Visual Rhetoric and the Eloquence of Design

Literary Nonfiction. Art. Edited by Leslie Atzmon. The essays in VISUAL RHETORIC AND THE ELOQUENCE OF DESIGN foreground the rhetorical functions of design artifacts. Rhetoric, normally understood as verbal or visual messages that have a tactical persuasive objective—a speech that wants to convince us to vote for someone, or an ad that tries to persuade us to buy a particular product—becomes in VISUAL RHETORIC AND THE ELOQUENCE OF DESIGN the persuasive use of a broad set of meta-beliefs. Designed objects are particularly effective at this second level of persuasion because they offer audiences communicative data that reflect, and also orchestrate, a potentially broad array of cultural concerns. Persuasion entails both the aesthetic form and material composition of any object. VISUAL RHETORIC AND THE ELOQUENCE OF DESIGN features ten scholarly essays steeped in rhetorical analysis of artifacts, as well as two visual essays on the topic of ornamental typography with accompanying verbal texts. The essays in this collection span a number of design disciplines, including manufacturing design, graphic design, architectural design, and monument design. Contributors include Leslie Atzmon, Gerry Beegan, Guillemette Bolens, Kate Catterall, Barry Curtis, Michael Golec, Vladimir Kulik, Ryan Molloy, Teal Triggs, Jane Webb, Jack Williamson, and Lori Young.

Leslie Atzmon is a Professor of Graphic Design and Design History at Eastern Michigan University. Her previous work in graphic design and its history appears in Design Issues, Visual Communication, Eye: The International Review of Graphic Design, and other journals. Her principle areas of research interest are late nineteenth-century fantasy imagery, book history, and the history of typography.