Considering Visual Elements

I used pages 395-402 of Writing Public Lives to decide what visual elements I will use in my article for Project 3. This post was somewhat difficult, because I am wiring an article in a genre that doesn't require visual elements to be effective.


1. What color choices reflect the visual-rhetorical tone of my project?

• My article will most likely be black type on a white background to avoid distracting my audience. 
• Even though my tone will be less formal, I need my audience to see me as credible, and bright colors and backgrounds would likely take away from my authority.

2. How might I vary the fonts used in my project for emphasis, such as in the title and body of my project?

• The fonts should still be fairly plain and not distracting. 
• The title font should be larger than the text size in the body of my article, but they should be the same font type. I want the title to stand out but not stick out too much. 

3. Is the feeling or tone that the image invokes appropriate to the visual-rhetorical tone of my argument?

• All of my example articles include an image at the top, so I should follow this as it is likely a convention of the genre. 
• A picture of a child would likely stay on topic but not be too distracting. 
• This is a difficult topic to find images for, so maybe even a cartoon-style drawing of a kid might be effective. Anything that would relate to my topic but not be out of place.

Screenshot by Boone-Roberts, Morgan. Taken 11/3/15 via Flickr. 

4. Is the image in close proximity to the argument that it is emphasizing or illustrating?

• I will most likely use only one image at the top of the article, and I am hoping to find one that relates to the topic as a whole rather than just one part of the argument. 
• I think images scattered through the whole article would be ineffective in this genre. 

5. If your project contains large blocks of text, could they be broken up more efficiently using text boxes, lines, headings, or images? 

• I plan on keeping my paragraphs brief so that my article is scannable, but I most likely will not use any of the elements listed above in my article. I feel like they would distract from rather than add to my argument. 

6. If you are calling your audience to take action, are the consequences of not taking action and the benefits of taking action clearly expressed? 

• I hope to impress on my readers the consequences of continuing to spank their children and the rewards of finding other ways to discipline a badly-behaving child. 
• However, I doubt that I will do this through the use of images or visual elements in my article.