Journal 3: Design and Rhetoric

Malcolm Gladwell’s piece explained why paper wasn’t becoming obsolete anytime soon; Anne Wysocki’s journal explained how we could analyze other media in the same way we break down everything written on paper. Wysocki’s analyzation of the video game Eve assured me that my rhetorical analyzation of album art, logos, and music videos wouldn’t be as difficult as I thought. She dove deep not only into the game’s message but also the mechanics of the game, which helped shape the voice Eve and emphasize its message. Gladwell’s piece, while interesting, didn’t reshape my idea of rhetorical theory understanding much. However, I now have a better understanding why paper is still used in professional settings despite the advancement of technology.

Following the reading of Wysocki and her breakdown of Eve’s visual aspects and narrative, I feel as though I may replace my music video artifact with Life is Strange, an interactive narrative on friendship and time-travel that allows the player to make choices, leading them to different game endings. This artifact, along with business logos and album covers, communicate messages through their color, shape, sounds and text. I have yet to completely decipher what my artifacts say about rhetoric, but the loose thoughts I’ve gathered on each artifact have the potential to create a new perspective on rhetoric.

The only trend I can think that ties together my own artifacts with those of Wycoski and Gladwell is the use of paper. All of these forms of rhetoric have ended up on paper at some point. Most still have a relationship with paper even if the final product was circulated digitally. Both the magazine and book pages are on paper, Gladwell’s simple yet versatile artifact. But then we must consider Wysocki’s Eve and technical instruction website artifacts. Both have not been circulated on paper, however, they still remained tied to it. As with all CD-ROM games produced in the 90’s, Eve must’ve come with a paper manual inside its CD case to teach the game’s controls and hold the legal spiel that comes with all commercial computer games, warning against the dangers of piracy.

More importantly than the throughline tying these artifacts together, Wycoski’s article game me a newfound comfort in choosing design as my key term for writing. Through her examples, I’ve found that every aspect of interactive material adds to the deeper meaning of the piece and that each seemingly minute decision calls for a more in depth analyzation. Wycoski reminds us that in creating traditional and non-traditional rhetoric, choices had been made. And no matter how miniscule each detail might seem, the decision made was intended to further clearly communicate the media’s main message or add a little something new to accompany the message.