Viz. Invent/Propose (Proposal), 10% (10 pts)
The proposal foretells what you will make for the project. In under a page, discuss the questions (and thinking) that motivate the project, and highlight, as much as possible, the scope of what you will create, the timing of its development, and the ways it involves research, the creation of something visually rhetorical, and a written element (e.g., account, analysis, or reflection). A draft of the proposal is due no later than Monday, February 13, 5:59 p.m. The proposal is due no later than Monday, February 27, 5:59 p.m. Limit your proposal to a single page, typed and single-spaced. Include sketches or descriptions of visual elements, as appropriate.
Viz. Write/Make (Project), 30% (30 pts)
For WRTG540 you have considerable leeway in defining and carrying out a visual rhetoric project.
- Create a second poster (or a series of posters) with a well-defined purpose, discussion of their making, consideration of circulation.
- Develop a timeline using Timeline JS. Learn how it works. Gather images. Caption them.
- Revise for visual effectiveness a set of professional documents, such as a CV, teaching statement, website, and sample teaching materials.
- Create an annotated bibliography on a prominent visual rhetorics figure. Or collect sources (e.g., articles) on a topic such as design (Heskett, Buchanan), comics (McCloud, Jacobs), or graphs (Bertin, Tufte) and create a packet that synthesizes the articles (an anthology of sorts) with a cover of your own creation.
- Read Graphesis to develop a missing chapter on visual rhetoric. That is, Drucker does not use the language of visual rhetoric. What would a missing chapter--on visual rhetoric--entail? For this option, plan and then carry out the development of such a chapter.
- Develop an analytical response to the CRAYON-TIP method for document design, and/or develop an alternative that simplifies or extends this work.
- Photographic essay
- Maps, mapping, digital cartography, Mapbox...
- ...
A draft of the project is due no later than 5:59 p.m. on Monday, March 27. The completed project is due by 5:59 p.m. on Monday, April 17.
Viz. Present/Circulate (Presentation), 10% (10 pts)
Prepare a presentation of approximately five minutes for our final class meeting on Monday, April 17. Slide decks must be uploaded no later than 5 p.m. on Sunday, April 16.
Contact Information
Derek N. Mueller, PhDAssociate Professor of Rhetoric and Writing
Director of Composition
Department of English
Virginia Tech
Office: 315 Shanks Hall
Spring 2020 Office Hours: T, 12-3
Phone: +1-734-985-0485
dmueller@vt.edu
http://derekmueller.net/rc/
