Visual Argument Reflection

Michelle Chiodi
Shampa
UN 2001
12/7/2010
Visual Argument Reflection
As soon as this project was introduced, I was eager to begin. This project sounded fun, and from the beginning, I was very excited to see everyone’s final products and the different media everyone would use. With the option to use our project three topic or another topic, initially I was not sure what to choose for a topic. However, it did not take me long to decide that I would stick with my project three topic of cyber bullying.
Of all the projects in this class, the visual argument project was my favorite to create. There was so much room for creativity and I love a chance to use my artistic ability. At the beginning, I was unsure what media I wanted to use to create my visual argument. For our research project, we had to create a visual to go along with that to show in class. Initially, I thought that I wanted to transform this drawing to a drawing on the computer. After working on that for a while, I decided that was not the best option as I am not familiar with the software to do this. Next I thought I might try to create a video about the dangers of cyber bullying. I began using Windows Movie Make and initially imported pictures that worked well for my argument. Next, I added text to enhance the argument. It came to add sound so I downloaded a song from iTunes that I thought would add to my argument. When it came time to import the audio into Windows Movie Maker, I found that audio from iTunes is not compatible with Windows Movie Maker. Being very frustrated at this point, I decided to revert back to something I know how to do: drawing.
I really liked the drawing that I had done to go along with my research paper, but I knew I had to change it up for my visual argument. Many of the same concepts were used for my visual argument. Like I had previously, I portrayed the computer and the cell phone as the villains. One main thing I changed for my visual argument project was that I created the text on the computer. I did this to make the text more precise and look neater. When I created this drawing I kept the C.R.A.P. principles in mind. The C stands for contrast. This principle came into play with the text. I decided to use a contrasting color scheme of blue and orange. We had learned that scheme stands out so that seemed like a good option for the text so it would be noticeable and easy to read. The R in the acronym stands for repetition. I used this in a couple different ways. I repeated the color scheme throughout by only using blue and orange for the text. This connected the text and made it simple so it would not distract from the action of the drawing. Additionally, I created two schemes of the electronic devices to add repetition. This made the point stronger by letting the audience see various different media that can be used to cyber bully. For the A which stands for alignment this came into play with the text. The title of the picture was centered on the page to draw the eye across that page. The informational text was centered in the box to make it look fuller. The P stand for proximity. This principle is shown with both the text and the drawing. The text and drawings are in close proximity to one another to let the reader see the connection. Since all of the text us close together, they will see that they are connected. Both of the pictures are also closer together to show the viewer that they are connected and show the same idea.
While I was creating this drawing I had to keep my audience in mind. Since cyber bullying mainly affects teens, that was my target audience for this project. Specifically the age range from 13-16. Because this was my audience I wanted to create a drawing that would appeal to them. To do this I used the bright colors of the text to first catch their attention. Once I had their attention, I wanted them next to look at the picture. The intent of the picture was to be slightly comical due to the unrealistic nature of what was happening. Of course a cell phone is not going to sprout an arm from the screen and you will never see a computer gobbling up a student, but I wanted it to be interesting for my audience to look at. I thought that teenagers would find this illustration funny but still see the connection it has with the actual argument that cyber bullying is very harmful.
When it came time for the class presentations, I was excited to see what everyone else had done for their project. In the end, I was disappointed; I had set my expectations too high since the presentations were only showing the works in progress. I expected there to be more diversity in the types of visuals created. In the end the visuals were predominantly pictures and posters. I would have liked to see some videos. If I were to do this project again, I would have created a video to add more diversity to what was created in the class. Additionally, the feedback I got in class was very helpful in creating a finalized version of my visual argument. When I presented in class the clarity of my image was not excellent. For the final product I enhanced the clarity by taking a picture of my drawing instead of scanning it.
While this project was frustrating at the beginning, in the end it was enjoyable to create. My decision to create a drawing allowed me to create a visually pleasing, effective visual argument. When creating this drawing I had my audience in mind and that allowed me to create something that would catch a teen’s attention and still get my message across to them. I incorporated the C.R.A.P. principles into my design to create something that is easy to look at and make sense to the viewer. In the end, I got good feedback about my argument and learned that I needed to enhance the clarity of my image. For my final product the clarity was enhanced to make every element clear and easy to see. In the end I wish there would have been more diversity in the projects throughout the class, but it was still interesting to see how everyone turned an argument into a visual argument.