Hanno Ehses

Design on a Rhetorical Footing

Design Papers 6 (2008)

40 pages, 8.5 x 11”
Price $9.00
Available at the NSCAD Art Supply Store
(902) 494-8176 telephone, (902) 425 2420 facsimile

“A rhetorical consciousness in all matters of design requires that designers treat the form-giving aspect not only as a stylistic-artistic endeavor. Furthermore, design products should never be viewed in isolation since they live in a larger web of significations that are context dependent, contingent, and strategically crafted with a particular purpose in mind. Designing is a form of rhetoric that can offer strategic directions to communicate successfully in all kinds of situations, while maintaining that the visual structure of a message must serve first and foremost the needs of the intended public audience, and that the final product ought to do more than look artistically refined or please the designer. In the past, rhetoric served as the design art of spoken and written discourse. Today, design should be seen as the rhetorical art of all forms of media discourse.”

Table of contents:

Introduction
Old and New Rhetoric
A Model for Rhetorical Communication
Rhetorical Strategies and Design Process
Criteria for Effective Communication
Logos, Pathos, and Ethos Appeals
Patterns of Rhetoric
Conclusion
Student Work

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