Visual Rhetoric Proposal

[benmiller314]

Write a brief proposal for your visual rhetoric project. What idea or argument will you try to represent? What claim will you try to make – or, at least, what is the triggering idea (starting point) of that claim?

See the full range of thought-questions in the assignment prompt for brainstorming strategies.

NB: I am asking you to include a prospective assets list, i.e. a table of the images you think you'll need and where you might be able to source them. You can choose to include that assets list here or place it as a file in your repository, to more easily track changes.

Either way, please include a link here to your visual-rhetoric repository, making it easier to find when we get to group work.

[christyh310]

For my visual rhetoric project, I want to present the following argument:

Assimilation of Native Americans into mainstream America is not helpful, respectful, or something to aim for. Understanding more of their culture and the ways we've destroyed it is important, not making them similar to us.

I intend to do this using different pictures I've taken myself of the Yakama Nation. This reservation is located in Yakama, WA, about three hours outside of Seattle, WA. I have been there three times; and I am going back this spring break and hopefully over the summer. I don't claim to know nearly enough about the people or culture, but I have spent time learning, listening, and reading to learn more about Native America, and I've gotten to know a few of the kids and adults there. I will be including pictures of some people/background and arrange it as puzzle pieces, and then illustrate (with a non-fitting puzzle piece) that assimilation does not fit in that picture.

For more info:
https://github.com/pitt-cdm/visual-rhetoric--christyh310

[tessasayers]

For my visual rhetoric, I want to argue for kindness, especially to those with Special Needs.
For this, I am in-between two ides right now. I know I want to incorporate one silhouette of a face on the left side from a side view with the mouth open and have hurtful words coming out of the mouth.
On the right side of the page, I either want to have pictures of images of children with special needs with positive words. My other idea for the right side of the page is to have another silhouette of a face, but this time have it in color and have kind words coming out of their mouth.
If I go with my second idea, I will have some sort of quote along the lines of, "If you can chose anything, chose kindness."

Asset List:
https://github.com/pitt-cdm/visual-rhetoric--tessasayers

[laurasosovicka]

For this project, I plan on making my images send a message about the issues of body shaming that are alive today. I will use my friends to promote the message of acceptance and diversity by taking a picture of them with my camera. I envision taking their individual pictures and making each one stand out with its own color or design and blend them together as a celebration of uniqueness and union. I also want to put Martin Luther King Jr.'s quote, "hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that," towards the bottom. The background will be black, but as you get closer to the images of my friends, vibrant colors will emerge until you reach their figures, then that is where you will see them come to life.

Repository: https://github.com/pitt-cdm/visual-rhetoric--laurasosovicka

[jennyaimei120]

For this project, i want to show the message of body image but with dieting. When people first start out with exercising and dieting, sometimes people go to the extremes. I plan on having a friend or myself thinking about what to eat when on this strict diet. There will be different types of food in this image "bad" foods and "good" foods. I also want to have the image say "balance is key" or "its okay to treat yourself" something along those lines. Having a balanced diet is important in staying healthy and i want to show that in this argument.

https://github.com/pitt-cdm/visual-rhetoric--jennyaimei120

[jlherrle]

For this project, I want to illustrate the message that individuals should consider adopting dogs from shelters instead of buying a dog from a breeder. I plan on selecting pictures of dogs that are in shelters versus afterwards when dogs are happily adopted by families and how they finally are finding a purpose in life. I really want people who view my project to see how dogs in shelters tend to be forgotten about and how this needs to change. Buying a dog from a shelter is saving a dogs life.

https://github.com/pitt-cdm/visual-rhetoric--jlherrle

[mpalko]

For this project, I want to illustrate the message of how difficult it is to gain entrance into the United States. A book I am reading called Call Me American details the life of Abdi Nor Iftin and how he won a spot to America in the annual visa lottery. My plan is to have a picture of a hand holding a lottery ticket. The background will be blue, the ticket will be red, and the words on the ticket will be white white. I haven't decided what words I want to put on the lottery ticket yet. The color scheme is in reference to the colors of the USA. This imagery is supposed to represent how people born in this country are afforded privileges that many people will do anything for.

https://github.com/pitt-cdm/visual-rhetoric--mpalko

[AnthonyCapretto]

For my visual rhetoric assignment I want to make an argument for or against a certain vehicle in the form of an ad. I absolutely love cars and have strong opinions about the ones I like and the ones I don't like, so I feel like having to put my opinion into an image while also attempting to make it professional and engaging would be a very entertaining challenge. I'm not sure what car I'm going to do at the moment or if it's going to be for or against it, but given a little thought and possibly some inspiration I feel like I can figure it out.

https://github.com/pitt-cdm/visual-rhetoric--AnthonyCapretto.git

[jlt118]

I want to make a visual argument based off of an Alicia Keys quote I ran across in an article recently: "I wrote a list of all the things I was sick of. And one was how much women are brainwashed into feeling we have to be skinny, sexy, desirable, or perfect. one of the things I was tired of was the constant judgment of women... all of it is so frustrating and so freakin' impossible". I want to take this quote and base an argument on women being kind to themselves and practicing a healthy mindset.

[dashn98]

For my visual rhetoric project, I would like to focus on women in technology. The argument being that women in technology are strong, smart and very valuable to the tech community. I would like to make this statement by including photos of women in technology roles. My idea is to either include a few influential women from the technology world such as Grace Hopper, Anita Borg and Katherine Johnson, or to include many photographs of women who are technologists today. If I choose the latter, then I will likely obtain images by taking them myself during a women in computer science meeting or of my friends in my major. I would also like to include some saying that brings women up. One idea I had was to write “Who run the world” at the top which is a Beyoncé quote and then below would be all the women in tech.

https://github.com/pitt-cdm/visual-rhetoric--dashn98

[ZAR17]

For my visual rhetoric project I want to focus on what it means to grow up.

In class when we were looking at the hot air balloon I was inspired to look at the journey of going into sky as a sort of way to chase your dreams in life. The argument I intend to make is that children are/should be promised that when they grow up they can achieve anything they want in life. Though this is true, children have to grow up and find that everyone runs into challenges in life and maybe their journey isn't going to be as easy as everyone said it would be.

https://github.com/pitt-cdm/visual-rhetoric--zar17

[esc37]

For my visual rhetoric project, I would like to focus on the argument that one should remember to be happy and grateful in life. No matter how busy and stressed we get, we should remember to enjoy life and have fun. Also, I would like to present the argument that people should not forget to appreciate themselves for who they are and their skills and assets.

When I was brainstorming for this project, I was thinking about this phrase that my swimming coach used to say a lot: "Don't leave a winning lottery ticket in your back pocket". She was trying to say that if you had the skills or abilities to do something, why not utilize them? When you are attempting to do something, why not try your very best? I think this sentiment has stuck with me in school and in life. Therefore, my idea was to have a back jean's pocket with a scratch-off card with compliments, and encouragements on them.

https://github.com/pitt-cdm/visual-rhetoric--esc37

[eaj34]

For my project I am going to focus on trying to persuade people to go outside and be active in their surroundings. Hopefully, I can find an upcoming day, weather pending, that I can personally go outside and take pictures of nature, or even take a picture of Pittsburgh to illustrate that people should go out and explore their local areas. I think that it is important to 1. go outside and experience the world and 2. even when living in a city you can find things that are amazing!

I'm not exactly sure what saying I am going to implement in the project. I know I will need a landscape, either that be a place in Pittsburgh or a nature element around Pittsburgh. Then I am going to have, most likely, a simplistic font so that I don't take away from the beauty of the picture.

Repository: https://github.com/pitt-cdm/visual-rhetoric--eaj34

[bcy5]

For my visual rhetoric project, I want to address a point about how for some people, their outer appearances (personality, face expression, gesture, etc) might not be an accurate depiction of how they really feel inside.
We all know that a smile is the result of a few muscles on our faces moving in a particular way in response from a signal from our brains. However, a smile doesn't necessarily depict how you really feel inside. We often hear about stories about how the person who seems to be the "happiest" ends up in an unfortunate tragedy caused by their real emotions.
My goal is to capture the essence of this deception of emotion. Although I'm not 100% sure of how I'm going to capture this moment, but I know that I want to have an image of a happy person who is either giving off a shadow that is shackled by weights, or a happy person staring into a mirror's reflection of someone who isn't so happy.

https://github.com/pitt-cdm/visual-rhetoric--bcy5

[abrous]

For my visual rhetoric project, I want to address the issue of domestic animal abuse or if I decide to not want a serious argument, I will try to convince everyone that hockey is the greatest sport. If I go with the animal abuse, I would try to show a parallel or comparison of why animal abuse is bad for very obvious reasons. If I were to do the hockey one, I thought about showing what various other sports attributes are popular and showing how they are all involved in hockey making it the greatest sport. At the moment I do not know how to pictorially capture the animal abuse idea in a clear, concise, and visually appealing (not in a positive but an attention grabber) way. I feel as though the hockey one is easier to develop but if the project is meant to be serious topics then I would stick with the animal abuse and develop it further.

Github link: https://github.com/pitt-cdm/visual-rhetoric--abrous.git (this takes you to a link saying go to my Box)
Box: https://pitt.box.com/s/k1c5y62sk0uz3l5ou8qc9faf4ou0gn3o