THE ELEMENTS OF

VISUAL RHETORIC
Dr. Will Kurlinkus
wkurlinkus@gmail.com
BASIC THOUGHTS
! Remember youre writing for specific audiences who have specific (and varying)
visual tastes, needs, ways of reading, and associations with symbols, colors, and
layouts.
! Use a focus group to judge how your intended audience will read an image.
! Every object has been designed to create a visual argument (bottles of shampoo,
aftershave, and medicine).
! How do ethos, pathos, and logos work visually? Which is the easiest appeal to
achieve?
VISUAL APPEALS:
STARTING POINTS
! Ethos: What colors and fonts create a feeling of trustworthiness? Which ones
dont? What does it mean for something or someone to look professional?
! Pathos: Which sorts of images evoke which emotions? What emotions (positive
and negative) do you want your audience to feel and/or associate with your
message?
! Logos: visual arrangementthe most important element draws attention first.
Where is important text placed? What is the most important image? Where are they
placed? How are different fonts used to guide the read and section the text visually?
COLOR THEORY
! Rhetoric of Color: Different colors communicate different meanings to
your viewers. You can use colors to convey an emotion, to contrast two
things, to call attention to something, and so forth.
Bright, warm colors (red, pink, orange, yellow) call attention to an image and
usually connote intense emotions like passion and rage.
Cooler colors (blue, gray, green, purple) are associated with calmness &
serenity.
Black & white images can create different meanings: they can make a place
seem boring (like Kansas in the Wizard of Oz), they can make a scene seem
more somber, etc.
COLOR THEORY
! Hue: what color is it?
! Saturation: How
much color is in it?
! Brightness: How light
or dark is it? Moving
from shadowy to the full
hue.
Saturation
Brightness
COLOR THEORY
! Dominant and Highlight: Rather than
working with infinite colors, which confuses
the attentional economy of the eye (what
do I look at?! Whats important?!), many of
the best visual designs balance themselves
by choosing one dominant color (most of
the page) and one highlight color (a dash of
contrast color). Designers then might work
within the monochromatic scale of each.
Blue highlights in the mac interface
Blond hair
highlights
COLOR WHEEL
Primary Colors: Red, Blue, Yellow
Secondary Colors: Mix of 2
Primary
Tertiary Colors: Mix of Primary
and Secondary
Cool Color: Add blue to a hue.
Warm Color: Add yellow to a hue
Color theory and makeup: http://
www.youtube.com/watch?
v=63pogF_ZiQk
COLOR WHEEL
1. Analogous hues: hues next to one
Another on the wheel.
2. Complementary opposite hues:
hues across the color wheel.
3. Monochromatic: variations in lightness
And darkness on the same hue.
Three Color Harmonies

COLOR HARMONIES
OTHER COLOR SCHEMES
Triadic Scheme
Split-Complementary Scheme
Tetradic Scheme
Square Scheme
RULE OF THIRDS
RULE OF THIRDS
LAYOUT THEORY
! Vector: A visual element (usually at a diagonal)
that leads the eye from one place to another.
Triangles in layouts usually act as vectors.
Vectors can be what people in the image are
looking at.
But there doesnt always have to be a vector.
! Actor: The object from which the vector
originates. A person in the image is looking at
something.
! Goal: The object towards which the vector
moves. The object that person is looking at.
LAYOUT THEORY
! Zoom/Social Distance:
Closeup=intimate. Longshot=Impersonal.
! Gaze:
Demand: Person gazes directly at audience
asks the viewer to do something. The
person in the ad is doing the looking.
Commanding.
Offer: Person looks at the audience but in a
softer, less demanding way. Offers
themselves up as an object. The audience is
doing the looking and is the powerful one.
LAYOUT THEORY
! Angle
Straight-on/Front facing: involvement.
This is part of our world.
Oblique/Side Angle: Detachment. This
is not part of our world. It is foreign to
us.
Camera angle looking up: The object in
the image is powerful, godlike. The
viewer is put in a subordinate position.
Camera looking down: Viewer is in a
godlike position. The object in the
image is passive and weak.
Eye-level: the object and viewer are
relatively equal.
LAYOUT THEORY
! Layout as a Whole
Left Side: Information that is already
assumed and old, something quick to
process, already associatedsimple text
or logo.
Right Side: The New Information (the
key information)the argument, longer
to process.
Top: Ideal, promise, the fictional, the
hope, the wish.
Bottom: Real, the actual, the factual.
Images are often diptych or triptych. Split
into twos and threes. And the middle
element branches the new and old or the
ideal and the real.