Image/Text Juxtapositions.
For this assignment, you will be making five separate image/text manipulations that will
give you practice in:
1. Creating new, interesting, and surprising possibilities for interpretation through
juxtaposition. (Remember you are combining text, image, and design to make a third
meaning. You are not simply using text to interpret an image.)
2. Making all aspects of a composition (font size, font placement, colors, clarity, etc.)
contribute to the overall meaning of the piece.
The Assignment
You must make 1 manipulation where you place a quote (any quote) on a picture. This
is exactly like we did in our lab day activity; however, unlike the lab activity, you now
have the time to really consider what juxtaposition to make. You’re looking to avoid the
literal. In other words, if your quote is about a dirty kitchen, it’s not going to cut it to
stick the quote on a picture of a dirty kitchen. You are looking for the unexpected
juxtaposition that offers some sort of message and interpretive possibilities.
You must also make 4 manipulations where you place a single word on a picture. The
idea is the same as the quote manipulations. You want the single word and picture to
suggest a message or meaning that wasn’t there until you stuck them together. However,
these can be much trickery, for you only get one word per picture. You can use any
words you like (and they should be four different words for each manipulation) but they
must be abstract. If the word points to something that can be seen, felt, or interpreted too
easily in only one way, then it will not work well.
Rhetorical Write-Ups of Juxtapositions
As we discussed in class, a rhetorical analysis seeks to go beyond what a text is about.
You will often point out the meaning in a rhetorical analysis, but you should be more
concerned with exploring how the text makes that meaning. A key difference in
analyzing something you made is that, as the author, you know your intentions. The only
trick here is to make sure you have intentions and purposes while you're composing the
juxtaposition.
There are a number of ways to do that, and your tactics will grow as we move through the
semester. As we work through different assignments, our classroom discussions will
focus on new concepts and terminology that will help you explain how your texts attempt
to create meaning.
For this project, your rhetorical write-ups will be focusing on your composing choices.
Your juxtaposition should create a new and interesting meaning (potentially multiple
meanings if it's complex enough to offer multiple interpretations). As the assignment
prompt asks, everything in your juxtaposition should try and contribute to that meaning:
font choice, font size, font color, placement of the word, shape of the word, added
punctuation, and more.
You want to articulate why you made these choices and be specific as possible. As we've
learned in class days, these choices have meaning based on a potential audience's cultural
and social contexts. Keeping this in mind will help you phrase your analysis.
General Tips:
1. This is not an essay. In this case (unlike your other projects), the class, myself included,
is the only audience. So I don't need an intro, conclusion, or set-up phrases: “Here
I will analyze my pic in order to explain how ...” Just write to us.
2. We learn and talk about new terminology in class and outside readings for a purpose.
This terminology helps us put into words what we previously might only have a
sense or a feeling for. So use that terminology (e.g. pathos, logos, contrast, fontrun, color contrast, alignment, etc.)
3. Don't assume the intent of something is so obvious that you don't need to mention it.
Tell us anyways, and you might end of revealing some complexity.
4. If you're struggling to think of what to write, the problem might be coming from
juxtaposition composition itself. In other words, you can't articulate the thought
behind something that was not done with thought.
With that, below is a sample based on a juxtaposition from a previous class.
In this juxtaposition I wanted to make a statement about our culture's questionable
standard of beauty. I would hope nobody looking at this poor woman would think she
was beautiful. But why would she let herself get this thin if some outside forces weren't
pressing her to think that maybe this is beautiful? And when I look at models in the
fashion industry, many of them look pretty close to this. Beauty is, as they say, “in the
eye of the beholder” and that's nice to think but our eye is trained by the culture we live
in and the examples we see.
I placed the word itself in the lower right hand corner to intensify the shock. Since
American readers scan a page or image from the top left down to the bottom right, I
believe the pic will be seen before the word. In this way, the viewer sees the image, has a
moment to be effected by it, and is then forced to reconcile it with the word. If the word
came first, I think it might be lost that I'm trying to make them question something. The
word is in Palatino font which has a thin weight and sharply protruding serifs. In this way,
the word is made to look thin and bony like the model. I also colored the word grey and
lowered the saturation to make it appear sickly and weak- again matching the theme of
the image. I wanted to make the word large enough to read, but also small enough to be
slightly understated. If the word were too large, it would threaten to overshadow the
image, but too small and the question I'm asking the viewer to ponder might not come off
as important.
Grading Criteria
1. Your juxtaposition must be interesting, striking, and in some way spark thought. Yes,
this is a bit vague. You don’t want to be too literal and you don’t want to be too vague
that an audience can’t even begin to interpret them. The best way to think about this is
you want to make some sort of cultural commentary or some kind of local/world pointof-view statement. I have provided you with plenty of past class examples (poor and
successful) to give you an idea of what directions to go.
2. Beyond the message/suggestion you are also being graded on your ability to make
every bit of the composition contribute to the overall meaning. This means you cannot
just simply stick the word or quote on the picture without thought and be done with
it. The look of the word/quote (size, font choice, color, placement, arrangement, etc.)
should be part of the communicative meaning. In other words, the choices made in
creating and placing the quote/word should be rhetorical and linked to your overall
purpose. I’ll learn about this from the rhetorical write-ups.
3. Technical stuff: the images should be overall large enough to see clearly. The final
manipulations should be in JPEG format.
The Written Element
You will also be turning in some written, rhetorical analysis for all five manipulations.
Don’t think of this so much as an essay. Two or three paragraphs on each one will suffice.
For each manipulation you should attempt to explain the message or meaning you were
going for (though what you were going for may not be the only way to interpret your
compositions). You must also explain your rhetorical reasoning and articulate for each
manipulation why you made the composition choices you did and how they contribute
to your meaning.
These rhetorical analyses are very important. If I’m not instantly clued into your
compositions, a strong analysis may help me see what you were going for and help me
see the compositions in new ways.
Due Date and Turn.
These are due (insert date) . They should be collected onto one document and uploaded to
the website.
More Grading Specifics
90-100 A project in this range has really gone above and beyond the call of duty. All (or
most) of the juxtapositions are thought provoking, interesting, and show rhetorical
awareness of an audience's needs. Evidence of some experimentation with Photoshop
features not necessarily shown in class may be present. The rhetorical write up is detailed,
shows evidence of course terminology (from lectures and outside materials), and shows
clear rhetorical reasoning.
80-89 A project in this range is very strong work. Most of the juxtapositions are thought
provoking and interesting, but 1 or 2 may be less successful. The rhetorical write up
articulates the reasoning well but may leave some of the choices unexplained or be
confusing.
70-79 A project in this range has done what has been asked. Juxtapositions may
consistently not show evidence of targeted thought provoking potential (i.e. they may be
too literal or too widely
interpreted). The rhetorical write up just begins to explain the reasoning but does not go
into great detail or try to use terminology from the course.
0-69 Assignment is either not turned in, did not include a total of 5 juxtapositions, or is
missing the rhetorical write up component. Intention of the assignment seems to have
been missed either in the production of the juxtapositions or in the write-up (i.e. write up
is in no way rhetorically focused).