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Visual-verbal rhetoric

y
classical rhetoric

persuasion

moods and feelings

the interaction of speech and picture

the semiotic approach

the cognitive function of rhetoric

rhetorical figures

Literary rhetoric
Rhetoric is one of the scarcely researched areas of design, although the
designer is confronted with rhetorical phenomena in his daily work.
Owing to its origin in classical Antiquity, rhetoric is encumbered with
tradition. At first it does not appear suitable for the study of modern
communications, which is primarily based on retinal space, and the
interplay of text and picture, sound and music.

Seduction
Rhetoric can be called a set of seductive heuristics, used to influence
feelings and moods in the person to whom the message is addressed.
Humberto Maturana defines feelings in this way: Biologically, feelings are
physical dispositions through which domains of action are determined or characterized.
Feelings are bodily processes through which the areas of action are specified within
which we move. 1

Feelings, moods, attitudes


Feelings are phenomena of short duration, which interrupt the flow of
everyday actions. For instance, when a car suddenly skids on an icy road,

69 Visual-verbal rhetoric
fright passes as soon as the danger is over. Moods, on the other hand, are
generally of longer duration. They are concerned with an approach to
future possibilities of action. A depression is a mood characterized by the
fact that there seem to be no future prospects. Specialists in advertising
and corporate identity direct their rhetorical techniques to creating certain
attitudes in the public or breaking them down, depending on the policy
and strategy the company is using to present itself.

Visual differentiation
The designer is a specialist in, among other things, visual distinctions, and
everyday cultural semantics. He influences the feelings, moods and attitudes
of the user by employing visual means assigned to formal and semantic
categories to convey messages. In the design field, practice is much more
advanced than theory. The language-based rhetorical analyses of mass
media, advertising, video clips, and infodesign (diagrams, scientific illus-
trations, maps, sign systems, interfaces for computer programmes) bypass
the essential in that they treat the visual components as a secondary ele-
ment. That can be explained as due to the lack of an analytical, descriptive
set of instruments. Visual rhetoric is in a rudimentary state, compared with
the maturity of literary rhetoric.

Three areas of rhetoric


Rhetoric is the domain of logomachy, the battle with words. It can be
divided into two areas, firstly persuasive means, rhetorica utens, and secondly
the description and analysis of persuasive means, rhetorica docens.
In Antiquity rhetoric was practised as an art of speaking mainly in
three areas: politics, law and religious discourse. Rhetorics covered the
structure, the stylistic formulation, the method of delivery (diction) and
the gestures of speakers at public assemblies, in legal proceedings and on
solemn occasions. Persons in political, legal and religious life were most
adept at rhetoric, insofar as they tried to induce certain moods in their list-
eners and bring about decisions using language and gesture. Any means
that would contribute to the desired end was deemed appropriate.

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As K. Burke said, rhetoric is the right place for ... insult and offence, for
quarrelsomeness and conflict, for cunning and lies, particularly for underlying cun-
ning and deliberate lies. 2

The purpose of rhetoric


Rhetoric is generally defined as the art of persuasion, or the study of the
means of persuasion that are available for a given situation. The purpose of
rhetoric is the efficient use of language in order to shape attitudes in others
and influence their behaviour. Where there is coercion, rhetoric is not
necessary. Where there is constraint, rhetoric is not even possible. Persuasion
presupposes the possibility of choosing. Again we can quote Burke, who
says rhetoric is directed to a person who is free: ...When people are forced to
do something rhetoric is superfluous. 3

Semiotics
The textbooks on rhetoric offer a wide range of subtle classifications, but
the terminology is based in Ancient Greek and Latin languages, making it
difficult to work with these definitions. It must be asked whether we need
a new approach to rhetoric that would take into account modern semiotics.
Since the combination of text and picture available in modern commu-
nications was technically impossible in antiquity, it was never a concern in
classical rhetoric.

Information anxiety and the cognitive function of rhetoric


The flood of verbal and visual messages produced and distributed in indus-
trial societies creates what Richard S. Wurman has termed information
anxiety. A situation with a low density of information has been replaced
by a situation with high density. With such conditions, one could ascribe a
new, cognitive function to rhetoric, where rhetorical means are used to
clarify contexts and reduce cognitive entropy.

71 Visual-verbal rhetoric
Five distinctions
Classical rhetoric is divided into five main areas:
heuristics, to collect materials, especially to trace arguments
heuristics on the classification of the material collected
prescriptions and recommendations on the stylistic formulation of
the structured material
heuristics for learning texts by heart
recommendations on diction and gesture
The techniques in the third point that include the stylistic properties of
texts are the most important for an analysis of advertising messages. These
stylistic properties are expressed mainly in the form of rhetorical figures or
tropes. They are defined as ...the art of saying something in a new way 4
and as ...giving words a new meaning or a new use, in order to make speech more
pleasing, more lively and more penetrating. 5

Rhetorical figures of speech


In the traditional view a rhetorical figure of speech is one that differs from
normal usage to make the communication more effective. Figures of speech
can be divided into two classes:
word figures; related to the meaning of a word, or the position of
the words in the sentence
thought figures; related to the formation and arrangement of the
information.
Semiotic terminology enables the figures of speech to be clearly classified.
Proceeding from the fact that one can distinguish between two aspects of
a sign, namely, the shape and the meaning, one can identify two types of
rhetorical figures. A rhetorical figure can be based on:
an operation with the shape of a sign (syntactic figure) or
an operation with the meaning of the sign (semantic figure).
These possibilities, inherent in language, have always made rhetoric appear

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dubious. In language philosophy, persuasion is played off against infor-
mation; influence against informing/teaching; the everyday language against
the language of scholarship. The advocates of a purified language of scho-
larship see rhetoric as no more than a compendium of verbal tricks.
The flexibility of language expressed in metaphor, for example, seems to
them to be a defect, if not actually criminal. They brand rhetoric as a
source of misunderstandings, of sloppy speech and falsification. In this view
rhetoric is only a decorative adjunct of the information conveyed. That
argument assumes that human communication is possible without rhetoric
- but that is a moot point. Communication without rhetoric, aseptic
com-munication as it were, leads to the breakdown of communication. In
any case, pure information is an abstraction for the graphic designer. The
moment the information is shaped or made sensually perceptible, the
process of rhetorical infiltration starts. On the other hand, advocates of
rhetoric argue that the many layers of meaning of spoken language
inevitably result from the dynamic of language and are an essential means
of human communication. 6

Note on the catalogue of visual/verbal figures


The following is a list of visual/verbal rhetorical figures that was originally
drawn up in 1964 for a seminar at the Institute of Design in Ulm (hochschule
fr gestaltung, ulm). It was based on the semiotic work of Toms Maldonado,
which in turn was oriented to Peirce and Morris. Influenced by French
semiotics, which completely ignores all the work of Peirce and Morris, the
general field of semiotics has become rooted in language and lost a good
part of its analytical potential. About this Maldonado said: Occasionally cer-
tain histories of semiotics of a structuralist kind give the impression that only de
Saussure and Hjelmslev have worked in the field that separates Peirce from Barthes
and Greimas. This is to cast a shadow on the work of the neo-positivists in
semiotics. 7
This essay was probably the first attempt systematically to apply the
terminological distinctions of verbal rhetoric to visual communication, and
also to create new distinctions, but it remained an isolated undertaking. A

73 Visual-verbal rhetoric
rhetorical approach can still lead to a deeper understanding of the pheno-
mena that a graphic designer confronts daily.

List of visual/verbal figures


analogy: a verbal comparison is transferred to the visual sphere
with equivalent semantic signs.
metonym: a meaning indicated verbally is set in relation to another
meaning, based on a thematic connection; e.g. cause instead of
effect, instrument instead of result, producer instead of product.
synecdoche (pars pro toto): a part indicating the whole.
specification: a visual sign is accompanied by a minimum of text
in order to make it clear and narrow it down semantically. (Often
the name of the firm making the product is used).
fusion: a visual sign is incorporated in a supersign owing to its
formal qualities. The syntactic linking suggests a semantic
connection.
parallelism: visual and verbal signs relate to the same meaning.
associative transfer (link) or mediation: from a number of verbal
signs, one is selected in order to illustrate the ideas associated with it
(associative context).
metaphoric reversal: the tension between primary and secondary
meaning is utilized so that the visual signs show the original
meaning, taking it literally, so to speak.
typogram: the meaning of the typographic signs is illustrated by
these signs. The text is, so to speak, short-circuited with the
typographic signs.
understatement: verbal understatement is made visual.
exaggeration: meaning is visualized through signs, the contents of
which go beyond the usual measure.
visual-verbal negation: the meaning of a sequence of words is
illustrated by a visual opposite.
visual-verbal comparison: two meanings are compared visually
through the mediation of language.
exemplification: meaning indicated verbally is illustrated visually.

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Open questions
Since rhetorical figures are part of everyday language, their translation to
other languages is limited. What can be a rhetorical figure in English may
not be so in German, and vice versa. Moreover, this rough outline of static
visual/verbal rhetoric needs to be supplemented by the dynamic rhetoric
found in computer graphics (animation, picture sequences and their
transitions). This is a large field for design research. It should help designers,
not only to improve what they are doing, but also to understand what they
are doing. That would bring us closer to what Donald Schn has called
the reflective practitioner, that is, the practitioner who thinks about what
he is doing.

This is a revised and shortened version of the article first published in the
periodical of the hfg ulm (Institute of Design Ulm) 14/15/16 (1965). The study
presented here deals with the lowest level of rhetorical figures. The work of
Judith Williamson, Decoding Advertisements. London: Marion Boyars 1978, deals
with a higher contextual interpretation.

1 Maturana, Humberto, Emociones y lenguaje en educacin y politica. Santiago: La


Hachette 1990, pp. 15 and 88.
2 Burke, Kenneth, A Rhetoric of Motives. New York 1955, p. 19.
3 loc. cit., p. 50.
4 Quintilian.
5 Lausberg, K., Elemente der literarischen Rhetorik. Munich 1949, p. 12.
6 Richards, I.A., The Philosophy of Rhetoric. New York 1950, p. 40.
7 Maldonado, Toms, Reale e virtuale. Milano: Feltrinelli 1992, p. 63n.

75 Visual-verbal rhetoric
Analogy We sell sharp ideas
The sharpened pencil corresponds to the
Examples sharp ideas. Average advertising
is visualized by unsharpened pencils.
Moreover, another rhetorical figure is inclu-
ded here, a metonym. The ideas are shown
through a means with which they
can be recorded on paper.

Analogy and metaphor


Announcing The Birth of
a New Publication-
Environment Quality
Magazine. The publica-
tion of a new magazine is
set as an analogy like a
chicken emerging from its
shell.

Exaggeration and specifi-


cation It also sticks
handles to teapots
The it is specified as a
glue, and its strength is
visualized by an automo-
bile stuck to a poster on
a wall.

Analogy and exaggeration After 500 plays


our high fidelity tape still delivers high fide-
lity. The quality of the tape is set in analo-
gy to a current of air flowing from the loud-
speaker. It is so strong that the listener has
to cling to his chair.

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Metonym Guaranteed to make you laugh
The effect of being tickled - you laugh - is
visualized by the instrument used to tickle
the foot.

List combined with metonym For Me Too


Holidaymakers it is not what is on your head
that counts, but what is in it. The headgear
stands for what is in the head. The rows of
hats visualize the different kinds of holiday
on offer.

Synecdoche combined with a comparison


and a rhetorical question Have you ever
wished you were better informed? The
television or radio cable represents a
channel of information. The comparison that
starts verbally: ...better informed than... is
concluded visually (by showing a plug and a
socket that do not match, so the information
channel will not function).

Metonymy, exaggeration and rhetorical


question How many reasons do you need
to cut out blades? Cuts are shown verbally
through the word blades, and the word
cut also suggests doing without them.

77 Visual-verbal rhetoric
Visual-verbal comparison, combined with a
quotation Contemporary Dutch Master-
piece. The historical masterpiece by
Vermeer is compared with a contemporary
Dutch masterpiece - Gouda cheese.

Comparison with metaphoric reversal


For quality colour prints you need the right
attitude. The primary meaning of the
expression attitude is visualized in an
exaggeration.

Exaggeration and metonym Temptation


beyond endurance. The impossibility of
resisting the temptation of the peanuts is
visualized in the broken shop window.

Visual-verbal comparison and metonym


Many people drink Knig-Pilsener. Or
something that is just as good. The quality
of the drink is visualized in a metonym (the
cap of the beer bottle) and visualized
through the comparison with the champagne
cork.

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Parallelism You never run out of air
The air that is always available is visualized
through a homogeneous, light-grey surface.

Typogram Full? - Empty? The letters


illustrate the verbal contents - the transition
from full to empty.

Metaphoric reversal and rhetorical question


Is just the top of the news enough? The
primary meaning of the word sequence top
of the news is taken literally in the
visualization (top of the letters).

Synecdoche, metaphoric reversal and


rhetorical question Are just two sides of the
question enough? The question is visualized
through the question mark. The primary
meaning of the two sides of the question is
taken literally in the reversed question
marks arranged symmetrically.

79 Visual-verbal rhetoric
Metaphoric reversal Geizkragen (lit. tight
collar = tight-fisted). The advertisement is
for information provision and punch cards;
here the cards are bent into a collar in a
literal illustration of the metaphor.

Fusion Baumann Light Metal Shutters -


Robust and Durable. The illustration of the
shutter has been integrated into a suit of
armour that visualizes the verbal message.

Specification Elizabeth Stewart Swimwear


The beach scene with two people is nar-
rowed down from its semantic breadth to
the producer.

Analogy and exaggeration Its the most


exciting fashion change in liquor industry
The change in fashion that includes the
product is illustrated by the primary attribute
of fashion - the mannequin and the rolls of
fabric.

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Metaphoric reversal The Point of a
Screwdriver is Smirnoff. The secondary
meaning of the word screwdriver, a
cocktail, is shown by illustrating the primary
meaning in the picture of a screwdriver.

Exemplification Our soap has nothing


to hide. The verbal suggestion that the
soap is transparent is visualized.

Associative link Its got to be Gordons


Link between the green of the bottle, the
green of the traffic light Go and the first
two letters of the name of the gin -
Gordons.

Visual-verbal negation All our fork lifts are


1.72m high and have arms 96 cm long. The
statement that anthropometric standard
values exist is negated by the illustration.

81 Visual-verbal rhetoric
Rhetorical question and visual analogy
Are just two shades of opinion enough?
The two shades of one opinion are set in
analogy to the contrast between black and
white.

Parallelism and fusion We just put Jaffa for


short. Word and image both refer to the
same content. The typographic signs are
integrated with the surface of the fruit.

Understatement and speci- Fusion and metaphoric


fication Thats all we reversal The Peak of
have to sell. The state- Enjoyment. The primary
ment, which is put as a meaning of the verbal-
concession, is visualized. metaphoric word peak is
illustrated by the pyramid
of chocolate.

Specification, synecdoche Rhetorical question, com-


and visual comparison parison and exaggeration
Thats something we Is this how YOU want to
Germans have in common be treated by your first
The something is shown bank?
to be brandy, the different
people who are drawn
together are illustrated by
the different arms and
hands (a workman and a
manager).

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