Visual Rhetoric

I think visual rhetoric is a decision we all make on a daily basis.  Sometimes we even create visual rhetoric without even realizing it.  Most of are already familiar with social media and the ability they create social circles and promote one's self.  I mostly use Facebook, Instagram, and Google+.  All three are social media networks but have different ways of using rhetoric.  Facebook users have a personalized profile to interconnect with other people, friends, and family.  It contains many forms of rhetoric from the "about me" section describing yourself, basic facts, education, work, music taste, likes and even dislikes.  This written form of rhetoric can allow someone to portray himself as a deep thinker, romantic poet, or whatever he wants the world to percieve him as.  There is also the photos that display a visual rhetoric.  Thanks to photo editing programs and photo effects, we can alter our photos to make them portray us in a different manner than the typical snapshot.  Many of these photo editing tools can be very effective in convincing your audience (in this case, your friends) to see you the way you want them too.  I may only post photos of me outdoors hiking, camping, and shooting.  My friends would naturally be lead to think, he is an outdoors guy.  The same can work any circumstance.  The actual photos can be made to create different emotional effects to the audience as well, when i posted a photo of me in the snow, I went on instagram and changed the effect to "Hudson" which added a blue color theme to my photo making the appearance that is was even colder.  The effect would have been totally changed if I put on "toaster", the audience might have had a warmer feeling that it wasn't that cold and my facial expression was sarcastic.  The last part of rhetoric in facebook, is the timeline in which we post comments on your wall and others.  To whom and what you post creates a "profile" of who you are and what you like/don't like.  Even the comments can add credibility to your profile. If Megan Fox likes a photo, instantly others may do so too because of her influence.  For my purposes, I like to use Facebook to keep up with friends over time, Instagram to put cool effects on my photos and just see current photos of my friends, and Google+ for my business related work (because it has a more professional look and has ability for google docs)  Before I learned about visual rhetoric in class, I always used it just didn't think so much about why.  Naturally most guys dress up to impress girls, or convey a sense of confidence.  Normally with the purpose that she notices him in a good way and is attracted to him.  I like a simple example my friend once used.  Men buy nice cars, not because they like nice cars, but because women like nice cars.  If a man had to, he would like in a box.  Although it may not also be true but I believe the general message is accurate, we use visual rhetoric every day to influence others around us.  This stems from the clothes we wear, the word choice we use, to the way we act.  So it is very useful to know if you want to express yourself as the "best" you.  Unless you just got married and don't give a flying anymore.  checkmate.

Daily Visual Rhetoric

Rhetoric makes its way in writing and in many other things that we create. But visual rhetoric can be seen in our daily and weekly lives. Visual rhetoric is shown through what we say, what we wear, and also what we do in our lives. This is because these three factors help in determining who someone is. When i wake up in the morning and decide to chose what i wear is visual rhetoric. The type of clothes that i chose to wear whether it be gym shorts, a baseball hat or sweats, shows that i am not going to do anything that requires nice clothing. This also shows that i enjoy sports and recreational activities. What i decide to say on a daily basis also shows visual rhetoric. Speaking with good word choice and speaking with out vulgarity shows what type of person that i am. Also when using words that are funny will show that i like being funny and that i like to laugh. If i don't say much it could mean that i am not in a very good mood. The third way that we usual visual rhetoric in our daily and weekly lives is through what we choose to do. I generally enjoy spending time with my fionce and family.  playing sports, listening to music, and playing video games.  What i enjoy doing visually demonstrates who i am as a person. Others can see that i enjoy doing things that are more active and can see that i am family centered kind of guy. Also going to school shows that i am interested in getting an education so that i can obtain a better paying job and better support a family. Almost everything that we do and say can be a form of visual rhetoric.

Visual Rhetoric

Visual rhetoric is a very powerful tool. From the way we portray our lives on Facebook, to the way we act around people we are providing information. The things we spend time doing, or improving give insight to others on what we find important. Getting ready in the mornings is often dreaded, and while spending too much time in front of a mirror can be vain, it is important to represent yourself well, as the way you take care of yourself sends a message to those surrounding you whether it be potential employers, colleagues, or professors.
It is also important to understand how we are affected by visual rhetoric. We are bombarded with media, Facebook posts, advertisements, all of which can have a negative impact. If we feel that we are "less cool" or become discouraged with tactics used by public information companies we are becoming victim to their methods, and are often worse off. The most common example is that associated with young girls and beauty ads and young boys and superheros or sports champions. If they are never told that this is not the expectation, and that they are loved under every circumstance, proper self-development can be interrupted.
Visual rhetoric is a very powerful tool, and we must use it ethically, while recognizing that not everyone does.

Visual Rhetoric

Visual rhetoric is becoming one of the biggest ways we communicate to each other in today's society. Whether it is by the media, or for friends, it is the easiest way to communicate.  One of my newest favorite pieces of visual rhetorical media is a phone app for Iphones called Tinder.  Tinder is a dating app that matches individuals who click the "like" button for each other.  It pulls information from your Facebook and allows you to view individuals who are within 20-50 miles radius of where you are. It allows you to be anonymous in the since that, the only people who can see your activity are the individuals that you match up with.  You can even chat with the.  Now the people who you don't "like" will never that you disliked them.  It is pretty discrete.  For the short amount of time that I had this app downloaded, I enjoyed my time, however, I did have some racy experiences that lead me to deleting that app.  The entire app is made of mostly pictures with very few words.  It mentions age and name. Pinterest works the same way.  All pictures with very few words. You may like whatever picture is presented and you can post on your own boards to keep the links to the ideas that you like.  Facebook has the same appeal.  Even though we can post events and messages on each others walls, a huge part of Facebook is the image that you portray of yourself.  Thankfully they have settings that allow you to guard what you are tagged in.  As much as I enjoy visual images, I do think it doesn't convey everything that words can.  We would be a lost world with out words.  Things could easily be skewed without explanation.  Often times, a picture doesn't do justice.

Visual Rhetoric

Visual rhetoric is used every day in life. It’s a way that everyone can communicate to one another. When one uses visual rhetoric they are trying to convey an image to their audience. In my life I use visual rhetoric all the time. For social networking I always seem to be trying to portray myself in a good image whether I realize it or not. I guess everyone just wants to look good in front of their friends so they always try to post the coolest photos, funny photos, etc. Anyway the point is that most people try to create an image for them, including me. I think it is a good thing in social media for everyone to use visual rhetoric because it helps show the many different personalities and characteristic of each individual. I love art as well, however I’m not good at it. In art I try to make my invention just simply nice to look at and not look like a piece of trash. I try to make my piece something that has meaning to it, whether it be a symbolic meaning, a visual meaning, or and emotional meaning. A lot of visual rhetorical art piece have symbolic meaning. By showing one characteristic they symbolize a story, an idea, a moral, a feeling, or a something else. I love to show my personality through my art as well as how I present myself to others. I think this is helpful because it can be a great tool to help other get to know me better.

Visual Rhetoric-Sterling Paulson

Visual rhetoric is becoming more and more prevalent in our society. Social media is one of the main purveyors of this visual rhetoric, but every day people of all ages and demographics are bombarded with different colors, textures, fonts, images, and graphics. Television programs and advertisements, print ads, billboards, posters and many other examples of visual rhetoric can be seen. This can be seen as a beneficial addition to society. With visual rhetoric people can easily get their point across and draw attention to their argument or advertising.  It is much more succinct than a public speech or an opinion editorial, and has a good chance of drawing a larger and more diverse audience. We see this now even in boardrooms for global corporations or in the closing arguments for litigators in trial. In these settings traditionally dominated by oratory, we can now see PowerPoint slides, posters, and graphics being used to more effectively argue points. While this may seem fascinating and great, I still think that it is important to look at all of the effects of this shift. I think that it has some detrimental aspects, as grammar and writing become less influential and therefore less important in many industries. I think that it is important to remember that visual rhetoric is a great thing, but it cannot be our only form of communication that we use.

Visual Rhetoric

One of the ways we all use visual rhetoric is social media such as Facebook. Facebook is used by almost everyone these days and allows us stay connected with each other, but it also allows us to express ourselves. Facebook is a way that many people are able to see us without us even knowing. Like the profile picture we talked about in class Facebook is an opportunity for people to see us so it may be important how we show ourselves. While I’m not one to worry about my profile picture the types of music I listen to and some of my many interests are on display for people to see so they can get a general idea of who I am. This means I might not let someone post something offensive or off color on my Facebook because my mom might see or someone else that may get the wrong impression. So how you let others see you on Facebook is important. I think that visual rhetoric is very important to learn about because it is something we use on a daily basis in today’s society even more so than writing it seems. Every day we are exposed to visual rhetoric on TV and on the internet, it is everywhere we look. If the visual rhetoric is effective, that commercial might persuade us to buy their product or use their service. If not, we may just remember it as that cheesy commercial or change the channel when it comes on. So it is important to learn how to be effective with our visual rhetoric as well as our written.

visual rhetoric

I guess the first source of my visual rhetoric is my Facebook page because that is where I have most of my pictures and other personal media. I also have a twitter but that is not much in pictures in videos for me anyway. Recently I have been on Pinterest a lot too. To clarify I would like to point out that it is not my own account but it is my fiancées and I go on simply to look at the ideas that she wants me to look at for the wedding. I actually find it very helpful because I do not have to Google search everything that she finds but it is all in one place. Computers in general are a very good source of visual rhetoric because well no one really gets on a computer to read anything. Even the companies like Microsoft, Windows, and Apple all try to make their product more appealing to us because when they look cleaner we are more inclined to want to us them (like we saw when looking at all the different websites in class).

I think that visual rhetoric is definitely good to be aware of because the things that we put on Facebook for example are used as a basis to “judge” us for other people. Also I feel like just the things that we take in everyday have a huge impact on our thoughts and well we don’t want to surround ourselves with possibly good rhetoric that portrays bad things.

Visual Rhetoric

We are constantly making statements, even if we're silent. As people, we have many senses that convey information better than any words ever have. As far as visual rhetoric, we certainly know the impact that visual advertising has on us, but we also subconciously make choices and decisions to make a statement by appearance.
The main thing that I feel we use visual rhetoric is the way we dress. We may not actively choose one set over another on a daily basis based on what information we want to convey, but our choices in clothes tell a lot about our interests and can be a window into our personalities. It may seem shallow to judge someone, by their clothes, but their appearance is the first thing that we notice when we meet someone. For example, we choose a different set of clothes for church to convey professionalism. Job interviewers will quickly deny employment if someone shows up inappropriately dressed. These things are important in our society, because of the message that our appearance brings.
When we look at the ethos, pathos, and logos of clothing choice, we can see how our choices are often direct appeals to these three points of rhetoric. We plan our appearance to give us credibility in our proffessional life and often our social life. We try to evoke a response to our audience (we hope they like what we're wearing). Our clothing also makes a statement of who we are and what our interests are. There are dozens of ways that we express ourselves by appealing to someones visual senses, but our dress and appearance is certainly a major one that is often overlooked.

Visual Rhetoric

In our day to day life we compose visual rhetoric constantly. Through forms of media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and others visual rhetoric is posted all the time.  On these media pages pictures, captions, and videos are posted hourly by different people.  These forms of media have become a large part of the visual rhetoric that we see in our society on a daily basis.   Television is another prime example of visual rhetoric.  Television is used to convey news, sports, and entertainment to people everywhere.  People now days often turn to the television to find out what’s going on in the world compared to before where people had to read the paper.  Music is another form of visual rhetoric that has made its way into our society.  Music explains feelings and emotions and can be used to describe a certain situation.  Music, the internet, television, and other forms of visual rhetoric have become a very large part of our society.

This visual rhetoric is very useful but we have to be careful that we use it in moderation.  Visual rhetoric is an excellent tool to grab the attention of people and sometimes it can explain things better than words, but we should use it in moderation.  If we use to much visual rhetoric we will lose the basic ability to write and to communicate through word.  This kind of communication is more important than visual rhetoric so we need to make sure we don’t over use it.  We need to retain our skills with the written word.  

Reading vs. Writing

I do think the processes between reading and writing are similar in a lot of aspects however, I do think they are different as well. I think that if we want to be good writers, reading is necessary.  Reading helps people to learn how to write better.  Both active processes so both take work. Reading is how we intake information while writing is somewhat of a brainstorming activity in which we put thought forward to write down.  We do analyze what we read and as do what we choose to write. But we do not effortlessly write as we do read.  Your brain can automatically read a sign without you giving it permission to.  Your brain cannot help it. However, many like myself, have to put serious thought into what to write. It is not effortless like reading. I like to think the thought process of writing is the opposite of reading. As you read your brain automatically picks up words and you input them into a box in your brain. When writing, you have to consciously open that box to put words to together to put onto paper.  It takes work.  I actually think there was a real study done on how the brain works in terms of reading. I can't remember exactly what the results were, but it did go over how your brain, at free will , will read on its own and you can't stop it from doing it.

Writing vs. Reading

Writing is both different and similar in many ways to reading. With writing, there is a writing process which consists of many steps. Some of these steps are brainstorming, revising, and proofreading. In reading there are steps that are similar but not quite the same. Instead of brainstorming, like one does in writing, in reading one might just simply skim over their reading to get a general idea of what they are reading. And like proofreading in writing, when someone reads to further understand the text, they read and reread. If one is to “revise” their reading I think of this as trying to dissect what the author is trying to say. However writing and reading are quite different from each other. I say this because of my own personal experience. For me it is a lot easier to read something and understand it than it is to understand what I’m writing about and clearly communicate my ideas to my audience. Reading is also more relaxing and less stressful because it can be used for leisurely purposes. Some of the only ways writing is leisurely for me is found in social networking and communicating to friends and family.

Both Reading and writing do take work though. Not all reading is easy or interesting. At times reading take some digging into to truly understand certain authors are trying to explain or hint at. Most writing takes lots of time to dive into to make sure all the thoughts that are put down on paper are communicated clearly and efficiently.

Writing and Reading-Sterling Paulson

I think that in order to be good readers we must read like we write. This entails following a process similar to the writing process. This "reading process" is important in helping us analyze and digest what we read. Just as we brainstorm, critique, and analyze what we write, so too must we critique and analyze what we read. This allows us to make sense of what we are reading, be able to store it as information in our own minds, and in turn use what we have read to formulate opinions on certain issues and, perhaps more importantly, write or speak on these same topics to other audiences. It is also an important step in being able to assess the validity of a source, as if we don't analyze writing in depth than we may miss logical fallacies or false claims. With this being said, writing and reading are very much related. I think that we write on a subject for others to read about it, and oftentimes we read the writing of others so that we in turn can write our own opinions on a subject. They are both performed most effectively when done in logical processes which allow our mind to analyze and digest information, and then use information to form coherent arguments. It is due to the purposes of writing and reading, as well as their related nature, that both require a similar process in order to be effective.

Reading Process

When writers write, they use a clear process of writing, whether it be an active use or subconsciously  going through the steps, at least most of the time. In the Reading process, we read many different works for different reason. We read literature for personal enjoyment or we read textbooks or guides to learn or develop skills. I think it would be fair to say that we treat different things we read differently depending on purpose. Overall, I feel that there is ample evidence that we use a reading process similar to writing to understand and comprehend what was written. In textbooks, when we read we do more than just move our sight over the words, but take the time to ensure comprehension in reading. Our grades depend on it. This means that we first try to make sense of it, essentially brainstorming. Next, we often then review what was written on paper to look for more information and to make a better capture of the author's intent, or revision. After we have read or gone through a process of thinking and deliberation, we finalize our opinions and move on. This seems awfully similar to the writing process. We can go through all sort of mediums; newspapers, magazines, instruction booklets, cookbooks, and countless pinterest entries. If the information is easier to capture, no revision is necessary. Road signs and a lot of what we do on the internet is very passive. This and similar forms of material are not analyzed at near the same depth. However, we can easily see that  there is a process to reading and comprehension.

The reading process is a must when we are trying to create a good paper. They are closely related because we have to be educated on a subject to be able to write about it. Otherwise, most of the time people will be able to tell that we are just throwing out opinion and the argument won't have much authority or be very convincing. For me I normally start off reading a bunch of titles of topics to figure out what I want to about. Then once I have a topic I will read opinions on websites like wikipedia and google to get an overall view of the topic and get some background information on it. Then I will read more articles like from the opposing viewpoints website so that I can gain my own opinion before I start writing. Then I read more informative resources that have statistics and reliable studies done. Normally with each source I just skim over it really fast by reading the first and last paragraphs to get the topic and conclusion to see the general idea. Then I'll read each paragraph to find points that I want to use in my writing. It's like writing as in I try to make it brought first to gain knowledge and then specific so that I can find things that I like or need for my writing.