Free Write
How I have learned from this course
Project 2 and Project 3 have influenced and changed my understanding of genre and rhetoric through the change in medium of presentation. Rather than written text, I have had to create multiple different pieces of media in different genres to complete my projects, especially Project 2. Before this class, I primarily understood rhetoric as it applied to text, focusing on the organization and format of the essays and texts themselves. With that, persuasion through visuals has been the biggest change in understanding through this course. Working to design followable and eye-catching infographics and posts has allowed me to better comprehend what is important with various types of genre and rhetoric.
In class; especially with the e-portfolio discussions, expanded further on this importance. The design of portfolios is an integral part of the rhetoric. Portfolios such as Sam Wolfe’s photography website show the weight of design on the effectiveness or quality of a site. His website is intentionally simplistic, with basic greys, white, and black used in order to not distract from the focus of his portfolio, being vibrant photography. Further into the effect of spacing in color, I better understand the importance in deciding the mood of a piece of media. Colors associated with an idea or concept may catch eyes familiar to it, such as my utilization of the colors of the FWC in my media. Louder colors may be used to intentionally attract eyes or promote an idea of urgency, while softer colors could have the goal of a much less jarring design.
Lastly, for my own evolution in writing and thinking over the semester, I have had to expand because of the necessity to work on these new genres and media for me. Designing the infographic and social media post, while keeping in mind the rhetorical portions of ethos, pathos, and logos. It has required my planning and structure to include creating portions tuned to a specific audience, with the ideal appeal for the groups. Overall these assignments have positively improved my planning routine in those manners.