The design arts -- from the design of buildings and machines to software and interfaces -- are associated with types of knowledge and performance thought to be structured, modular, and systematic. Such arts have become increasingly prestigious in our technocratic society. Since Aristotle, the art of rhetoric was conceived as a loosely structured "practical" art thought to be limited in the extent to which it could mimic more precise subject matters. The art of rhetoric has been controversial since classical times, but its status has sunk even lower since the industrial revolution -- a point when civic cultures began to cede authority and control to the cultures of specialized experts. Many sympathizers of rhetoric have resisted its decline by calling for a civic art of public discourse to stand in opposition to a technocratic specialized discourse that has come, increasingly, to disenfranchise the ordinary citizen. This is the first book to question the rhetoric/technical knowledge split from a more fundamental perspective. To get some perspective on what is at stake in rhetoric's traditional classification as a "practical" art, the authors: * explore the distinction between practical and design arts; * enumerate the various criteria cited in the literature for qualifying a cluster of knowledge and performative skills to count as an art of design; * show how the knowledge and performative skills associated with the art of rhetoric meet the major requirements of design knowledge; * propose a general architecture of rhetorical design, one descriptive both of civic address and specialized academic argument; * turn to the Lincoln/Douglas debates to embody and provide some empirical support and illustration for their architecture; * demonstrate how Lincoln and Douglas can be thought of as expert designers whose rhetoric is highly structured and modular; and * explain how the rhetoric of both rhetorical agents can be represented in the layers and modules that one needs to display plans for buildings, software, or other design artifacts. These layers and modules are not just post hoc annotations of the debates; they also illuminate new and systematic ways for viewing the debates -- and by implication, other specimens of rhetoric -- in terms of strategies of artistic production. Kaufer and Butler conclude their presentation by citing some of the research and educational implications that follow from housing rhetoric within the family of design arts.

Organizations value insights from reflexive, iterative processes of designing interactive environments that reflect user experience. “I really like this definition of experience architecture, which requires that we understand ecosystems of activity, rather than simply considering single-task scenarios.”—Donald Norman (The Design of Everyday Things)

Examines the nature of rhetorical theory and criticism, the rhetoric of science, and the impact of poststructuralism and postmodernism on contemporary accounts of rhetoric.

"While some scholars have said that there is no such thing as culture and have urged to abandon the concept altogether, the contributors to this volume overcome this impasse by understanding cultures and their representations for what they ultimately are - rhetorical constructs. These senior, international scholars explore the complex relationships between culture and rhetoric arguing that just as rhetoric is founded in culture, culture is founded in rhetoric. This intersection constitutes the central theme of the first part of the book, while the second is dedicated to the study of figuration as a common ground of rhetoric and anthropology. The book offers a compelling range of theoretical reflections, historical vistas, and empirical investigations, which aim to show how people talk themselves and others into particular modalities of thought and action, and how rhetoric and culture, in this way, are co-emergent. It thus turns a new page in the history of academic discourse by bringing two disciplines - anthropology and rhetoric - together in a way that has never been done before."--Publisher's website.

A Theory of Contemporary Rhetoric describes, explains, and argues the overarching theory of contemporary rhetoric. This current view of rhetoric brings together themes in the communication arts, including political literary criticism; bi- and multi-lingualism; multimodality; framing as an artistic and sociological device for composition and interpretation; literacy in the digital age; and the division between fiction and ‘non-fiction’ in language/literature studies. Chapters explore the implications of rhetoric for particular aspects of the field. Discussions throughout the book provide illustrations that ground the material in practice. As an overarching theory in the communication arts, rhetoric is elegant as a theoretical solution and simple as a practical one. It asks such questions as who is speaking/writing/composing? to whom? why? what is being conveyed? and how is it being conveyed? Acknowledging the dirth of recent works addressing the theory of rhetoric, this book aims to fill the existing theoretical gap and at the same time move the field of language/literature studies forward into new territory. It provides the keynote theoretical guide for a generation of teachers, teacher educators and researchers in the fields of English as a subject; English as a second, foreign or additional language; and language study in general.

This book merges recent trends in game studies and multimodal studies to explore the relationship between the interaction between videogames’ different modes and the ways in which they inform meaning for both players and designers. The volume begins by laying the foundation for integrating the two disciplines, drawing upon social semiotic and discourse analytic traditions to examine their relationship with meaning in videogames. The book uses a wide range of games as examples to demonstrate the medium’s various forms of expression at work, including audio, visual, textual, haptic, and procedural modes, with a particular focus on the procedural form, which emphasizes processes and causal relationships, to better showcase its link with meaning-making. The second half of the book engages in a discussion of different multimodal configurations and user generated content to show how they contribute to the negotiation of meaning in the player experience, including their role in constructing and perpetuating persuasive messages and in driving interesting and unique player decisions in gameplay. Making the case for the benefits of multimodal approaches to game studies, this volume is key reading for students and researchers in multimodal studies, game studies, rhetoric, semiotics, and discourse analysis.

Featuring roughly sixty specially commissioned essays by an international cast of leading rhetoric experts from North America, Europe, and Great Britain, the Handbook will offer readers a comprehensive topical and historical survey of the theory and practice of rhetoric from ancient Greece and Rome through the Middle Ages and Enlightenment up to the present day.

As everyday tasks grow more confusing, and as social and global problems grow more complex, the information designer's role in bringing clarity has reached a new level of importance. In order to have a positive impact, they must go beyond conventional approaches to uncover real needs, make insightful connections, and develop effective solutions. Information Design Unbound provides a clear, engaging introduction to the field, and prepares students to be strategic thinkers and visual problem solvers who can confidently make sense in a changing world. Sheila Pontis and Michael Babwahsingh present a holistic view of information design, synthesizing decades of research, cross-disciplinary knowledge, and emerging practices. The book opens by laying a foundation in the field, first painting the bigger picture of what it is and how it originated, before explaining the scientific and cultural dimensions of how people perceive and understand visual information. A discussion of professional practices, ethical considerations, and the expanding scale of challenges sheds light on the day-to-day work of information designers today. Detailed chapters then delve into the four areas that are integral to all types of information design work: visual thinking, research, sensemaking, and design. The final section of the book puts everything together, with detailed project walk-throughs in areas such as icon design, instructions, wayfinding, organizational strategy, and healthcare system change. Written and designed with students' needs in mind, this book brings information design fundamentals to life: exercises allow students to put lessons directly into practice, case studies demonstrate how information designers think and work, and generous illustrations clarify concepts in a visually engaging way. Information Design Unbound helps beginning designers build the mindset and skillset to navigate visual communication challenges wherever they may arise.

The Rhetoric of Videogames as Embodied Practice offers a critical reassessment of embodiment and materiality in rhetorical considerations of videogames. Holmes argues that rhetorical and philosophical conceptions of "habit" offer a critical resource for describing the interplay between thinking (writing and rhetoric) and embodiment. The book demonstrates how Aristotle's understanding of character (ethos), habit (hexis), and nature (phusis) can productively connect rhetoric to what Holmes calls "procedural habits": the ways in which rhetoric emerges from its interactions with the dynamic accumulation of conscious and nonconscious embodied experiences that consequently give rise to meaning, procedural subjectivity, control, and communicative agency both in digital game design discourse and the activity of play.