Week 4: Rhetoric in Product Design

Week 4 Reading notes:

Jefefrey F. Durgee, Visual rhetoric in new product design,Advances in Consumer Research Volume 30, 2003   Pages 367-372 

What is rhetoric, What is visual rhetoric?

Hart (1996 ) calls rhetoric "The art of using language to help people narrow their choices among specifiable, if not specified, policy options"

Scott calls it "an interpretive theory that frames a message as an interested party’s attempt to influence and audience"

Foss calls it "the action humans perform when they use symbols for the purpose of communicating with one another"

Different people have different opinions, but their common purpose is to influence the audience.In simple terms, "conveying information through visual aspects..rather than through verbal aspects. " 

This paper analyzes focus on the design of the new Chevrolet SSR sports truck to illustrate the correlation between visual rhetoric and product design.

Three forms of visual rhetoric: Ideology, Elements, Antithesis

Some examples of visual rhetoric in product design:

Chevrolet SSR sport truck (figure 2) was a convertible with only two passengers, a new design at the time. The typical car has four doors, four Windows, four seats, etc.（like figure 3 shown), but the Chevrolet SSR sport truck design breaks that rule. It represents typical American values -- consumption for its own sake, pleasure, fun, freedom, and indulgence. While many other American automakers have tried to reflect values and images abroad, such as advertising that says "European operations" and "German workmanship," the Chevrolet announcement embodies core American values.

The SSR has no grille, then finishes at the back with large tail fins,little decoration on the front, and looks very short and fast, just like a racing car. This visual element expresses that the SSR is like a racing car, moving very fast.

Other examples of visual rhetoric in product design：

Designers of the new VW Beetle knew that the circle motif was a subtle theme in the first Beetle inasmuch as the car, from the side, looks like three half-circles (body and fenders) nested together. The circle motif, with its connotations of continuity, inclusiveness ("Peoples Car", Knights of the Round Table, etc.) therefore was repeated again and again in the new Beetle. (Copy form article)

Week 4 Lecture notes:

With communication being the central idea of design studies rhetoric is a fundamental part of design and is a powerful way to construct the appropriate message that the designer is trying to achieve. 

It’s awareness that puts great design and makes it quite effective thus deliberative rhetoric is closely associated with design/ 

Design rhetoric is the art of effective, persuasive, speaking or writing and draws upon the exploitation of compositional techniques to give a message far more power than just words, objects and images. Design seeks to appeal to the user and effect change of some kind in us all. It aims to cause a response, create an action or to make the user do, feel or act in a certain way, rhetoric is one of the fundamental principles that underpins this communication theory and is a practical art that intends to Inform, enlighten and persuade.

The origins of rhetoric stem from ancient Greece and due to its persuasive nature it has had its moments of popularity and disapproval because of its close connection and influence with people in power. The new rhetoric emerged in the 20th century as a form of argumentation. It became popular in its modern form as it changed from being about who was doing the speaking, to who was being spoken to, it now acknowledges its audiences and appeals to their values and views. 

Rhetoric is commonly referred to as an art of persuasion but this is not always the case. It generally gets this persuasive tag from one of its three traits; Pathos. Pathos is inherently neither good nor bad, but it may be irrational and can just as easily rally people for peace as incite them to war. Pathos appeals to emotion, and it’s often the most effective mode of the three. Of the other two traits; Ethos deals more so in how you convince an audience of your credibility. And finally Logos; which is the use of logic and reason and its purpose more so is to urge for the better and to sway from harm.

So rhetoric can be quite grey in context and leave us to question whether it is a force for good or a deliverer for the negative. None of the three Ethos, Pathos and Logos are separate from each other, they all play a role in the success of the message and it is up to the audience to decide the message's intention.

Week 4 Tutorial notes:

The discussion that is distracted by dogs and cats and a very very cute baby is about what is visual rhetoric and how it is applied in product design. Visual rhetoric is communication through the visual aspect that is efficient to convey a message in a short period of time. It is mainly used in marketing, to make a product appeal to target users to buy the product. The designer is responsible to use visual languages to convey the message and meaning of a product to the general public.

In the article for this week’s reading, the SSR truck is used as an example of visual rhetoric. The car has a strange look in terms of modern cars but it has a vintage look that shows the American spirit of fun, pleasure, freedom and indulgence. It is a product that is made under the objective of “consumption for its own sake”. Another example is the Smeg household product line that shares a similar form and colour throughout a range of products, and has a consistent visual language.

We also discussed the concept of “tropes” in rhetoric that means “artful deviation”. An example of this is the new VW Beetle that has a flower vase that looks like a test tube in the interior. Tropes rely on people’s collective memory and sometimes seem superficial. 

Group Reflection and Discussion:

Rhetoric is persuasive and can give a message through collections of images, situations and provide an associated ‘feeling’ from them. It is the spine of advertising. 

As a designer it is important to communicate the message of the designed object clearly to appeal to the target market.

Rhetoric impacts the brands image, style, and feel. 

We agree that sports brands have a certain form and style that is consistent across the market. This reflects fast, fitness, dynamic styles and patterns that ‘feel’ like sport