Introduction
Rhetoric is one of those concepts that I was warned about before entering college. It is just an abstract enough idea that trying to define it feels like trying to hit smoke with a baseball bat, but it is also just a concrete enough concept that you will feel bad when you do not understand it. The specific example that I have seen brought up in three different classes now to describe how complex rhetoric is whether or not furniture is rhetorical. The answer I have pulled from these discussions is that not only is furniture absolutely rhetorical, but so is just about everything else. This is because furniture falls under the wide definition of Visual Rhetoric, the most invasive type.
Visual rhetoric?
Douglas Eyman pointed out that pinpointing a definition of visual rhetoric is just about impossible. He even referred to the definition of the concept as “less than concrete” at one point. The generally agreed upon opinion is that visual rhetoric refers to anything that can be seen or read with one’s eyes. This has caused the concept to overlap almost completely with the rhetoric of design, as most things we see are designed by a person.
My Perspective
Upon reading about visual rhetoric, my mind began to crumble under certain realizations. After all, everything around me is designed by a person. Since people can not be truly objective, none of the things around me are objective. Every single thing puts forth a rhetorical message. I am sitting in a desk writing this, and the desk is positioned for a right-handed person. The creator of this desk assumed that anyone sitting in it would likely be right-handed, thus taking into account the needs of the many over the needs of the few. Are left-handed people less deserving of comfort because they are a minority? Was that an intentional message from the creator of the desk? One could easily fall down a rabbit hole of analyzing things through the lens of visual rhetoric, even if these messages were likely unintended.
Visual rhetoric is interesting as it defines the adage of being easy to learn and hard to master. That is to say literally anyone who can see can take part in visual rhetoric. Even a baby with no knowledge of rhetoric can see something and interpret a message from it with ease. However, when one goes into the deeper complexities of it all, visual rhetoric proves itself to be a massive iceberg. After all, people (such as artists and graphic designers) literally devote their entire lives to it. People spend years studying visual rhetoric, and massive companies pay billions of dollars to rhetorically influence people through visual advertisements.
Conclusion
All in all, visual rhetoric (like all rhetorics) is one of the defining traits of human culture at large. We all constantly engage in it and interpret it whether we realize it or not. While it can be confusing, understanding it provides an enriching experience that expands one’s mind greatly.
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