to a sporting event, interview, or Christmas party. The way that we choose to represent ourselves in each of these situations will have a weighty influence on how our audience will initially perceive our character. As cliché would say, first impressions make a statement that often sticks!

            In addition to the way we dress, individuals (myself included) use visual rhetoric almost daily on social media. We create profiles for ourselves on sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. In the case of Instagram, the pictures that we choose to post often are pre-contemplated and posted for a specific purpose. Whether this purpose is to share beliefs, experiences, or life events, the person posting the photo is in control of what their followers/the “public” sees. Because most individuals choose to post the positive aspects of their life, their profile is often a partially false—or rather, unrealistic—representation of what their life truly consists of. However, it is persuasive to their target audience (followers; they clearly “like” what they see because they continue to follow that specific person.

On the flip side, Instagram and other social media sites can become constrictive when focused too much on the persuasion aspect of visual rhetoric. I know individuals who are obsessed with gaining “followers” and who do ridiculous things in order to get more people to follow them. However, in gaining these followers, they are learning/discovering the art of visual rhetoric.

The last aspect of visual rhetoric that I see most commonly in my life is that of advertisements on the internet and other sites. They have a specific target audience, and they base their designs on what that specific group is most likely to relate to. Visual rhetoric is everywhere, and is important to understand and be aware of in order to use it most effectively.