Visual rhetoric
[3] The interactional and commonly hybrid nature of cyber spaces that usually mixes print text and visual images unable some detachment of them as isolated constructs, and scholarship has claimed that especially in virtual spaces where print text and visuals are usually combined, there is no place either for emphasizing one mode over another.
This includes an understanding of the creative and rhetorical choices made with coloring, shaping, and object placement.
[8] Visual rhetoric emphasizes images as sensory expressions of cultural and contextual meaning, as opposed to purely aesthetic consideration.
[10] The term rhetoric originated in ancient Greece and its concept has been widely discussed for thousands of years.
Sophists first coined the idea as an abstract term to help label the concept, while Aristotle more narrowly defined rhetoric as a message's potential to influence audiences.
Over time, this definition has evolved, expanded, and raised serious debate as new digital mediums of communicating have developed.
Kames argued many of the same points as other Enlightenment scholars—mainly that art was beneficial to the public—and worthy of note and praise—if it was encouraging a moral improvement of its audience.
[12] French theorist Roland Barthes in 1977 brought to light a new way to evaluate other communication means, showing the relevance of traditional rhetorical theories to the still photographic medium.
[14] Although similar in nature, one striking difference between visual and classical rhetoric is the newfound outlook on Aristotle's original canons.
Linda Scott created a newfound audience by constructing new cannons exclusive to visual rhetoric.
[14] Instead of closely monitoring the content, as with the initial five canons, Scott's focused on the visual medium's ability to invent and argument, arrangement of the item, and all coupled with a meaningful delivery of presentation.
Since its inception, popular studies have appeared in published works to discuss the role of visual rhetoric in many facets of human life, especially advertising.
The term emerged largely as an effort to set aside a certain area of study that would focus attention on specific rhetorical elements of visual mediums.
[10] Visual symbols were deemed trivial and subservient and thus, were largely ignored as part of a rhetorical argument.
[10] Scholars of visual rhetoric analyze photographs, drawings, paintings, graphs and tables, interior design and architecture, sculpture, Internet images, and film.
The choice and arrangement of the elements in an image should be used to achieve the desired rhetorical effects and convey messages accurately to specific audiences, societies, and cultures.
Therefore, in order for artifacts or products to be conceptualized as visual rhetoric, they must be symbolic, involve human intervention, and be presented to an audience for the purpose of communicating.
From business to art to entertainment, the versatility of images in popular culture have some scholars arguing words will eventually become outdated.
[23] Aristotle proposed three types of appeal to an audience: These techniques are a technical skill learned and utilized by visual communication designer's today, such as in the field of advertising.
[30] Visual communicators are expected to accurately portray information and avoid misleading or deceiving viewers.
A painting may allude to peace with an olive branch or to Christianity with a cross; in the same way, an artwork may employ personification by attributing human qualities to a non-human entity.
[citation needed]Graffiti is a "pictorial or visual inscription on a publically [sic] accessible surface.
"[34] According to Hanauer, Graffiti achieves three functions; the first is to allow marginalized texts to participate in the public discourse, the second is that graffiti serves the purpose of expressing openly "controversial contents", and the third is to allow "marginal groups to the possibility of expressing themselves publicly.
"[35] Bates and Martin note that this form of rhetoric has been around even in ancient Pompeii, with an example from 79 A.D. reading, "Oh wall, so many men have come here to scrawl, I wonder that your burdened sides don't fall".
[37] Within a more modern context, Wiens' (2014) research showed that graffiti can be considered an alternative way of creating rhetorical meaning for issues such as homelessness.
[39] This form of visual rhetoric is meant to communicate meaning to anyone who so happens to see it, and due to its long history and prevalence, several styles and techniques have emerged to capture the attention of an audience.
Professionals in fields from graphic design to book publishing make deliberate choices about how a typeface looks, including but not limited to concerns of functionality, emotional evocations, and cultural context.
"[42] The visual portion of the meme is a part of its multimodal grammar, allowing a person to decode the text through "cultural codes" that contextualize the image to construct meaning.
Successful memes originate and proliferate by means of anonymous internet users, not entities like corporations or political parties that have an agenda.
Nowak asserts that meme authorship should remain anonymous, because this is the only way to let people make the statements that they want to freely.
