Week One, Session Two: Debates

The class started off today with our debates over the two topics. The first debate was on whether or not the flag should be changed, while the following debate was public schools vs private schools. Both of the debates were quite interesting to watch, and I definitely found a few key points within the debates which I would be able to use as a basis for a rhetorical approach to a poster, depending on which path I decide to choose for my societal standpoint. It was quite interesting to see the similarities between arguing in a verbal debate, and trying to persuade a viewer on a poster. The most persuasive debaters used a varying tone in their voice, strong body gestures, and showed a lot of passion. In terms of visual design, that's where the FADP's come into place, in order to create a persuasive poster, through the use of contrast, colour, and other design principles.

We gathered back as a class and went over the fundamental design principles again, just to make sure everyone's memories were refreshed following the long mid-year break, and also shared our findings from last night's homework, existing examples of persuasive posters. My examples can be found in my physical workbook, with some annotations alongside them to clarify the authors approach (ihi) and how I reacted to them (wehi) and what caused me to react that way. We were then introduced to a series of different rhetorical approaches that we could take, consisting of satire, parody, dynamism, metonymy, juxtaposition etc. I found it quite intriguing how there were quite a lot of different ways in which you can stylistically and rhetorically approach the posters. Tonight I will research some existing examples, and place these into my physical workbook along with a few annotations to go with them.

By next week, we have been asked to research and investigate both sides to the topics (so that we confidently choose a standpoint), continue to read and source articles, along with creating mind-maps, brainstorms, and looking at existing examples of ihi and wehi. In terms of ideation, we've also been asked to come up with a few basic thumbnail sketches using various rhetoric approaches.