Final post

It's interesting to think about rhetoric other than through words. I guess we use rhetoric every day when we get dressed. The clothes we wear are meant for the most part to rhetorically convince someone that we are attractive, or fashionable or funny or whatever. This applies as well to the multimodal assignment because we need to use rhetoric beyond words, or visual rhetoric. I'm glad that I have Mary and Tatiana in my group because I think I'm pretty bad with visual rhetoric. I have a really hard time knowing if something looks good or not. I hope that my wife one day will be okay with telling me what to wear or teaching me how to choose good clothes because I think if I was left on my own I wouldn't dress very well. I have a hard time seeing how colors or patterns match. That is a skill that is vital to this multimodal assignment, but is one that I need to rely on my group members for. My main job is to write the words for the website, Mary's is to make the website look good, and Tatiana is the team leader. I'm glad we set it up that way.

Visual rhetoric is a very important thing to learn and to be aware of. The way we look influences what others think of us. Professional places need visual rhetoric even more than they need word rhetoric sometimes because if something doesn't look appealing, people aren't really going to care what the words say. They'll probably just skip over it. It's interesting to think about that.

Living a life of rhetoric

Visual rhetoric is an essential part of life! It is so important to our relationship that it has been named body language when talking about 2 people. It has been said that 80% of what people say has nothing to do with what they say, and completely to do with body language. I know that personally, when I'm talking with a girl that I'm interested in, vs when I'm talking with a girl that that I'm not interested in, I may say the exact same words to both of them, but the message I'm trying to send to them is completely different. Honestly, I'm pretty sure that the only time I'm not using visual rhetoric is when I'm sleeping. However, even then, the fact that I'm laying on my bed covered in my blanket and my eyes are closed sends a very visual message that I should not be disturbed for anything short of a life threatening natural disaster. If someone does happen to disturb my rest, then they are likely to get a much more close up view of my visual rhetoric as I get in their face, or chase them out of the room.  Basically, I guess what I'm trying to saw is that visual rhetoric is extremely important and it takes place so much in our daily lives without us ever realizing it.  I think the question we should be asking is:  How much of our visual rhetoric do we actually do on purpose?

Finally, not only do we use visual rhetoric ourselves, but we are the recipients of TONS of visual rhetoric. Billboards are everywhere with their witty messages and bright colors trying to attract the attention of all those who pass by.  In addition, since the creation of the internet, there have been pop-ups and ads that have tried to draw away our attention from whatever it is we are trying to do. From this perspective, visual rhetoric is really annoying....but definitely effective if you do it right.

Hooray for visual rhetoric

last post

Visual and written rhetoric is part of our everyday life. It is interesting to take the time and awareness to analyze it and it purposes. Instead of judging another person on what my personal views are of their rhetoric, I can analyze what they are wanting to convey to me about themselves.  Likewise, I should take a step back and look at what message I am sending and check to see if that message is what I really mean to send.

I am a very visual learner and so the layout, pictures, etc. probably mean more to me than the words that come with them. As I visit websites, blogspots and social media, I find myself expecting a high level of quality visual rhetoric or I don't stay long. This assignment will help me better look at my etsy shop and hopefully my blogspot as I get it going.

Finale

The most common way we use visual rhetoric is the way we dress.  Clothing can be used as a visual rhetorical device to convey religion, status, or class.  As the saying goes: "dress for the job you want."  If you portray yourself in a neat, put-together, individual way, people will treat you better than if you looked like you don't care at all.  Unfortunately, a lot of the time, the way you look will influence what people think of you and how you will be treated by friends or strangers.

Also, as mentioned in class, we use visual rhetoric on the many forms of social media like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or Twitter.  For example, on Instagram or Facebook, I have never posted a "selfie". Except for maybe in sixth grade, but those were dark times and things you've done in elementary school should never be counted against you.  I don't post pictures of myself so I don't come off looking conceited or over confident (Sorry to anyone reading this that loves a good selfie).  I post a lot of traveling pictures to show how much I love to travel and see art and culture around the world, but I'll be honest and say that I also do this so I come off as sophisticated and cultured.  I think that the way we choose what we post on social media is a way we use visual rhetoric.

Final Blog Post

I believe that we all use visual rhetoric through almost every moment of our lives. A huge way people use visual rhetoric in their lives is by showing their character to others. A person will be able to understand and see another person based on the way they present themselves as well as how they behave. For instance, a person who has a terrible attitude throughout their life won't have much success socially. In contrast, a person who is friendly and king towards others would be a person that others would love to be around. In addition to this, I always had my parents explain the significance of using these types of visual rhetoric in my life. They explained that the way you show yourself to others, both internally and externally will determine how much respect others will have towards you. This is how I believe visual rhetoric is used throughout our daily lives.

Last Blog

Everyone uses visual rhetoric in at least some form every day of the week. The way we do our hair, the way we dress, the way we smile or present ourselves are all forms of visual rhetoric. I think it is important to learn and be aware of because it helps us portray who we are. I feel like you can tell a lot about a person by the way they present themselves. Now, I'm not saying we should concrete our final judgements on a person because of the shoes they wear, but you can tell whether they like sports, or if they even care about their shoes. For example, I'm currently getting ready for a blind date. What type of visual rhetoric am I currently showing? Well, I have a blue Tommy Hilfiger polo with a pair of kaki pants and sperrys. This is a form of visual rhetoric that lets my date know that I'm not a guy who wears skinny jeans, that I think the way I'm dressed is nice and should be pleasing to my date. Now that's just my style. Some girls don't like it, but some do. It's ok if they don't, but they at least can see me and determine whether I at least fit into their category even a little bit. It's the same thing with a job interview. We typically always want to present the best of ourselves and to do that, we typically put on a suit, comb our hair, and make sure to be respectful with our body language.

Final Blogpost

Visual rhetoric is using more than just words to communicate a message. This can be done through pictures or art or whatever creative medium someone chooses to use. Now the question is, how do I use visual rhetoric to communicate MY message? 

When I analyze why I do what I do, I realize that my message to the world is one of happiness. I sincerely want other people to be happy. On a daily basis, I like to wear clothes that are in style because to other people that is visually appealing and therefore makes them happy. When I go on my mission, I'll be required to wear clothing that is stylish, yet conservative and somewhat business like because that gives off a certain impression. As a missionary, I want even just that first glance that a non-member gets of a pair of Mormon missionaries to be a good one. Another form of visual rhetoric that I use fairly regularly is Instagram. I'm not a avid poster on social media, but when I do post, I like to post pictures of things that are important to me such as my family, friends, or beautiful things in this world.  

Visual rhetoric is extremely important to be aware of because in our culture today, it has become the norm to be involved in social media and other forms of visual rhetoric. Specifically, I can think of a few people who have positively inspired me through their use of visual rhetoric and I hope that I can have that same influence on someone as well.