Visual Rhetoric Slide Presentation

                We are doing a prezzie presentation (a type of interactive power point). So we will be analyzing the visual rhetoric slide presentation. One important choice that needs to be made is font choice. Depending on the mood of the image/slide an acceptable font needs to be chosen. Generally people need to choose more serious fonts unless their power point is less serious in nature. Typically the "type of text dictates font choice". This means you should add emphasis and tone with the font. Readers need to be able to read the font as well, so an acceptable font size should be chosen. Another important issue is whether readers can read the font. This can be broken into font readability and contrast. Contrast is important when choosing colors of text and background. Some colors do not overlay well and should be avoided. Typically the font should be darker (not this) than the background, and a neutral bridge should be used.
               These topics are important when dealing with the overall issue of design clarity. The power point should be easy to follow, and free of complicating or unnecessary design elements such as clutter, or excess color. On the other hand the presentation should be eye catching and readable. Typically a slide needs to be organized in a left to right direction so it "flows" well to an audience. Even if the report is original and striking it needs to be consistent. Each slide should be different, but there should not be any massive leaps in style or organization. As a whole the presentation should be very easy to follow and read, and finding the balance between this and keeping it intriguing is the ultimate goal. (281 words)

By: Arjun, Jason, Peter, and Alex

Anna Thyen, Natalie Weiss, Preston Quam, Nanxi Yan

For our project, we decided to do a PowerPoint interactive presentation for our picture essay. On the OWL website we found the Visual Rhetoric: Use of Images to be very helpful when bringing our PowerPoint together. Our main task in this project is to take clear and focused pictures to show incoming freshman around campus. The OWL talks about an important point of making sure the pictures are clear and everything can be seen well. This website also talks about how many beginning designers tend to take pictures from the internet instead of their own. When copying internet pictures, there may be a result in unclear visual effects. We plan to take as many of our own pictures as possible to stray away from this problem. Clutter is another main problem that may arise when pictures are used. The OWL shows how some pictures may be seen better when they are manipulated to focus on what the composer wants. We plan to cut and crop our pictures to have the least amount of clutter possible. Along with the pictures, a main part of our PowerPoint presentation is the map explaining where everything was taken. The OWL talks about many different kinds of graphs, by showing that if these graphs are not relevant to your project then they should not be used. The website also explains how there are different types of graphs for many different types of information. For example we wouldn't want to use a pie chart or something like that for a map of Purdue. We plan to make the map as clear as possible, so it clearly can help incoming freshman get where they want and need to be.

Visual Rhetoric Nate, Marissa, Alex, Danielle

In our project we will have to use a good choice of text and color overlaying our video to give the audience more information on who we are interviewing. Also when we will be taping our interviews we will be making sure to keep the back round out of the focus so it is not a distraction to the audience. Our text will have to be not to flashy so it doesn't distract the audiences attention to it but something they can just read and be done with. Also we will need to use a good color choice for our text so that it doesn't blend in with our video and also so its doesn't pop out too much. So our group will primarily use the text and color page on owl to help us on our project.

Project Blog

Alex Azeez
Chinyelu Asher
Bennett Oliver
Mike Gaglianese

We looked at the visual rhetoric page of owl and found a few things to help us with our project.  One thing we looked at is the PowerPoint called designing an effective PowerPoint.  This slide show we learned that we can make our powerpoint better by using certain transitions and animations.  We can also improve our slide show by considering the arrangement and text on each slide.

Another slide show we looked at that will help improve our project is about color theory.  In this slide show we learned about primary and secondary colors and colors that are aesthetically pleasing.  Because we are using pictures from around campus we must strategically pick the colors in our powerpoint to make them coordinate with our pictures.  The contrast and analogus color slides showed us how to go about this correctly.

Visual Rhetoric

Christian Doug Ben Kyle

In our project we are going to use a lot of photographs, some illustatrations and diagrams. The visual rhetoric: use of images page will help our group a lot because it will give us tips and information about how to use the specific images to help make our project better. We will also look at the color page because it will give us information to make our project more lively and we will look at the text element page because it will help us use certain fonts.

The ad that I chose to analyze is for a Power Bar. This ad has an ultimate goal of making the viewer want to buy it simply because it would make them a more fit and determined person. First the ad shows the shadow of the lady, without the Power Bar in her system, hunched over tired because she doesn't have enough energy to keep going. The actual image of the lady is showing her stronger than ever and running fast. The fact that the ad has her weaker self as just a shadow shows that she has left this part of herself behind. By eating the Power Bar she has become a new and improved woman who can run without getting tired. The viewer of this ad is supposed to see the power bar as the reason for her persevering though the tough times in a workout. Second the ad uses a woman that seems very fit and attractive. By using someone that is easy to strive to become, the product is seen as working even more. The view can see the muscles in the lady's legs and the drive in her stride. The viewer may infer that this is all because she had a Power Bar before she started running. The words in the bottom right corner or the add "Increase Your Performance" are there just to reassure the viewer that the reason she can run farther than she ever could before is because she had this Power Bar. A very important final detail included in this ad is the Power Bar itself. The viewer now has a visual image of what the bar looks like so it will be easy to find at the store.

Advertisement Communication

The advertisement that I chose to analyze was this ad by Pepsi.  In this add Pepsi is communicating in several different ways to achieve their overall goal to convince people to buy pepsi.  First off, this add places two cans side by side, with the can on the left without a logo.  This shows that clearly that Pepsi is trying to make a point against the other brand.  Most people know that Coke and Pepsi have had a rivalry for a long time, however in this ad pepsi puts no name on the Coke can to show that Coke is inferior to Pepsi, and it practically a cheap generic brand.  The ad also features two straws with the cans.  The straw in the Pepsi can is fully submerged and enjoying its beverage, however, the straw associated with the coke can is attempting to stop itself from "drinking" the Coke. This is Pepsi further communicating that Pepsi is the superior brand and that no one should even want to drink coke, not even a straw. The communication from the Pepsi company is loud and clear in the advertisement even though there are no words associated with it.  However, the lack of words takes nothing away from the ad, it already screams "Coke sucks! Buy Pepsi!"