Visual rhetoric doesn’t have a clear definition, and this is true. Charles Hill and Marguerite Helmers address the difficulty in narrowing it down to one definition. The meaning of the words “visual” and “rhetoric” makes it difficult to establish a single meaning. Visual implies the use of “looking or gazing,” and rhetoric refers to the art of meaning and persuasion. To me, visual rhetoric has to do with the way things are created using colors, designs, layouts, and images to convey a purpose, persuade, or justify a point using components of logos, pathos, and ethos to communicate a message. It strongly overlaps with the study of design. And it refers to “anything that is created by human hands, a building, a written document, or an article of clothing” (Eyman 50).
History of Visual Rhetoric
Roland Barthes’s “The Rhetoric of the Image” explores how people find meaning within an image. He used a semiotic approach. This is the study of signs and symbols to analyze an image. He used denotative and connotative approaches when analyzing an image. Denotation refers to the literal meaning of an image, while connotation refers to what the audience implies by the image. This goes back to the conversation we had in class with the image of Cinderella and the glass slipper. For example, in class we discussed an image of Cinderella’s glass slipper. Denotatively, it shows a shoe being placed on a foot. Connotatively, audiences interpret it as “if the shoe fits, wear it.” This example demonstrates how images communicate both literal and cultural meanings, shaping the way viewers understand and interact with visual media.
A foundational concept of visual rhetoric is the audience and whether the image is persuasive. How do images influence people’s emotions, thoughts, and actions? They don’t just convey beauty and artistic style. They are symbolic and shape our cultural conventions through meaning and traditions. This is seen in advertisement images. Advertisers carefully select images to elicit a specific emotion or to persuade audiences. Scholars and creators both produce and analyze images through visual rhetoric, but it cannot stand alone. An “image is subordinate to process” (Bogost 2007). While they are both closely connected, visual rhetoric only assesses a portion of digital communication. Digital rhetoric involves the interactive and procedural aspects of media.
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