Rhetoric!

Study of effective and persuasive communication. We are examining how

signs can be put together to communicate and argue effectively.

Rhetoristotle

• For Aristotle – rhetoric is “the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.”

• When we think rhetoric, we think how to use signs towards persuasive purposes in communication.

Rhetoric and Parts• Ethos

– Verbal—Language appropriate to audience and subject, correct grammar, fair-minded presentation.

– Visual—Uniforms, navigation, typefaces, tight design.

• Pathos– Verbal—Connotative meanings, emotionally loaded language, vivid descriptions.– Visual—Images selected, type of shot, colors.

• Logos– Verbal—Denotative meanings, statistics, charts, theoretical or abstract language, citations

from authority, explanations, and definitions– Visual—Charts, graphs, measurements, comparisons, documentations, schematics,

blueprints, organization, and arrangement.

• Kairos– The right time and/or place to ethos, pathos, logos someone about something.

Bad Kairos?

It’s a triangle peppered with Kairos

kairos

kairos

kairos

kairos

kairos

kairos

Let’s break this apart

Culture Jamming

• The purpose is to expose the reality behind corporate spin and reclaim the media and public spaces from the influence of powerful corporations.

Advertising and subvertising

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