Topics for Analysis » Rhetoric, an Introduction » Visual Perception, Culture, and Rhetoric

Visual Perception, Culture, and Rhetoric

Perception, Culture, and Rhetoric

It’s time for some group work. I have a “complex fold document” and an “accordian fold” document to show and discuss: The Vonage V-Portal Phone Adapter (a PDF version).

Possible Group Work

Now, if we have time, let’s get into groups and examine the following documents to determine their layout, construction, and supratextual elements affect the documents’ use. Consider the PDFs as documents intended to be printed.

If we’re short on time, analyze these in two weeks, and write up a response based on the criteria in the next section. We’ll discuss these then as a larger class, and I’ll also ask you to post this on your web pages. Just have something electronic (e.g., Word Doc), so you can cut and paste the text into a window.

Group/Row #1

Group/Row #2

Group/Row #3

Group/Row #4

Group/Row #5

Group/Row #6

Additionally, don’t forget to consider the document for perceptual, cultural, and rhetorical perspectives.

Media

Continuing in your groups, discuss the following with regard to your document:

  • Conventions
    • User Expectations
    • Organizational Preference
    • Industry Standards
  • Human Factors
    • User Needs
    • User Context
    • User Resources (compatibility)
  • Transformation
    • Don’t worry about cost for now, but when do you expect your document to change? Think for a minute or two before you ask, “What exactly are you looking for?”

What should you know about your audience’s technical limitations (their tools)?

Visual Culture

Being the cultural, social creatures that we are, much of our visual world is shaped by our experiences. I know some don’t like to hear this, but we are rarely able to free ourselves from the cultures into which we’re born. Even the choices you think you have are simply choices on a cultural menu, a grouping of ideas, values, practices, etc. that are socially constructed.

A former professor of mine told our class that people hate being told that their culture is based on societal constructions and has no connection to absolute truth: (paraphrased from memory) “cultural pride deals in absolute value or worth—they don’t want to hear it’s contextual” (Thomas Van).

But there’s good news about cultural constructions and perceptions. Because members of a culture share commons backgrounds and ideologies, designers can tap into that shared knowledge. You might not be conscious of it, but, when you use idioms, refer to Entourage episodes, and use language, you’re engaging in socially constructed activities. Some topics for us (page numbers refer to Kimball and Hawkins Document Design):

  • Visual cues
    • “Visual culture influences how we ascribe meaning to what we see” (p. 54)
    • We conform to “rules” unconsciously: “Internalizing rules reduces our cognitive load, allowing us simply to follow the conventions…” (p. 54).
    • Think of cached memory in a CPU or kernel space in computing. Also, think about how long it takes for you to log onto a new computer for the first time in the library.
  • Semiotics: how meaning is constructed or understood; signs and symbols for concepts/objects in the referential world (pp. 57-59)
    • Signifiers: Icons, Indexes, and Symbols
    • Signified: concept the signifiers point to
  • Charles Saunders Peirce’s contribution
    • icon: signs that look like the thing they signify; a representational item.
    • index: indication; signs that have a clear connection to whatever they signify.
      • Of course, most of us call the computer application signs “icons” even though they are indexes (e.g., the house graphic to get to a home page).
      • Also, “index” means something specific to programmers.The meanings change based on context, but, as I’ve mentioned, we should try to use this new vocabulary accurately.
    • symbol: signs with an arbitrary relationship (but intersubjective agreement most likely) to whatever they signify.
      • philosophy note: if this were a philosophy class, we might debate whether or not all icons and indexes were actually just symbols–arbitrary signifiers agreed upon by communities.
      • “The constellation of possible meanings that surround a sign relies almost entirely on culture, society, and usage” (p. 59).
  • Language conventions (visual language)
    • hegemony: “the tendency of particular ideas, usually associated with powerful people, institutions, or even general cultures, to limit and even control the ways we interact and communicate” (p. 60).
    • “power plays a role in how meaning gets attached to signs” (p. 59).
  • Intercultural Communication and design
    • Globalization–having one version that attempts to reach all or as many cultures as possible
    • Localization–different versions for different cultures
  • Language and hegemony…anyone have a word suggestion?

Visual Rhetoric

Ok, I know what you’re thinking: Isn’t rhetoric just BS…empty political speech? While empty political speech is a definition of rhetoric, it’s too reductive a definition for enlightened college students such as yourselves. Rhetoric is much more involved than the unfortunate popular definition. For this class (and others) you should have a broader view of rhetoric. I like to define rhetoric as what builds meaning into something. That something can be an object, belief, event, or system, but, whatever it is, meaning is attached personally and culturally.

  • There is never a non-rhetorical use of language…of communication. Well, maybe…
  • Professional ethos
    • A well-designed document conveys a professional ethos.
    • A poorly designed document conveys an unprofessional (or worse) ethos.
    • Both types of ethos–professional and unprofessional–contribute to how audiences interpret the credibility of an author/speaker/rhetor.
    • Yes, there’s such a thing as negative ethos. Give me an example.

Take the following words for example: Communism and Feminism. Both have denotations and connotations. The denotative definitions (from the dictionary) are below.

  • Communism: an economic system based on total equality and ownership of the means of production.
  • Feminism: a philosophy recognizing and attempting to change women’s subordinate status in patriarchal society; a philosophy promoting the equality of all people.

Connotations are the feelings, allusions, and values a group (such as a culture) associates with certain words. Likewise, rhetoric describes what gives messages (even visual ones) their meaning–explicitly and implicitly. Some topics for us:

  • Three aspects of Rhetoric from Aristotle
    • Ethos: characterization of a speaker or author; presentation of one’s character or credibility. {Remember, ethos has two parts to it.}
      • Please note: we’ve come nearly 2500 years since Aristole. Don’t think that ethos is limited to just credibility of a speaker. Characteristics of a document contribute to an audience’s sense of the ethos conveyed by the document (and author but, in technical communication, documents convey an organization’s ethos).
    • Pathos: appeal to emotions; evoking emotional responses.
    • Logos: appeals to logic or facts in a message.
  • User-Centered Design:
    • Learnability: Can a user figure it out?
    • Efficiency: Can a user get through the document quickly and accurately?
    • Memorability: Do users become habituated to the document’s use?
    • Error avoidance: Can users avoid errors with the document?
    • Subjective satisfaction: Does the document fulfill the users’ needs (for the object, system or device being explained)?
  • Usability testing…I know an excellent class for this subject! For now, though, just understand the importance of putting yourself into the perspective of a user, but recognize that you can’t know EVERYTHING about your audiences.

We All Love Visuals

In case I didn’t show these already, let’s take a look at a video and other visuals to help us think about Visual Perception, Visual Culture, and Visual Rhetoric.

Has anyone seen Super Size Me? Kids say the darndest things!

Ever wondered why video of TVs and computer monitors have a scrolling line?

What hegemonic principles are at work in these images?

What are the rhetorical attributes of these images and web pages?

In groups of 2, find an image and discuss its meaning in terms of culture or rhetoric. I realize that culturally defined meaning falls under “rhetoric,” but, for tonight, try to separate the two.

For instance, culturally, what can be said about this image:

knife and fork

In American culture, we generally eat using these utensils. In fact, it’s so common to think of a meal needing to be consumed using forks and knives, that the above is an index (but could be an icon for forks and knives) that refers to a place to eat–most likely a restaurant. In fact, look at how Google Maps displays restaurants in Charlotte, NC. Even if you’re most likely going to eat Buffalo Wings or Burgers and fries, the fork-and-knife index is used for “restaurant” generically.

Rhetorically, though, this “sign” follows the above described convention of eating with a fork and knife, but that doesn’t immediately bring to mind persuasion. However, if the above sign were used by, say, a reviewer to point out favorable/popular restaurants, then we would claim the sign is an appeal to ethos because some critic established (and audiences agree) that the sign refers to good places to eat. Consider stars for rating the quality of a place (e.g., a 5-star restaurant is quite posh or, at least, reviewers think it has good food).

Now, as you’re driving down the highway (with your phone turned off or put aside), you may come to a blue sign with various smaller signs that refer to specific places (i.e., restaurants, gas stations, lodging, and attractions) usually with miles noted. My knee jerk reaction would be to call these icons, but, considering the fact that the restroom sign–possibly pointing to an actual restroom–is an index, I guess the restaurant images are also indexes. If you want to think further on this, check out the below links. Basically, know your audience. A lay audience with no knowledge of Saussure or Peirce isn’t going to scoff at you equating icons with indexes. However, know that users should be able to quickly identify the meaning of an icon or index (or symbol–think laundry symbols). Don’t expect them to labor over the possible meanings; instead, ask “what does this icon or index immediately convey?”