Description
As mentioned in the recorded lecture, we began our discussion of rhetoric by thinking about how communication creates an effect, what communication does. Now, we want to turn our attention to see if other things like objects can also create an effect on us and make us feel or even act in a certain way.
As we began to think about in the lecture, it seems as if our entire world is designed to create an effect on us in one way or another—classrooms, waitingrooms, cars, etc., all have a design that tries to have an effect on us.
As we continue to think about rhetoric as naming the relationship between design and effect, we can begin to consider almost anything rhetorically, even the objects that we encounter in everyday life.
With that in mind, consider the following:
Think about the design of objects that you encounter daily or the spaces that you might inhabit daily.
Look closely at how they’re built, their structure, and their architecture.
What was in the mind of the designers when they made this object or space this way?
What was the mood, feeling, or sense of the self they wanted to create?
Why and for what purposes do you think they wanted to create that mood, feeling, or sense of self?
With the above ideas in mind, please do the following:
Take and upload three pictures of objects or spaces that you find interesting in the above sense.
When taking pictures of objects and spaces, please be mindful that some people might not want their photo taken, and that this is a public forum for the class.
Use your best judgment, and if you can’t get a photo, please use a stock photo you find on the internet.
For each photo, write a description of the object or space that answers to the questions:
What is the intended effect of the object? What mood / feelings / actions does it want to create?
How do the design choices create this effect? How can you correlate individual design choices to the intended effect?
Format
For each photo of an object or space, approx. 250 words for a total of approx. 750 words
