Rhetorical Situation The set of circumstances in which an author creates a text. This includes an authors intended audience, their purpose for communicating, and the context in which their text will be read. The author and genre are also important to consider (Writer/Designer p. 35). The rhetorical situation consists of five basic elements: the text (an actual instance or piece of communication), an author (the person using the communication), an audience (the recipient of communication), purposes (the varied reasons both authors and audiences communicate, and the setting (the time, place, and environment surrounding a moment of communication); (The Purdue Writing Lab).
The rhetorical situation of this blog post consists of this writing of the blog post (the text), me (the author of this post), the reader of this post (the audience), the information presented in this text (the purpose), and my office on February 15th, 2021 (the setting).
Emphasis In speech or writing, emphasis means stressing a word or a group of words to give it more importance. In visual texts, it means the same thing; emphasis gives certain elements greater importance, significance, or stress than other elements of the text, which can guide your reading of the text as a whole (Writer/Designer p. 44).
The emphasis of a text is usually whatever we notice first
Contrast Contrast is the difference between elements, where the combination of those elements makes one element stand out from another. Contrast can be determined by comparing elements in a text. Color, size, placement, shape, and content can all be used to create contrast in a text. Contrast plays a large role in emphasis, in that the most contrasted element often appears to be the most emphasized (Writer/Designer p. 45).
the state of being strikingly different from something else in juxtaposition or close association (oxford.com)
Color Color can be extremely helpful when determining emphasis in a visual text. Visual emphasis can be accorded to how bold or large, or how much black compared to the white or gray background is used. Although color theory indicates that different cultures interpret colors differently around the world, warm colors are usually read as more emotionally intense – think fire, sun, and summer – and are used to elicit emotional reactions in audiences. Cool colors are usually read as calming and are used to create less emphasis than warm colors in a visual composition. (Writer/Designer p. 46)
both the science and art of using color. Color theory explains how humans perceive color; and the visual effects of how colors mix, match, or contrast with each other. Color theory also involves the messages colors communicate and the methods used to replicate color (99designs.com).
Organization Organization is the way in which elements are arranged to form a coherent unit or functioning whole (Writer/Designer p. 47)
In the rhetorical situation this can include the arrangement of ideas, evidence, or details within a text.
Alignment Alignment literally means how things line up. (Writer/Designer p. 48)
Alignment is the arrangement of things into an order that is appropriate to their relative positions
Proximity Proximity means closeness in space (Writer/Designer p. 48).
Proximity can mean nearness in space, time, or relationship (Oxford.com)
