RHETORIC :: get out the vote

Part of being involved in this project is the opportunity to exhibit your work along side local area designers and students and to take your message directly to the people of Kansas City.

1.
Posters will hang at AIGA:KC's Get Out the Vote Poster Exhibit & Reception. Tuesday October 21st 6:00pm. Downtown library. All are invited to attend the reception.

2.
On Saturday October 25th, volunteers will hang posters on the streets of KC for this year's Poster Hanging Event. *If you're interested in volunteering for this event, talk to any AIGA officer for more info.

Submit one (or both) of your poster(s) by Friday Oct 17th. For each, print THREE color posters & trim to size (1 for the exhibit, 2 for the streets). Make any improvements to posters based upon final crit and I will collect all posters by 4pm Fri. 10/17.

Get more info about the events here.

If you are an AIGA member, you can still contribute your own designs online.

RHETORIC :: final crit requirements

rhetoric project final crit: oct 15

posters should be flush mounted (no borders) on black foam core. make sure they are 11 x 17.

1. you'll have 3 minutes to present with 5 minutes allotted for class critique. thoughtfully set up the crit with a prepared statement. post statements to your blog for evaluation. you should cover the following:
• explain how your formal approach supports your conceptual direction.
• note how you achieved project objectives (review the initial prj. description to assist)
• state what rhetorical trope(s) you employed and describe WHY/HOW your work falls into that category.

2. your posters must be pinned-up in the classroom before the start of class. any work not on the wall at the start of class will receive a zero. upload a PDF of your two posters to your server space and post a link to your blog for evaluation (due at start of class or marked late).

3. upload JPGs of your project documentation to your server space and post a link to your blog for evaluation (due at start of class or marked late). printed versions of this are actually more helpful to me for evaluation, so if you can make black and white prints, bound together in a simple way, that would be awesome. note: this is the second iteration of the visual design of your book and will be evaluated as such. your pages should include all required content and address the design of typography, layout and a presentation of work as a cohesive system.

4. all additional process that was not included in your prj. document but is valuable in articulating your thinking/form making process should be posted to your blog for evaluation.

RHETORIC :: junior / senior crit

directions:
Contact your group member to arrange a crit. After the meeting post a brief summation/synthesis of the feedback you received to your blogs for evaluation.

Complete this task before the end of the project for participation eval. Obviously, the sooner you meet, the more helpful it will be to your own process b/c you can implement changes prior to final crit (& prior to submission to the AIGA exhibit).

use these questions to help facilitate the discussion:
• Ask them to identify the tropes employed (& prior to you telling them what your intentions were).

• What graphic devices and/or text successfully supports the reading of the trope (e.g. it is obvious as a hyperbole)? What ones confuse/alter the trope (e.g. can't tell if it is a pun or not)?

• Is the message specific to the demographic? What specific visuals and/or text assist this? What ones confuse/distract? Is your message sensitive? Is it resonating?

• Is the message a clear call to action to vote? What's assisting this? What's hindering?

• Is your formal/stylistic approach appropriate to content and audience?

• Describe the relationship of text to image. Does one reinforce the other? Negate it? Contain a separate message? or something else?

• Is the main copy engaging (an attention getter)? Is the secondary copy clarifying (the call to action, vs. a "so what")?

groups:
Jessica Bayer, Alicia Rosas
Mark Adams, Genia Narinskaya
Curtis, Josh Lambert
Kelly, Morgan, Michael May
Matt, Kyle, Ryan Shawgo
Josh Lenz, Josh Eithun
Vivian, Teale Mayse
Justin, Jessica Lyew-Ayee, Sara Cramer
Collette, Cory Duplantis
Monina, Meredith Adams

RHETORIC :: audience receptivity

this chart shows a range of where people may be in their thinking relative to a certain idea or issue. if designers have an idea of where their audience lay on that chart, we can speak to them more effectively and specifically. to look at polar opposites on the chart, we should be saying different things to people who don't even want to vote (not ready to listen) than to people who are ready to go recruit new voters (advocates for the cause).

answer the following questions in the comments to this post:

where is your audience on this receptivity gradient?

how did the specific rhetorical tropes you employed move your viewer up the continuum?

how did you frame your call-to-action differently than if your audience was plotted at a different point on the gradient?

RHETORIC 5 :: semi-final posters

quick reminder of what's due for next class session (fri oct 10)

- full-sized color printouts of two near-final posters for desk crit.

- initial compositions for process document (see "project documentation" brief to the right under "course materials" section)

RHETORIC 4 :: concept refinements

once you have selected three or four ideas for further development, work on the details of those ideas. can you do more iterations? do you need to try different tropes with them? do you need to change point of view? refine refine refine.

begin at least six form-making tests/studies for how you'll actually produce your poster. include off-computer image production methods. how do the tools and process relate to your subject matter or audience? can you make more meaning through your media choice? does your group appreciate illustration over photography? these formal studies function somewhat independent of the conceptual approach, and you can mix and match as you see fit for your final solutions.

RHETORIC 3 :: final schedule

1. concept development (1 week)

due 9/24:
5 audience research responses with visual examples. from here brainstorm rhetorical trope and sign pairings.

due 9/26:
mind map and matrix (40+ thumbs). from here select 3-4 viable concepts (each a different trope) for further exploration.

2. formal exploration (1 week)

due 10/1:
15+ clear pencil sketches proposing possible visual translations for the selected concepts. plus, write copy to coincide with sketches. from here select 3-4 possible directions for further development.

due 10/3:
propose & produce 6 form-making approaches (a.k.a. "tests") for the selected directions. must include off-computer image production methods. from here determine 2+ directions with the most potential for further development.

3. execution and refinement (1.5 weeks)

due 10/8:
10 compositional iterations for the select directions. digitally explore various approaches & alterations upon layout, typography, hierarchy, etc, at full size in the template. from here select the 2 most successful compositions (w/ different tropes in each) for further refinement. begin developing your process document for this project and the course as a whole.

due 10/10:
2 near-final posters for desk crit. from here implement changes based on instructor and peer feedback. continue preparation of your process document pages.

due 10/15:
2 final posters pinned up for crit, process posted on blogs, AND project documentation pages printed and turned in for grading.

RHETORIC 3 :: reading

1.
Read this second source on rhetoric. The examples and captions are the most helpful to recognize the various visual/verbal relationships that are possible. There are more terms here than our "ten" and some are named differently, which goes to show that our examples are not the limits of rhetoric.

Rhetoric, Bonsiepe (PDF)

2.
Read "Good Citizenship", by Katherine McCoy, from Citizen Designer (an excerpt from the full essay)

Reflect upon your own role in civic engagement in relation to: this project; the specific skill-set of the profession; AIGA's competition goal to "demonstrate the power of design in the public arena"; and/or any greater goals you have as a designer. Post your responses to the comments.

RHETORIC 3 :: the vote poster

Here's a cursory look at historic and contemporary vote posters in the US and abroad.

Nichelle Narcisi's concept "Except You" was the winner at last year's Command X competition (at AIGA's Next Conference in Denver). Aimed at getting the 18-24-year-old vote out in 2008 her concept

"was an absolute triumph--literally bringing much of the audience (and two judges) to tears. She got a standing-O after she presented it, and another after being crowned the winner." (via Core 77)

Find your own example online and share the link with the class. Post during this project. Set up your post with a brief descriptor and use the following HTML tag:

<a href="URL of the Web page to go to">text that will be the link</a>