Take a quote of any length (1 sentence, 3 sentences, a paragraph, a page), or a particular concept, that you find to be influential in your own work, life or studies. Visualize this influential piece of writing and create an image that “captures” the meaning. Your image could range from a portrait to a collage. In other words, you might use parts of images that you find online to create a new and insightful image. And while your quote should clearly be the inspiration for your image, feel free to embrace the surreal nature of the medium by incorporating scale shifts, contrasting elements, paradoxical features, and dreamscapes. The images that you use can be anything, in any combination of black/white and color. Use any appropriate media. Do not be shy about altering, layering, or otherwise remixing elements of existing images. I encourage you to think outside the box, but remember that your image must be rhetorically grounded.
Your image should be rhetorically sophisticated and present a visual text that communicates the meaning of your quote (on as many levels as possible). The goal is for you to provide evidence of your ability to understand the visual nature of messages and to create images that capture the spirit of a particular message for a particular audience in a particular context.
Your image should be accompanied by a brief (250-500 word) reflection that describes your image in terms of your understanding of the project, the visual rhetorical strategies you used to both analyze and construct the project, and the ways the project enhanced your understanding of visual rhetoric.
Initial Readings and Samples
- Dramatically Visualizing Quotes
- 17 Eye-Opening Examples of Content Visualization
- Visual Articulation
- visual articulation
- One Picture to Rule Them All – Concept Visualization List for Better Slides
- Semantic Word Cloud Visualization
While these are starting points for your reading, you should also do your own research to better understand specific iterations of this topic for your curation.
Timeline/Procedures
- February 25 – Introduce Project
- March 11 - Review Evaluation Criteria and Samples
- March 30 – Visual Articulation Draft Due
- April 3 – Visual Articulation Peer Review
- April 15 – Visual Articulation OPTIONAL Teacher Draft Due
- May 3 – Final Visual Articulation Due
Deliverables
The Visual Articulation can be delivered on the platform of your choice, or as a PDF document, or as a web page (or a mock-up appropriate for conversion to html).
The Reflection can be delivered on the same platform, or as a separate document.
Some Possible Evaluation Criteria
- Image Shows Depth of Insight
- Quote or Concept is Represented Clearly
- Image is Constructed Carefully
- Image Shows Rhetorical Sophistication
- Reflection Shows Considered Choices
- Reflection Shows Understanding of Rhetorical Visual Theories
- Revised and Edited