15 Image Analysis Assignment Guidelines
What is visual rhetoric?
- Use of images as argument
- Arrangement of elements on a page
- Use of typography (fonts, etc.)
- Analysis of existing images and visuals
This essay calls for you to analyze ONE image related to your writing for community change topic. What kinds of things can you analyze? Here are your options:
(1) Artwork
(2) Advertisement or Public Service Announcement (PSA): billboard, poster, or magazine ad
(3) Website image
(4) Movie/documentary poster
(5) Political cartoon
Below I used the topic of youth homelessness to show you how I found examples for each type (click on the link):
Guidelines:
In this essay, you will choose an image to analyze, arguing how it incorporates at least two rhetorical strategies (ethos, pathos, or logos) to communicate its larger message. Your analysis must discuss at least three elements from the image to support your claim. The image must also be related to your topic for community change.
While you are free to choose an image that you feel would be interesting to discuss, you’ll also want to be certain that there is enough content to write about, and that you can identify at least two rhetorical features within it. For example, the Covenanthouse.org poster (below) can be said to rely heavily on pathos, but there are other rhetorical strategies at play (logos & ethos).
Keeping the Covenanthouse.org poster in mind, think about what this assignment is asking you to do. In addition to describing the two rhetorical forces at play in your image, you will have to choose at least three specific visual elements that you believe contribute and connect to the rhetorical strategies. For example, with the Covenanthouse.org PSA, you can talk about the use of color (or lack thereof) and how it appeals to the audience’s emotions (pathos), or how the statistics enhance the billboard’s logos (logic/reason). In creating this essay, make sure to
- Describe in detail the way your image uses at least three visual elements (fonts, colors, framing, etc. We will be discussing these in more detail in class, so don’t worry if these are unfamiliar concepts to you right now).
- Choose at least two of the three rhetorical strategies (ethos, logos, & pathos) you believe are vital to your interpretation of the image: What does the image mean to you? What visual elements back up this claim? How information is this image trying to communicate to you?
- Support your argument with concrete details from the image, explaining them to specifically point out features of the image that are vital to your interpretation.
- Properly cite your image and include it in your document (you can either copy the image at the end of your Works Cited page or provide a link to the image). Example:
Works Cited
“There Is No Place Like Home” poster. Covenant House. https://www.behance.net/gallery/12876497/Homeless-Youth-Campaign. Accessed 27 Jul 2021.
What do you mean by “Visual Elements”?
A visual element is any way the image engages with you in a way that you can see. Look at your image more than once. Notice what catches your eye both immediately and after some time spent gazing. What stands out to you, and why? Here are some examples:
- Text
- Font/size
- Orientation of image
- Language
- Color
- Background
- Content
- Actors or person/people within the image
- Tagline
- Size
- Camera Angle
- Mood
- Shape
- Symbols
When writing your essay, it may help to imagine that you are trying to explain this image to a room full of people. How would you get them to see the image the same way you do? Your essay should make the point that, without analyzing these details, readers won’t know exactly what choices were made to make the image “work” rhetorically. You will be pointing out the connection between rhetorical elements and visual elements.
Questions to help you plan/think about your draft:
- Who is the intended audience for the image?
- What does the image mean to me personally?
- What other interpretations of the image could arise?
- What does my audience know about the context of the image, or other images it refers to or relies on?
- What are some visual elements used in it?
Organization:
Intro: Situate your reader to your community issue; introduce the image and explain where you found it. It’s important to place context around the “location” or “where the image was found.”
Brief Description of Image: In about ½ page, describe your image to readers (assume they cannot see it) and try to remain as objective as possible in your description. That is, just show your readers what you see (don’t explain what you think it means just yet—that will come later).
Thesis: Include at least two rhetorical elements and three visual elements. Here is an example of what an effective thesis statement for this kind of essay looks like:
Sample from Analysis of Youth Homelessness Poster: The Covenant House “No Place Like Home” PSA uses pathos and logos to make a statement about youth homelessness and the need to eradicate it. The PSA does this with color, text, and a photograph of a lone teddy bear.
TEMPLATE:
The __________ (identify the medium—ad, poster, etc.) from _______ (source if applicable) uses _____________and ___________ (identify at least two rhetorical strategies) to make a statement about _____________________________ (identify purpose/overall message/theme of the image). The image accomplishes this through the use of _____________, _______________, and _________________ (identify 3 visual elements in the blanks organized from least to MOST important).
3-4 Body Paragraphs: Each of these paragraphs should contain at least one visual criterion connected to at least one rhetorical criterion to help present your own analysis of the image. If I’m talking about the use of pathos and color, I might talk about how the image actually lacks color; it is in black and white with a lot of shadows, perhaps to illustrate the lack of light in these children’s lives and the metaphorical darkness they inhabit. I may also address how the only color we see is in the text, which says, “1 out of 45 children in the United States are Homeless.” This text is in yellow, imploring the audience to slow down and pay attention. These are the kinds of issues you can explore in your body paragraphs.
Conclusion: Reinforce your “reading” of the image –How do specific visual elements connect with specific rhetorical elements to communicate with the target audience? How is the political, social, or historical context represented through the image and what does that mean for your analysis? Are the visual/rhetorical appeals effective for the target audience?
Friendly Tips:
Choose an image with enough “meat on the bone.” Trying to analyze an abstract, minimalist image is going to be far more difficult to discuss than an image with more going on. If you don’t feel there is enough for you to write about, or if there isn’t more than one visual component involved, find a new image!
Pick an image that draws you in, not the first one you find. Make sure you find an image that is meaningful. If you don’t care about the image, then neither will your readers. This essay calls for a deep dive into the minutiae and slightest details of an image, so make sure the image is one that you care about.
Length:
This paper should be about 2 – 2 ½ pages
