Rhetorical Theory: An Overview


Rhetorical Theory: An Overview

Effective visual design essentially comes down to one central factor: credibility (Kostelnick, 1995; Kostelnick & Roberts, 1998). If audiences find displays credible, then they are more likely to pay attention to and accept associated information. For marketers, credibility in visual design is essential, for it plays a major role in enticing consumers to pay attention to Web-based marketing pieces. Thus, research related to online marketing must begin with an examination of the factors needed to create credibility in the eyes of prospective consumers.

The problem with audiences from other cultures is that they often have different expectations of what constitutes a credible visual display (Kostelnick, 1995; Driskill, 1996; Hager, 2000). As noted earlier, cultural differences on everything from depictions of objects to color use can affect perceptions of marketing visuals. Therefore, any strategy that examines culture and design expectations must focus on the factors individuals use to assess the credibility of displays. This problem is further complicated by the sheer amount of information one could encounter when conducting research on how to design visual items for individuals from other cultures. For this reason, marketers (and designers who create marketing materials) need a mechanism that can achieve two initial research objectives:

  1. Identifying materials a particular cultural audience considers credible

  2. Limiting the materials for analysis to a manageable yet a worthwhile sample size

A mechanism that allows individuals to achieve both of these objectives could contribute to the effectiveness of the final product and could reduce the time it takes to do research. By reducing research time, such a mechanism also reduces the time it takes to launch a marketing campaign in a particular region.

Rhetorical theory can help marketers and designers achieve these objectives relatively quickly and easily. It should be noted that while rhetorical theory has traditionally been associated with written or spoken presentations, several scholars of rhetoric have shown that many rhetorical concepts apply equally to verbal and visual displays. As a result, ideas from rhetorical theory can serve as an effective foundation for examining visual design.

Rhetorical theory focuses on how one creates credibility when presenting information (Aristotle, 1991; Miller & Selzer, 1985; Johnson, 1984; Walzer, 2000). According to this area of research, the effectiveness of a presentation is driven by the expectations of the audience to which information is being presented (Aristotle, 1991; Miller & Selzer, 1985; Johnson, 1984; Walzer, 2000). Anticipating audience expectations, however, can be a tricky process. That is, no presenter can effectively guess as to what a particular audience's expectations are. Rhetorical theory claims that an effective means for learning audience expectations is through a process of observation and analysis.

The process works as follows : To determine an audience's expectations, one must observe how that audience reacts and responds to different presentations of information (Walzer, 2000; Hill, 1994). The objective is to first identify those presentations that an audience accepts (considers 'credible') and those that the audience rejects (considers 'non-credible'). Once such presentations have been identified, the observer needs to review the successful presentations in greater detail. The purpose of such a review is to determine the characteristics that members of that audience seem to associate with a credible presentation of information. These characteristics can then become the foundation for a checklist used to design effective/credible presentations for that same audience.

A crucial factor in performing such an analysis is the rhetorical concept of the forum . The forum is the setting or the context in which information is presented (Aristotle, 1991; Miller & Selzer, 1985; Walzer, 2000). Forums are often associated with genres of communication (e.g., a business letter, a progress report, an instruction manual) and, as such, forums can often be associated with a particular medium (e.g., a television broadcast, a radio program, a Web site). Each forum is also associated with a particular purpose (Miller & Selzer, 1985; Walzer, 2000). That is, individuals use particular forums to achieve specific objectives. For example, individuals access the information found in the forum of an instruction manual to perform a particular task. As a result, they expect the information presented in that forum to relate to achieving that objective (Miller & Selzer, 1985; Walzer, 2000). Presentations that reflect forum expectations are considered credible/worthy of attention for they address the audience's purpose for turning to that forum. Thus, when analyzing effective presentations, individuals must first ask, 'What is the forum in which this information is being presented?' They must next ask, 'What is the purpose for which audience members are coming to this form to gain information?' and they must finally ask, 'What topics or subjects must I address to meet audience expectations related to information presented within this forum?'

While such an approach seems relatively simplistic, it has important implications for the criteria related to visual displays. First, the marketer or designer must find displays that his or her target audience considers credible. When it comes to cultural communication expectations, individuals from the culture one wishes to market to are perhaps the best source of such information. That is, a French individual would have a better knowledge of the communication expectations of a French audience than would an Australian with no knowledge of France. For this reason, marketers and designers need to begin their research on cultural expectations by locating materials designed for the members of a particular culture by individuals from that same culture.

Language barriers should not be considered a major issue when examining Web site design . As noted earlier, the focus of online materials-particularly Web sites-is more visual than verbal in terms of creating initial credibility, so individuals make initial assumptions of a Web site's credibility based on visual factors. Therefore, when looking for 'native created' materials to analyze, individuals should not be restricted by linguistic barriers. They should instead focus on factors that transcend language-items related to design (e.g., layout, colors, images used, etc.).

But being from the same culture is not enough to ensure credibility. (How many times has each of us encountered non-credible presentation generated by members of our own culture?) Researchers must also identify marketing campaigns and products that have been successful in a particular international market. Again, the idea is to identify successful presentation that can be analyzed for the purposes of replication.

The source for such a successful presentation, moreover, should conform to certain parameters- specifically , those of the forum. That is, the strategy that leads to a successful presentation in a brochure on health might not result in similar successes related to online marketing displays. For example, a full-color picture of a person's internal reproductive organs could contribute to the credibility of a brochure designed to familiarize readers with sexually transmitted diseases. (In this case, the image contributes to the purpose for which individuals are using the brochure-to learn more about such diseases.) The same image, however, would detract from the credibility of a Web site designed to market VCRs. (In this case, the image does not relate to the purpose for which individuals are using such sites. Rather, the image would most likely be viewed as an unwelcome distraction.) For this reason, marketers and designers conducting such analyses should focus their review on the purpose for which individuals access information in a given forum. So, when selecting images to analyze, researchers should limit the materials studied to those associated with the purpose of marketing. This restriction helps ensure that the analysis results one generates can be used to create images an audience will consider credible within the forum of a marketing piece.

Additionally, the medium one uses to view information can affect purpose and expectations. Individuals often use the forum of Web sites vs. that of print materials because Web sites can achieve search purposes that printed materials cannot. For this reason, Web resources are often designed differently from their print counterparts. As a result, researchers should focus not only on particular kinds/genres of material but also on the medium through which that material is delivered to the intended audience.

Thus, the ideal subject to analyze when creating international e-marketing materials would be online items associated with a particular genre (marketing pieces) and medium that are designed by members of the target culture. In some cases, such online materials may be hard to find, as Internet access is just beginning to expand in some regions . As a result, a very limited number of online marketing sites may exist for some cultures. In these instances, the researcher would move one step back in the overall process and focus on finding print or other analog marketing materials containing images designed by a member of a particular culture for audiences in that culture.

To put these ideas into practice, imagine that an individual wishes to design a Web site for marketing products to an audience of Japanese consumers. The focus of this undertaking would be to establish the visual aspects of the site (e.g., layout and design, images used, color of items, etc.). The overall process begins with research, and the first thing the individual needs to do is to limit his or her research to visual materials designed by a Japanese individual for a Japanese audience. Next, the individual would need to research what particular Japanese companies have experienced success marketing their products to a Japanese audience. (These two steps relate to identifying credible presentation for analysis.) The individual would then need to make sure that the samples he or she selected for analysis are from marketing materials- ideally online marketing materials. (Such materials would reflect/address the purpose Japanese audiences associate with the forum of marketing materials.) Through this rhetoric-based process, researchers limit the materials they analyze to Web sites associated with the successful marketing of products in Japan.

By using this approach, individuals reduce the time they spend on analyzing other kinds of items (e.g., materials designed by Swedes or materials designed for print displays). This reduced research time means it takes less time to design materials for international consumers and reduces the time needed to gain a foothold in important overseas markets. Moreover, by allowing audience expectations to drive this process, individuals can improve the quality of their designs while cutting overall development time.

Once such limits have been established and a cache of materials has been identified for analysis, a more detailed study of visual items can take place. Unfortunately, while rhetorical theory can be of great benefit in identifying cultural materials for analysis, it is limited in its ability to provide a more micro-level examination of specific design features. For this reason, a different approach-one that focuses on such micro-level design details-is needed. This more focused approach can be achieved through an application of prototype theory.




Contemporary Research in E-marketing (Vol. 1)
Agility and Discipline Made Easy: Practices from OpenUP and RUP
ISBN: B004V9MS42
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 164

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