Critical Analysis

1. What is the Rhetorical Situation?

2. How will readers interact with the text?

3. What mode of communication is needed?

ACTIVITY: TTU Cowamongus & Red Raider Meats

Explore a university website to see how the design

meets (or doesn’t meet) a user’s needs Take note of design choices that stand out to you.

Note how different design choices are used to meet

the demands of the rhetorical situation.

Link: www.depts.ttu.edu/cowamongus/westerncow

ANALYSIS (Writer/Designer p. 37)

1. What elements does the design emphasize?2. Notice the organization of elements on the page.

What comes first? What comes last? Why do you think the designer chose this order?

3. How is contrast used on this page? Does the use

of contrast create a certain feeling? (Consider how certain colors can be used to encourage a certain

emotional response.)4. What elements are aligned on the page? Does

this alignment help you navigate the page? Does

it cause your eye to travel in a certain direction on the page? Why might the designer have made this

choice? How can it be improved?5. How are elements positioned in relation to one

another? Why do you think the designers of this

page put certain elements in close proximity to one another while placing others farther apart?

Rhetorical Situation: Set of circumstances

in which an author creates a text.

Concepts Learned

5-MODES OF COMMUNICATION

1. Linguistic (word choice, delivery of written text)

2. Visual (color, layout, style, size, perspective)3. Aural (sound, voice)

4. Spatial (arrangement, organization, proximity between people/objects)

5. Gestural (facial/hand/body expressions)

1. Emphasis Stressing a word or group of words or visual content)

2. Contrast Difference between elements. Comparing elements in a text e.g. color, size,

placement, shape, content. Plays large role in emphasis.

3. Balance/OrganizationHow elements on a

page are arranged. Creates feeling of stability. Use Grids or Page Layout strategies.

4. AlignmentHow things line up. Controls how our eyes move across a text.

5. ProximityCloseness in space. Grouping of

elements. Grouping of things in a clear, interesting way.

PRESENTATION HANDOUTAnalyzing Design Choices:

Reader-Centered Documents for the Workplace

AUDIENCE

PURPOSE

CONTEXT OF USE

GENRE

TEXT

RHETORICAL SITUATION

5 KEY

DESIGN

CONCEPTS

REFERENCES Arola, K. L., Ball, C. E., & Sheppard, J.

(2014). Writer/Designer: A guide to making multimodal projects .

Macmillan Higher Education.

Duarte, N. (2014) Slidedocs. Retrieved from:

http://www.duarte.com/slidedocs/

Gurak, L. J., & Lannon, J. M. (2012). Strategies for Technical

Communication in the Workplace. Pearson Higher Ed.

Johnson-Sheehan, R. (2005). Technical Communication Today.

Pearson/Longman.

Wijaya, H. (2016) “20 Creative Invoice & Proposal

Template Designs.”Retrieved from:

http://bashooka.com/print-design

Presented by: Susan Rauch, Ph.D | Texas Tech University