Transcript Show and Tell

Designing Posters, Brochures and PowerPoint Presentations
May 16, 2011
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Videos
Blogs
Web site
Smart phones
DVDs
Computers
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Rhetoric
Visual Rhetoric
Document Design
Legibility, Readability, Usability
Visual Noise
VISUAL RHETORIC
DOCUMENT DESIGN
LEGIBILITY
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Capable of being read or
deciphered
READABILITY
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Able to be read easily
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USABILITY is the ease of use and learnability
of a human-made object.
TOO MUCH
TOO MANY
The rhetoric of visuals vary by discipline,
purpose, audience, message, medium
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Working in pair, analyze the journal pages
you brought to the workshop. Make a note of
any disciplinary similarities or differences you
notice.
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What visual elements do you see here?
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What purpose do these visual elements
serve?
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How effectively do they serve that purpose?
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Are they connected to the text?
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How do you use images in your professional
life? Your personal life?
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What questions do you ask yourself when
deciding to use an image or visual device?
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Thinking Rhetorically about Visuals
Using Basis Design Principles
Working within Genre Convention
Considering Purpose and Audience for Design
Subject
Message
Medium
Audience
Context
Author
Purpose
Kind of visuals
Show what something looks like
Photographs, line art
Show relationships among data
Bar graphs, line graphs, pie graphs,
scatter graphs
Show conceptual relationships among
ideas
Concept diagrams (Venn diagrams,
network diagrams, organizational charts)
Emphasize and reinforce information
Simplify complex processes
Illustrations, flow charts
Show how things are related in space
Maps
Provide a simple mark for an idea
Pictograms
Add interest/ Establish a visual tone
Decorative graphics
 Purpose: What is my purpose in
writing/designing? What message do I want to
convey? What is my most important goal?
 Writer/Designer: How do I want to appear in my
text? What is my point of view? How can I
convince my audience to take me seriously?
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Subject: What is this document about? What
other works will I refer to? Where can I find
facts and other supporting material?
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Audience: Who is my audience? What does
my audience already know and believe about
my topic? What do they need to know? How
can I get them interested in my subject?
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Timing (kairos) & Context: what recent
events may affect the reception of this topic?
What cultural expectation are there?
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Medium/Genre: What medium will I use
(Print, electronic, handwriting, paint, film,
etc.)? What genre will I use (essay, journal,
letter, photograph, story, etc.)?
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Ethos: “the sense the user gathers of the
speaker’s character” (Document Design, 65)
Logos: “the logical or factual information
conveyed by the document” (65)
Pathos: “aspects of the document intended
to evoke an emotional response in the user”
(65)
Why do we need to consider rhetorical
appeals in designing/evaluating visuals?
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Think PARC
Location, Location, Location
Knowing Color and Text: Less is More
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Proximity
Alignment
Repetition
Contrast
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CRAP
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From Robin Williams, The Non-designer’s Design Book.
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Purpose: organize information
How to achieve: group into 3-5 visual units
Avoid:
 Too many separate elements
 Putting things in corners
 Equal amounts of white space unless each element is a
subset
 Creating relationships among things that don’t belong
together
Purpose: unify and organize
How to achieve it: Be conscious of what things are
aligning together
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 Multiple kinds of alignment
 Centered alignment (harder to read)
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Purpose: visual interest and unity.
How to achieve: Be consistent with visual
elements
Avoid: Too many design elements competing
for attention
Image from http://www.maddisondesigns.com/blog/2009/03/the-5-basic-principles-of-design/
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Purpose: add interest, emphasis
How to get it:
 Type face
 Line thicknesses
 Color
 Shapes
 Sizes
Design objects:
 Shape
 Orientation
 Texture
 Color
 Values
 Size
 Position
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Layout
Order (arrangement)
Focus
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Power Zones
Grids
White space
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Power Zones & the Z pattern
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Specific to genre
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In document design, negative space is often
referred to as “white space.”
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Some tips:
 Use white space to balance the density of print and
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make the page inviting
Leave a one-inch margin around the page
Use ragged rather than justified right margins
Set off headings with white space
Use white space consistently to show organization
and hierarchy of ideas
Positive space
Negative space
Negative space can be used to draw attention to:
▪ Margins
▪ Gutters
Image by Frank Curkovic, “Positive and Negative Space,” http://artinspired.pbworks.com/Positive-and-Negative-Space.
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Place important information in “power zone”
Put related information together/white space
Break up long paragraphs (Lists)
Use numbers with lists to imply hierarchy
Use indents to “layer” information
Consider using columns to break up dense
text
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What style do I want for my text (formal,
academic, informal, fanciful, casual, etc.)?
What tone should I adopt (witty, serious,
etc.)?
How can you convey a visual style?
 Color
 Fonts
 Balance
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Select at least three colors that you feel
works well together
Less is MORE
Colors
 Primary
 Secondary
 Tertiary
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Color Harmonies:
▪ Monochromatic (colors in same hue)
▪ Analogous (colors around central hue)
▪ Complementary (colors opposite each other)
 Don’t overuse color
 Use the expected meaning of color
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Warm colors
Cool colors
Red
Primary Colors
Pastels
 Consider audience needs (color blindness)
A. Original Image, B. Color-blind proof, C. Optimal Image
From: http://www.adobe.com/accessibility/products/illustrator/overview.html#validation
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“Typography enables us to see writing in
material terms as letter-forms, printed pages,
posters, computer screens. It helps to name the
available tools of representation that composers
draw on to make their own means of production.
[And] typography links writing to delivery . . .
The visual design of writing figures prominently
as the material form in which the message is
delivered.”
--John Trimbur, “Delivering the Message: Typography and the Materiality of
Writing.” Visual Rhetoric in a Digital World, p. 263.
Kind of
Typeface
Description
Examples
Serif
Text that facilitates reading by directing the
eye across a line of text
Georgia, Times New Roman,
Garamond
Sans Serif
More vertical than serif; direct the eye
down; useful for headings, captions, titles,
lists
Arial, Calibri, Tahoma
Script
Resembles handwriting or calligraphy
Mistral, Comic Sans, Kristen
Blackletter
Resembles early Modern script
Old English Text
Inscribed
Resembles stone inscription
Imprint MT, Castellar
Engraved
Resembles metal inscriptions
Edwardian Script, Kunstler Script
Grunge
Draws attention to artistic value of type
Curlz MT, Chiller, Jokerman
Dingbats
Provides images for glyphs
Wingdings wingdings
Adapted from Miles A. Kimball and Ann R. Hawkins, Document Design, p. 165
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Limit each page to 2 or 3 typefaces
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Use medium-weight type.
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Use italics and bold sparingly, for emphasis
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Use upper & lower-case letters for most text.
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ALL CAPITALS MAKES READING DIFFICULT.
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Size
Shape
Color
Value
Position
Symmetrical
Asymmetrical
Images from Gary Klass, “Presenting Data,” http://lilt.ilstu.edu/gmklass/pos138/datadisplay/badchart.htm
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What is wrong with
this image?
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According to Gary
Klass, there are three
principles of bad data
presentation:
 Data Ambiguity
 Data Distortion
 and Data Distraction
source:LA Times, August 5, 1979, from Gary Klass,
“Presenting Data”
http://lilt.ilstu.edu/gmklass/pos138/datadisplay/badchart.htm
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Make sure all data are clearly labeled
Begin at zero and use equal increments
Use bar graphs, not pie charts
Avoid replacing bars with pictures
Present data variation, not design variation
Explain how the image relates
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Creating effective posters
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Font types
 Title 72-100
 Subtitles 30-50
 Body text 26-30
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Grid: 3 to 4 columns
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Layout
Rhetorical purpose of Panal
5
6
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2
3
4
Panel 1 = The Outside Front Cover
Panels 2, 3, 4 = Inside Spread
Panel 5 = Draw
Panel 6 = Contact Info
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must be an attention grabber ... it should
capture the attention of your target audience
arouse sufficient interest to want to pick it up
and open it.
Here are some things to include on the Outside
Front Cover.
 A colour picture
 A key benefit of the event
 A tease ... a provocative question
 Key information of the event ... information at a
glance
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Headings
Information (Logos)
 Facts
 Stats
 examples
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Striking Images (Pathos)
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The first to be seen inside
 Very important
 Draws the audience in
 Use Pathos
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Back Panel
 Provides Contact information
▪ Addresses
▪ Maps
▪ Websites
 Motivates the target audience
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Alignment
Similarity
Contrast
Order
Proximity
Enclosure
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One single clear message
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The 6x6 rule
 No more than six words per line
 No more than 6 slides per slide
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One slide per minute rule
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Sentences vs. Phrases
Consider the aspects of document design that we’ve just discussed. Which of
these aspects are most important to you? Working with 2-3 faculty
members, decide which aspects you would consider in evaluating student
visuals and draft a basic rubric. You might choose from the following (or
additional criteria of your own):
Invention
Arrangement
Style
Delivery
Purpose
Visual organization
Color
Typography
Audience
consideration
Document design
(proximity, alignment,
repetition, contrast)
Use of white
space (visual
appeal)
Accessibility of
important info
Balance
Purposeful use of
images
Appropriate
medium/genre
Appropriate labels
for images
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Using the rubric you have just created, assess
a sample student document.
How well does your rubric work to assess the
document?
What areas does your rubric assess well?
What areas does your rubric struggle to
assess? Is there anything missing from your
rubric?
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DuFrene, Debbie D. and Carol M. Lehman. “Concept, Content, Construction, and
Contingencies: Getting the Hart Before the PowerPoint Cart.” Business Communication
Quarterly. Mar 2004: 84-88.
Dlugan, Andrew. “ Speech Analysis #1: How to Study and Critique a Speech.” Six Minutes:
Public Speaking and Presentation Blog. 18 Jan 2008. 5 May 2009.
<http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/2008/01/18/speech-evaluation-1-how-to-study-critiquespeech/>
Faigley, Lester, Diana George, Anna Palchik, and Cynthia Selfe. Picturing Texts. New York:
W. W. Norton, 2004.
Handa, Carolyn, ed. Visual Rhetoric in a Digital World: A Critical Sourcebook. Boston:
Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2004.
Kimball, Miles A., Ann R. Hawkins. Document Design: A Guide for Technical Communicators.
Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008.
Lucas, Stephen E. The Art of Public Speaking. 3rd edition. New York: Random House, 1989.
Redmond, Mark V., and Denise Vrchota. Everyday Public Speaking. Boston: Pearson, 2007.
Williams, Robin. The Non-Designer’s Design Book. 2nd edition. Berkeley, CA: Peachpit Press,
2004.