Project 2: Visual Argument / Rhetorical Collage

Your task in this unit is to make a rhetorical claim through the juxtaposition of images and text. It's kind of a collage, but a collage with an argument to make. In assigning this, I have two main goals for you: (1) to learn how to ethically obtain images and edit them using digital tools, and (2) to explore the affordances of still images as a medium, and especially their ability to direct attention and help make ideas memorable.

As with the sound project, the context for your argument is open: you could be making a social commentary, calling for action, constructing a parody, riffing on a pun, explaining a concept, inviting someone inside, and so on. Whatever you choose, you should consider your audience and what they would find persuasive or interesting, and how you therefore wish to attract and direct their attention.

As you start planning your composition, consider: What ideas do you want help remembering? Or what do you want to persuade others of? Is there something you've noticed that you want to bring to the attention of others? See if any terms or images come to mind when you think of your subject, then work back and forth from image to word and back.

Generative constraints

Baseline Criteria
to be updated in lesson 12
For a minimum grade of B, all projects for this unit must…

• Use arrangement, size, color, visual rhythm, and/or contrast to focus and guide viewers' attention.
• Have a clear message or intervention that you can articulate
• If including words, choose a font that matches the style/tone of your piece
• If not using words, clarify your message and this choice in the reflection
• Credit all assets correctly, including attribution (creator names) where required
• Use at least 3 layers
• Use at least 1 tool beyond select, move, and text
• Use the reflection to clarify your compositional choices and goals (e.g. design hierarchy)
• Use non-default commit messages that say what's changing (and maybe even why)

Aspirational Inspirations
To target (but not guarantee) a grade above a B, the best projects for this unit may…

• Organize your files through layer labeling, layer groups, repo structure
• Use more than 3 distinct overlapping layers
• Use more than 3 tools beyond select, move, and text that are new to you
  • e.g. Collaborate with the machine by using automated tools/filters/effects (gradients, blur, etc)
  • e.g. Use layer masks / blend modes for non-destructive extraction, saturation, cross-fades, etc
• Alter part of a source image by compositing it with another image to change its meaning (see, e.g. the globe as ice cream, pillow as pill, ketchup as tomatoes, ocean as carpet)
• Create your own visual assets through photography, scanned or born-digital drawing, etc
• Demonstrate through feedback that someone looking at your piece can accurately articulate your message/argument
• Demonstrate through feedback that someone looking at your piece can accurately describe your intended audience
• Try to make your design more accessible, e.g. through dyslexia-friendly fonts, color palettes designed for people with colorblindness, high contrast for people with visual impairments, etc
• Use multiple design strategies in ways that compliment each other (whether to reinforce a single shared focus or to add nuance / surprise down the hierarchy)
• Refer to assigned readings in explaining your design choices, e.g. font pairings, hierarchical levels, etc
• Be bright and bold to make your work pop and draw the eye
• Be subtle and crafty to make your work reveal itself only gradually

Deadlines and products

At each stage, unless otherwise specified, upload (push) your materials to your own copy of this assignment repository. I recommend that you save often, using meaningful commit messages; for best results, please keep your filenames clear, lowercase, and space-free (use hyphens or underscores).

If you are using Box, please nevertheless share a link to your Box folder prominently in your GitHub repository.

date	what's due	expected files
Tues 2/15	Rhetorical Collage Proposal	Think in writing about what you'd like to do for this assignment. (And if you're stuck, see the "parachute prompts" below.) Post to the appropriate Issue Queue with your proposal, suggesting in prose the idea or appeal you're hoping to make. In the same post, or as a separate file called assets.md, include a prospective assets chart (see Writer/Designer p. 149) naming what images you'll need to obtain. Please also link to your repository in your post.
Thurs 2/17	Rhetorical Collage Preview	An early snapshot of your progress, to get the gears turning. Turn in: A layered GIMP project file (.xcf), showing the arrangement of your images and text so far (need not be a complete argument or collage yet). A static screenshot (.png or .jpg) of your GIMP file in progress (for comparison later to subsequent drafts). A "flat" export in the .png or .jpeg file format of your most up-to-date rhetorical collage. (For more on .png vs .jpeg, see this overview or this more technical explanation. When in doubt, default to .png, because it's lossless.) A plain text (.txt) or markdown (.md) file, explaining in at least 300 words what you're showing us in this preview. Feel free also to ask questions or lay out next steps for yourself! An updated list of assets (whether in your README or a separate file), now with the names and links to assets you actually recorded or otherwise obtained. As you go, add source documentation for any outside sources – and your permission to use them (e.g. licenses, fair use; see Writer/Designer p. 160-165).
Tues 2/22	Rhetorical Collage Draft	A solid attempt at a complete Visual Argument / Rhetorical Collage. Turn in: A layered GIMP project file (.xcf), showing the arrangement of your images and any layer effects so far At least one more static screenshot of your GIMP file in progress. Think about what moments are worth remembering as you go: where did you level up, or realize something, or get stuck? An updated README.md file, introducing the Visual Rhetorical Argument to a new audience. An updated list of assets (whether in your README or a separate file), and your permission to use them (e.g. licenses, fair use); see Writer/Designer p. 160-165. Another "flat" export, in the .png or .jpeg file format, of your most up-to-date rhetorical collage.
Sun 2/27, at 11:59pm	Rhetorical Collage Final Draft (target)	Include the same components as in the earlier drafts, but updated.
Tues 3/1	Rhetorical Collage Reflection	Give a sense of the work you put into your Visual Argument project and whether it accomplishes what you wanted it to. Turn in: at least 500 words describing the work you did at least two screenshots showing your work in progress at least one screenshot of feedback that you responded to in revising (and please say how) your own assessment of how you met the baseline criteria for the class, as well as aspirational criteria as appropriate Post your reflections to the course site's Issue queue, to make it easier to embed images. (If you want to then copy the source code into a file in your repo called reflections.md, I won't stop you!)

Parachute Prompts

If you find yourself coming up on proposal day and you're not sure what to propose, try one of these:

1. Illuminate a Word. Choose one word to be the centerpiece of your canvas, and show us what it denotes, what it connotes, what associations the word brings in. Use any effects, colors, textures you want, but make sure the word itself is still legible – and don't use any other words. (This assignment is based on one mentioned by Madeline Sorapure in "Playing Lev Manovich"; to see examples, open that link with Firefox and jump to Automation > Examples. If Flash has died already, and no emulator is yet available – Kairos is working on it, I hear – there are also these other examples.)
2. Advertise a Course. Think about the classes you've taken that are under-appreciated, maybe even at risk of being under-enrolled. Create either an 8.5x11" print flier or a 16:9 ratio digital poster to be distributed around the hallways, bulletin boards, and/or tables of the university, alerting people to the awesomeness that would ensue if they enroll in that course. (You've probably seen some professors' attempts at these; they're all over the English department, at least, and on the screens in the G-level elevator lobby of the Cathedral.) Include the course title and a brief description; you can skip the date and time, or make one up.

And if your parachute is malfunctioning (e.g. you need even more specific direction), just let me know. We can probably figure something out in office hours.