Considering Visual Elements

This post will be used to describe my thoughts behind what visual elements I should use in my listicle for project 3.

Capture Queen. "Color Your life" 09/01/06 via Flickr. Attribution 2.0 Generic

Creating Visual Coherence:

Color Choices: 

1. What color choices best reflect the visual-rhetorical tone of my project?
• I feel that any color associated with technology- grays, blacks, and blues, would be best for my project. However, I would like these colors to be as bright as possible (light gray, baby blue) as to reflect the idea that this technology will bring a bright future.

Font Choices:

1. How might I vary the fonts used in my project for emphasis?
• I think that a project overall looks much better when there is the same font throughout. However, for this project I can switch the fonts but I would prefer to keep them in the same family at least, as to keep the article uniform and clean. 
2. Are the fonts appropriate to the visual-rhetorical tone of my project?
• In order to keep my font reflective of my topic, I don't want any sort of bubbled text. I would like to keep the font in a block style with a very clean look, like how technology is seen to be.

Shapes, Text Boxes, Headings and Lines:

1. If my project uses graphics- are these graphics appropriate to the visual-rhetorical tone of my project?
• In the case of my argument, I would like to use graphics that show people either being helped by technology or simply looking happy while using it. I would also like to possible show scientists working on AI to reflect the fact that there is a lot of thought behind what is produced in the field of AI.
2. If lines are used, do they create a clear visual flow for my project?
• When I use lines, like many listicles do, I will make sure to use them after each topic as to show the beginning of a new thought. 

Creating Visual Salience:

Image Framing or Anchoring:

1. Is the image in close proximity to the argument that it is illustrating or emphasizing? 
• I think that especially for this type of topic, it is best to keep the image close to whatever text it is relevant to. This is because most people don't get to see the research behind AI or don't even think about people using it- so they have a hard time visualizing it.

Creating Visual Organization:

1. Do too many visual images make your text busy or disorganized? If so, what images might you omit?
• In order to avoid this, I will leave images that are too similar to each other out of my project. For example, I won't have more than one image that shows someone smiling at their phones or more than one image that shows a scientist in full lab gear working on a project (unless it shows different tasks, of course).

Reflection:

To reflect, I read through Rachel and Sam's "Considering Visual Elements" posts. I learned that overall, no matter what genre, people usually like to keep their visuals uniform and professional. Too many colors or different font types can be distracting, and even if a fun topic is being discussed, the visuals shouldn't distract the reader from the text itself. What is written will persuade the audience more than the visuals.