Considering Visual Elements

In the following blog post I will be examining the visual elements of the genre I've decided by answering 6-10 questions provided in pages 395-402 of Writing Public Lives. 

Kristybee, "Polaroid and a Happy New Year" 12/31/09
Via Flickr.com

If the image is a graph or chart, does it clearly support a major point of my argument, or is it superfluous?: I'm concerned about using a graph, but many of my sources and examples use them, so I think it can be very helpful for my argument. I plan on using a graph that is understandable, but hard hitting, regarding the statistics of school funding and other sources of funding.

Does the image inform or emphasize my argument in an important way, or does it seem superficial and unrelated to my argument?: I think this is an important question to keep in mind when choosing a photo to include in my argument because it's possible I could use an image that seems motivating, but doesn't have much relevance. I want to focus on the student and the direct response students have to the funding situation.

Is the visual-rhetorical tone consistent through your argument?: This is an important part of the look to be conscious of because I need to be conscious of the topic of my images because I'll be bouncing between logos and ethos based images. This can be powerful if I do it accurately, but only if the images possess the tone of what I'm writing about.

Do too many visual elements make your text too busy or disorganized and what might I omit?: I feel like I can easily fall into the trap of throwing a bunch of images into a text when I have that freedom. I must omit images that, though the could be individually impactful, do not help to construct the argument.

If your text contains large blocks of text, could they be broken up?: This is actually a trap that I fell into that broke the convention of my genre and I didn't realize it. In my genre, few images are used and no heading or lines are used. I almost fell into the trap of having the freedom to try to make my text more accessible, but nearly broke the conventions of my news genre.

Are my images placed in the most convincing way?: I fell into the trap of being to focused on emotions in my preconception of my document. I wanted to start and end with a protest image, but when put on paper, that turned out to look rather unconvincing. I found that leaving the images with a powerful stat was how many of the articles I looked at ended convincingly.