Visual Rhetoric

Digital work environments, such as hypertext, have placed extra importance on their visual rhetoric because of their interactive nature. From the beginning, the creators of hypertext documents knew the impact that visual rhetoric can have on technology, and the user. “Interactive digital texts can blend words and visuals, talk and text, and authors and audiences in ways that are recognizably postmodern” (Hocks 630). In recent years, scholars have begun to realize the rhetorical potential that exists with hypertext and have expanded their definitions of electronic writing to include other mediums like graphics, screen designing and other forms on on-screen media.


There has been a recent shift in thinking that recognizes the importance of incorporating design into the writing process. There has also been a change in the teaching methods of many teachers who were trained in print based rhetoric, but realize the potential within on-screen rhetoric to help benefit students. Hocks mentions that all of writing is a hybrid of sorts as it combines, and is all at once, verbal, spatial and visual. Once we acknowledge this as fact, we can recognize the relationship that exists between words and images. This also means recognizing that the way we teach in these digital environments much also be recognized, starting with the screen itself. In the eyes of a teacher, a good hypertext document is one that combines both visual and verbal elements to serve whatever rhetorical purpose they may be aiming for. If we are able to teach students how to combine such elements on a website or document of their own, it can make them more reflective and understanding of how each element impacts their rhetoric. By using a combination of rhetorical features relevant to a digital reading or writing environment, technical communicators are able to meet the needs of the users. For technical communicators, this is an invaluable part of a successful document. Users “brought with them the similarly postmodern hybridity of their own reading experiences, including experiences with linear print texts, changing scholarly conventions, online communities, and a growing familiarity with online texts,” (Hocks 633) which was beneficial to both sides of the equation.


By recognizing the impact that visual rhetoric can have on our hypertexts, we can help students learn how to interpret and produce these hybrid texts. As technical communicators, it is our job to make texts that people can use and respond to. If we are able to teach our students how to recognize these features, and also to learn how to create them at an earlier age, we have even more potential for hypertexts in the future. “To establish a balanced rhetorical approach, then, we must offer students experiences both in the analytic process of critique, which scrutinizes conventional expectations and power relations, and in the transformative process of design, which can change power relations by creating a new vision of knowledge” (Hocks 644). We only have hypertext because scholars began to think outside the box and work towards the unknown future, which is what Hocks is proposing. If we can integrate hypertext into everyday teachings, it is possible these students can create something that doesn’t even exist yet. Since hypertext is all about evolution and integrating new technology, this is a great plan for growth in the field.


Visual-Spatial Thinking

Though it may seem similar to visual rhetoric, visual-spatial thinking is a completely different, but still very important, factor of hypertexts. A significant part of hypertext users today grew up reading print text in a linear format. The visual-spatial elements in hypertexts today require users to “perceive the text in three-dimensions, imagining the possible ‘future paths’ that might be followed in the text” (Baehr and Johnson-Sheehan 22). Reading a two-dimensional book and following the linear path of that book isn’t a complicated process, in fact, it may be not complicated enough. Visual thinking requires active interpretation of the information, actually seeing and thinking about it in order to fully understand it. Our perception of things can, not only alter how we see things, but also alter what we see.


Craig Baehr and Richard Johnson-Sheehan say that users of hypertexts are somewhat “hunter and gatherers” (23) within a virtual space. These hunters are hunting down specific information to help them achieve their goals, or gathering information to help them solve a problem. This means that they do not have time to passively browse through pages or sift through tons of information; they are on a mission. By being able to think in a visual way, the hunters and gatherers can focus on the items or links that will help them achieve their goals in the hypertext. As a designer of such texts, we need to be able to anticipate the future paths of our users in order to anticipate their experiences. In a hypertext, “users tend to pay most attention to the things that change on the screen as they navigate through the text” (Baehr and Johnson-Sheehan 24). That is to say that users tend to ignore the stagnant parts of the screen, such as the home button or search bar, because they remain unmoving. They will, however, focus on the part of the screen that changes or provides new information. As designers of hypertext, we can assume that users are trying to solve a problem as they move through the text.


Next: Final Considerations