TITLE:
The Pedagogy of Visual Discourse: An Analytical Approach to Teaching and Evaluating the Rhetorical Image
AUTHORS:
Jacqueline Irwin
KEYWORDS:
Visual Rhetoric, Methodology, Aesthetic and Design Theory
JOURNAL NAME:
Art and Design Review,
Vol.2 No.2,
May
28,
2014
ABSTRACT: As the area of visual rhetoric develops and evolves, the approaches that critics take in evaluating images must be scrutinized for the overall exploration of the discipline. Incorporating areas of analytical criticism from rhetoric to aesthetics to design should be combined to create the best possible way of evaluating imagery. By expanding on the traditional analytical approach to rhetorical criticism, this paper explores how the additional understanding of aesthetic and design theory will help the critic to reach a fuller understanding of the image. The twelve major principles of design being line, shape and form, space, texture, value, color, repetition, variety, rhythm, balance, emphasis, and economy are combined to create the strategy of the visual aesthetic that works to compliment the existing rhetorical strategies. The more complete understanding of how visuals are created and how people interpret them will allow for a more complete development of the visual rhetorical approach to communication.