Briana VanBuskirk
Research Methods in Professional Writing
Dr. Wells
12/8/14
Word Count: 6,470
The Rhetoric of Ecological Graphic Design:
How Individuals Learn from Eco-Influenced Graphic Design
Introduction:
The purpose of this case study will be to develop an understanding of effective rhetorical
ecological advertisement design and its ability to be used as a form of global education as a
means to promote ecological change. To begin, the term “environmental graphic design”
typically refers to outdoor design such as way finding signs, street signs, or business signs. In
this report, “ecological graphic design” refers to items of compelling visual literacy (posters,
handouts etc.) that are designed to inform the viewer about the environment and inevitably
persuade them to care about human’s impact on the environment. Since there has not yet been a
definitive term to describe this eco-based graphic design, I propose that this study will prove how
influential graphic design can be in the realm of education and how specifically ecological
design could be a standard media literacy, so that it will be termed and used more prevalently
worldwide.
At this stage in the research, an ecologically conceptual design will be generally defined
as a form of graphic design that is able to enlighten and strike emotion within the viewer’s
psyche that will inevitably persuade them to be more ecologically conscious. Using visual
materials in a classroom could be a tool for teachers to help students become more emotionally
involved in their school work. The goal is to see if ecological graphics are powerful enough to
cause the viewer to be influenced enough to care, thus see if they are powerful enough to raise
awareness. If so, we could determine it would be feasible for the utilization of imagery to be
used internationally as a form of education and awareness.
The artwork and text which composes an advertisement reflects the culture of the time
period in which the ad is a product of. As artistic style, technology, products, and culture have
changed, so has the dichotomy of advertisement design. Studying the alpha-visual semiology of
advertisements and other visual images can provide insight on the history of society at the time
of the work’s creation including social values, class structure, and marketing strategies. As our
society moves in a more eco-friendly direction, it is helpful to study which trends are most
effective for an engaging advertisement design in order promote the most change.
Advertisements are made to draw in an audience, so by the study of ads we can determine which
compositions are most influential towards an audience and thus a classroom.
Background:
This research was inspired by a personal concern for the environment and a passion for
graphic design. A picture is worth a thousand words. Most people are aware of the short attention
spans of children as they grow up with Facebook, Twitter, and things of that nature. If the use of
graphic design can be used to show compelling issues in an upfront way, I believe that it has the
power to promote a change that otherwise would not happen.
After learning about the North Pacific Gyre - a soup of garbage two times the size of
Texas in the North Pacific Ocean-in an undergraduate ecology class, I became concerned about
what other major issues humans were unaware of and have since tried to educate myself about
other issues. I felt guilty for being so unaware of our impact and because of that I now want to
use my graphic design skills to campaign for ecological awareness. Learning about the
environment and animals is something that I am very passionate about. Since I did not go into
the science field, I want to use my skills in whatever way I can to educate others about ecology.
Methodology:
The methods of research used for this project will be case study and phenomenology.
According to Robert Sokolowski, phenomenology is the use of memory that causes humans to
develop understandings of an image or text and also how they react emotionally to it. When we
directly place an object in front of someone it is called the intuition because it is referred to
directly, which is how my research is set up. “[T]he things phenomenology looks at are those
that have already been recognized by anyone who thinks and speaks, things like perceptions,
signitive intentnionsm and pictoral intentions” (Sokolowski 80). The reason we interpret the
things we see in certain ways is because of our lived experiences, which shape our opinions and
perceptions; this concept is described as intentionality.
When we read a word, we not only take it for what it literally means, but we can
understand it by the imagery of it and the way that the words are presented whether by context or
design; “it rests upon the perceptual base that presents the marks that become the words”
(Sokolowski 78). This signitive intentionism is seen every day in design theory as a way to
emphasize or stylize messages. That is why there have been thousands of fonts made for
designers to choose which they believe will suite their message most appropriately. In addition,
word choice and linguistic style adds to the power of text in an image.
When we see the words environmental protection written in plain Times New Roman
font it means less than if the letters were created with drawings of trees, held together by locks.
The image is more powerful, even though the same words are being said. It is all about the
presentation that causes interpretation. “Phenomenology examines these intentions, these noetic
activities, and it also examines their objective correlates, their noemas, the kinds of objects that
are established or targeted by them: the perceptual object, the picture, the word, the verbal
meaning, the verbal referent” (Sokolowski 80). In an almost direct way, phenomenology is like
semiotic analysis. Phenomenology is an essential aspect of this study because it has to deal with
the way humans learn, what shapes the way they learn, and in what ways.
In juxtaposition to the signitive intention, the picture is understood by the perception a
human has based on their interpretation of what is being presented, which is derived on their past
experiences/emotions. “Being a picture is not just being like something else, it is being the
presentation of what is depicted” (Sokolowski 83). The phrase ‘you get the picture’ comes from
this notion of understanding. It’s like putting together clues; you understand each part and can
look at the image as a whole to understand the situation being presented. It is part of “categorical
intentions,” which are broken into three parts: 1. Looking at the image as a whole, 2. Looking at
its details and then, 3. Looking at the object as a whole again. The ability for a picture to be
insightful allows us to explain it categorically. The relation of phenomenology to this research is
that we are analyzing the ways in which students react empathetically based on their
perceptiveness to images.
Research Parameters:
This research is structured with youth in mind. I want them to become informed and care
about their impact on the planet, therefore the research must take place in a school. For the
research there will need to be student classes that will make up separate case studies. In order to
get participants, we will seek out a high school where students are not divided by major like
college students and not divided by careers like adults. In addition, the classes that will be
studied will not be divided into college prep or advanced placement classes (we will study both
logically), so there will be an eclectic variety of students to observe at all education levels. We
will have the least likely selection of students that would have bias in this study.
I chose to keep the study local so that I had a more realistic understanding of the class
structure and familiarity with the faculty. After looking over the curriculum for Stroudsburg
High School I was able to identify three classes that would be ideal to set up the study with. As a
former student, I know that since the population of the school is so large (1,550 and growing)
there are often two classes of students that are taking the same subject with the same teacher, but
at different class periods of the day (Sburg). If any of the three subjects listed have those
schedules then they would qualify for the study. Even one class would suffice for this research.
The classes I picked out are:
5651 SURVEY OF ECOLOGICAL ISSUES (s) Grade 10
(Requires successful completion by all students prior to graduation) This course prepares
students to make informed decisions about resources and systems in the natural world. Topics
include watersheds and wetlands, renewable and nonrenewable resources, environmental health,
agriculture and society, ecosystems and their interactions, endangered species, and humans and
the environment.
4326 PRINCIPLES OF ECOLOGY & FIELD BIOLOGY - CP (NCAA) Grades 11 - 12
This course explores the general concepts of ecology. Included are ecosystems, habitats,
communities and niches, abiotic and biotic factors, food chains, webs and pyramids, population
dynamics, interspecies and intraspecies relationships, animal behavior, animal adaptation and
evolution. Ecology uses basic science knowledge gained in earlier courses to explain how living
things are affected by the world around us and how organisms affect one another.
4350 ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES/BIOETHICS Grades 11 - 12
This course is designed to allow students to explore and discuss some of the more
intensely debated scientific issues in modern society. Units covered include animals,
environment and health, land use, natural resources, and biotechnology. Students will obtain
information about a topic; determine the sides of the issue; and, using methods including debate,
role-play, projects, speakers, and multimedia formulate and express their opinions about each
issue (Sburg 30-31).
Teachers and researchers will need to meet before the beginning of the school year to
touch base on and have copies of the upcoming year’s course material and what will be taught
about ecology. During this formal meeting, the researchers will be able to tell the three teachers
that are using additional visual materials about the study that will be taking place, its central
purpose, and strategies of implementation of the visual materials to their students. Teachers will
be prepped on how to use the materials during their science classes each day.
We will need to have the approval from parents to allow the students to participate in the
study. Because of these parameters, the school board will need to be willing to make
accommodations of classroom placements based on the parent’s decisions. Parents will need to
see all of the images that will be used in the classrooms, as part of their decision process. Parents
who aren’t willing to have their children participate will have their children put into classes that
will not incorporate the visual materials, which would require organization from the school.
In order to keep the same curriculum and not disrupt the material required of students to
learn, our designers will create images based on the topics that that are already set into the
ecology curriculum. The teachers will be asked to teach the same chapters from the same books
at the same time in order to keep the information consistent during their classes. Since our focus
is to see if the students will be influenced by the incorporation of visual materials in the
classroom on a personal level, the images will be designed with the idea of human environmental
impact in mind. That is, if the teacher is talking about animal habitats that day, he/she could put
up posters of animas in their natural habitat on one side of the classroom. On the other side of the
room, the teacher could put posters depicting the impact of logging, water pollution, and global
warming that affects animals. See figures one through seven for some examples from the WWF
that influence the later described posters (The Design Inspiration). For the other classes, the
teacher would simply take down the posters. The Study is not confined to posters. Handouts,
slideshows, and things of that nature will be used as well.
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The study will span over two years to rule out any inconsistencies such as morning to
evening attentiveness, attendance issues, and student backgrounds. Over four semesters, two
morning semesters will include the visuals and vise versa. Attendance will be calculated.
Cultural backgrounds will be surveyed and observed lightly, but not primarily.
At the end of each marking period the students will take an ungraded opinion test to
gather information about opinions on the environment. This test will be based on curriculum
information and any related emotional concerns that an informed student might/should have on
the topic. Tests will be compared between classes to see if the student’s responses show more of
an emotional draw from one class to another. In addition, we would include questions about
prospective majors/minors once entering college to see if it relates at all to environmental
science. As a researcher, I speculate that the students in classes with the visual materials will
have more sympathetic responses to the questions.
Graded assignments will also be looked at to see if any trends follow. If the grades in
classes that incorporate more visual materials are higher, we will know that the study has
worked. This raises an ethical issue for our research. If one class receives higher grades than
another it would mean that one class got better treatment. If the school district feels that this is
not fair, other methods will have to be used to complete the research.
Second options for this test would to just have one chapter and test per semester be
recorded and calculated with students from each class learning with the different approaches of
teaching. This way the research could still take place without having it influence the grades
tremendously. If research proves that using more graphic material helps, we could begin
implementing the materials into all classrooms and then go forward, seeing if previous years
grades were consistently lower than the preceding years where extra materials were given.
Again, that would be dependent on the school district’s decision. Another option would be just
use visual materials in all classes and compare the grades from previous years.
Trends can also be noticed by the teachers. Being on a routine schedule with the students
would allow teachers to observe their personalities on a qualitative level. Each week the teacher
can jot down short notes and observations about the class involvement and personal opinions on
the effectiveness of the research. The teacher can also express which forms of visual literacy’s
they feel should be used more or less.
Field Site:
As a local to Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, I would use connections within the high schools
to suggest the potential for my study to take place there. The classrooms are anywhere from 20 to
30 kids per class. Stroudsburg has a mix of rural and urban residents with a percent of students
from New York City. The area provides a great mix of culture and economic backgrounds for the
study. Each class period is forty two minutes.
Literature Review:
Section 1- What constitutes an engaging design?
Text in an ad/Typography
The point of the research will be to identify effective design strategies, so we need to first
define what the principles of effective advertising are. In their article titled Principles of Effective
Advertising, the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) suggests that there are:
“Five elements of ads: 1.) Attention – the headline should act as a stimulus and cut
through the clutter. It must be appropriate, relating to the product or service, the tone of the ad,
and the needs or interests of the intended audience. 2.) Interest – keeps the prospects involved as
the information becomes more detailed.3.) Credibility – makes believable claims. 4.) Desire –
describes the benefits of the product or service. 5.) Action – motivates people to do something,
such as call or visit a website” (British Columbia Institute of Technology).
Overall BCIT suggests simplicity and clarity within the work. If the reader has to think
too much in order to figure out the message then the advertisement is not effective. It should
provide interest to the viewer so that they find out and get involved on their own after looking at
the image.
BCIT explains that when writing effective copy in the ad, straightforwardness is the
objective. The main point must be quickly identifiable by the use of bold headings and
subheadings-not overcomplicated or wordy (65 characters per line is a maximum on the poster).
To engage the audience, “use personal pronouns, such as “you” and “your.” A viewer will be
drawn to an advertisement that involves them in a positive way-so no negativity. “Vivid
language” and “active voice” are striking elements that engage an audience in addition to a large
advertisement size (British Columbia Institute of Technology)..
Section 2: What constitutes a visually conceptual image?
A conceptual image can be broken down by the use of semiotic analysis. So, when
creating an image or using an image to teach with it is important that it presents the case in a
strong and definitive manner. Using the suggestions from BICT about composition is a start, but
using semiotic is a more methodical skill because it involves the viewer’s recognition and
understanding of certain signs and symbols that create a message. The conceptual image differs
from an ordinary image in that it is used with a purpose of illustrating a message.
According to Gillian Rose (author of Visual Methodologies: An introduction to the
Interpretation of Visual Materials), the first analytical steps of semiology are to create or identify
the type of sign (synecdochal or metonymic) by identifying the signifier and signified of the
image. “Semiology has an elaborate analytical vocabulary for describing how signs make
sense…” (Gillian, 69). For example, when looking at an advertisement that includes a human
being or animal, it is essential to analyze the physical characteristics in a historical context since
they are a giving meaning and concept to the image. Things to look for would be age, gender,
race, hair, body, size, look, expression, eye contact, pose, props and setting (dark and gloomy vs.
sunny and happy), which make up the signifiers.
Studying the alpha-visual semiology of advertisements and other visual images can
provide insight into the history of society at the time of the work’s creation including social
values, class structure, and marketing strategies. Using the analytical approaches Gillian Rose
and Claire Harrison to determine the visual methodologies of a People of Ethical Treatment of
Animals (PETA) advertisement, the viewer can conclude that the ad is relatively recent, there
was is a value of environmental protection, and that it is an issue related to humans. Using
semiotic analysis to study images is allows the viewer to notice details within the image and
comprehend them as a whole. See figure 8.
8.
The sign in this PETA advertisement is created by the combination of the body art (as the
signifier) and the sexual concepts and earthy undertones insinuated by the woman’s appearance
(the signified). The combination of them together as a sign also forms a referent or an “object in
the world to which the sign is related” (Rose 74). In this case, the advertisement’s signifiers of
dominance and worldliness are seductive and compelling, yet sophisticated, making the ad
suggest that individuals have a level of respect for the topic. At first glance the viewer is
overcome with sexual innuendos because of the woman’s eye contact and stature, but with closer
inspection we can see more about the target audience. The image is eye catching because of its
risqué nature, but it addresses a larger picture. The image itself suggests a connection between
the earth and humans. Without the words we could draw conclusions that by her healthy
appearance we should assume that it is about food or that since she is female that it could
insinuate mother earth.
Author of “Understanding How Still Images Make Meaning”, Claire Harrison puts this
analysis into simpler terms by calling Rose’s signified meanings, features, formed by their
feature processes (signifiers) to create a metafunction (sign). The “image act and gaze” creates a
demand from the image upon the viewer. The ‘Social Distance and Intimacy’ and ‘Perspective’
(both horizontally and vertically) are conveyed through the intimate distance and the medium
front angle (direct positioning and upper body visibility). Claire Harrison suggests that these
features are “interpersonal” and thus relate on a level that creates a strong viewer involvement
(Harrison 13). ). The text at the bottom which says, “Fight Climate Change With Diet Change.
Go Veg.” is spoken directly to the audience, making them feel compelled to resist such a
seemingly logical act. The initial understanding of the image meaning followed by the
involvement of the reader to the advertisement’s product creates a preferred reading.
The signified item is the subject of the ad to which the signifier is projecting towards and
we can look at the signifiers in a historical context because that framework has an emotional
impact on the meaning. For instance, a photograph of loggers in Washington in the 20’s (or even
a rendition of a logger for that matter) with the words “Logging is Bad” would not fulfill the
same message that an image of a sneering corporation owner in the foreground of the picture,
staring at the viewer as loggers and excavators prepare land in the background for what is
contextually seeming to be land for a large business. The signified material would be message of
corporate greed and the signifiers would be the people in the image, which are readable based on
their characteristics. This might seem very obvious, because any person could look at the images
and make clear distinctions between the images, but it is important because it allows artists to
methodically use images to say a message and most of the time that is more powerful. Using the
similar semiotic dissection as with the PETA ad, it is easy to see how any image can be analyzed
to derive meaning.
Semiology is used to prove that capitalist ideologies are reflective of cultural ideologies
through the analysis of apparent marketing strategies in advertisements.
“Images are interpreted in close relation to semiological theory,
and the discussion of particular images is often directed at exemplifying
analytical points. Thus semiology very often takes the form of detailed
case studies of relatively few images, and the case study stands or falls on
its analytical integrity and interest rather than on its applicability to a wide
range of material” (Rose 69).
In order to break down an ad, the viewer must identify the signified (or the main
concept/point) by its signifiers. Most conceptual art can be analyzed this way because it has a
meaning aside from just aesthetics. For example, a poster of a flower is merely aesthetic in the
basic sense, but a poster of a wilting flower in a child’s hands with the words “without clean
water, there is death” protrudes a much more striking message.
The image of the child holding the flower is a metonymic sign, or a sign that means that
something is related to something else and thus represents that something. “The actual object in
the world to which the sign is related is called a referent…it can be explored” (Gillian, 74). The
referent, in this instance, is the flower because it is an object that represents the idea of
dehydration. This concept is identifiable because it is a commonly known that flowers die in this
way. The dying flower (referent/sign) represents the signified message-association of
dehydration of the flower to dehydration of the child. The index alludes to the signified, so the
index in this case would be the close proximity of the child to the flower, and his position in the
poster. We will say that the child is on a horizontal angle (looking directly into the camera), so
he is in involving the viewer straightforwardly, inevitably causing the viewer to focus on him
holding the flower. Finally, we see the symbol/character, i.e. the child, as the meaning of the
signified. The child provides meaning to the piece, because it compares the severity of having no
water from a mere flower, to a human being—a child at that.
Literature Review:
Part One- Methodological Review: Finding the Gap
As ecological awareness increases globally, companies begin to shift their advertisement
designs so that they appear more eco-friendly. In Leonidas C. Leonidou’s twenty yearlong study,
Evaluating the green advertising practices of international firms: a trend analysis, “[a] total of
195 firms were the sponsors behind the 473 advertisements identified” as “green advertisers”
such as Shell, ABB, BP, Bayer, etc. based on “five major axes: advertiser profile, targeting
features, message aspects, copy characteristics and situation points” (Leonidou et al., 6). “[T]op
advertisers, as well as most of the other firms in the sample, typically handle products that
greatly depend on natural resources and/or whose consumption seriously affects the
environment” (Leonidou et al., 6). With top advertisers come well-constructed ads for analysis,
a strong basis for Leonidou’s research. Leonidou’s research is helpful in showing how
knowledge about a subject will influence the way a message is constructed.
I want to incorporate that same trend analysis in my research by setting up the study over
a long period of time to analyze if the same ad design will be effective over months and years.
However, his study doesn’t have participants, but rather it is a collection of ads spanning twenty
years that are compared and contrasted for design qualities and trends. I would rather rely on a
study with numerous participants and their opinions rather than base an entire research on an
analysis of only a few people.
Leonidou’s research showed a 16.2 percent increase in consumer focused advertising
from 2002-2007 (Leonidou et al., 16).. According to Leonidou, this shift coincided with a boost
in consumer knowledge about ecological issues. Results showing an increase in ecologically
designed ads coinciding with an appendix listing ecological crisis, movements, and laws from
1989-2007 prove that there is a clear trend that with more awareness comes more eco-based
advertising (Leonidou et al., 31-32).. The more that people know about threats to the
environment, the more influenced they are by ecological advertisements.
His research is limited, though, to the constraints of the company’s goals of business. As
many ecological design research projects go, business advertisements tend to be the focal point
rather than educational designs. In what ways do we “learn” from them though? For example,
figure nine, an ad for Samsung explains that their products are designed with the environment in
mind, which suggests that technology is destructive to the environment, but the readers don’t
particularly learn anything besides what brand they can shop for to be energy efficient (Justin
Shull). They try to replace natural parts of the environment with images of nature, but
technology and nature are contradictory things. This ironically shows the power of imagery to
manipulate a message. Leonidou’s study is confined to corporate ads, which advocate for
environmentally friendly products and services, but not the why, which is an emotional aspect
that I want to cover. Also, the ads can be misleading because of corporate marketing strategies,
which might falsely convince a viewer to favor one ad over another.
9.
Leonidou breaks down advertisement into “deep, shallow, and moderate,” with deep
constituting an advertisement with strong informative qualities about the product/issue to the
environment. The text and image were broken down into characteristics that researchers felt were
most influential to the viewer. Text included powerful headlines, slogans, quotes, and the use of
percentages to “dramatize” their message. Leonidou relays that 47.8 percent the advertisements
convey a message of ecological protection; advertisements suggest that the company helps by
providing eco-friendly technology. Imagery was categorized by the use of outdoor landscape
scenes, pictures of the company’s product, industrial setting, and pictures of equipment
(respectively). Close to 60 percent of the ads used images of general people or animals, not
anyone identifiable to the company (Leonidou et al., 20)..
Leonidou concludes that much has changed in ecological advertising over the years of
study. Some holes in his research, which he describes as the limitations, were “external factors
(e.g. political-legal, socio-economic, technological) with a potential effect on shaping firms’
green advertising strategies,” and the “measure of communication effectiveness” (Leonidou et
al., 6). Using ads that are only corporate not only has the potential to skew the ads for selling
purposes, but it doesn’t allow the researcher to specify elements of the ad in which to study.
Instead, the research could have focused on and how the viewer was drawn in with effective
design composition. All in all though, this study proves that there is potential for people to have
an interest or initial appeal to an ecological image, which gives me inspiration in my new study.
If people are drawn to choose an image that is ecologically driven, they will most likely be
drawn to one in their learning process. If humans have already begun to become knowledgeable
about eco-friendliness, they have a better conception of its importance.
Norman Kangun, Les Carlson and Stephen Grove had a more technical analysis of
ecological advertising in their research done with the AMA (American Marketing Association)
titled Environmental Advertising Claims: A Preliminary Investigation. Their study, spanning
from 1989-1990, examines “advertising concerns expressed by state attorneys general, the
criteria by which the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the courts have judged deceptive
communication…” (Kangun et al., 47). They focus on a term called green-washing, which they
use to term advertisements “in which the ecological claims are trivial, misleading, or deceptive”
(Kangun et al., 49). Their study was useful in that it covered a variety of viewer comprehension
levels (from expert to non-expert). Three investigators were briefed and shown ads from popular
magazines, press and a newspaper. Of the 200 ads viewed, 100 were ruled out for being non-eco
related. From there, the ads were categorized into “location and number of ecological claims it
possessed and resolved any differences concerning their nature” (Kangun et al., 50). The test
remained on two sets of judges, expert (Ecological Systems Engineering [ESE] candidates with a
doctorate degree) and non-expert (faculty and staff members).
Research results were close, although the non-experts identified more misleading ads.
The discussion following the study assumed that the experts might have been more equipped
with knowledge to correctly identify false claims. Either way, the study proved that within each
category of the advertisements analyzed that close to half (36 percent to 62 percent according to
expert results) were considered faulty in some way (Kangun et al., 52). The charts used in this
case study were ideal for the questions asked. They were clear and allowed for direct numeral
results with also the space/opportunity for the candidates to express further inquiries.
The use of expert and non expert participants was helpful in that it narrowed the
limitations of the research. The research could be seen as flawed if there were to be discrepancies
over the knowledge of the viewer and their interpretation. Another aspect that was well
constructed with this survey is that has a variety of options (choices A-E) that give details as to
how effective the advertisement is in addition to space to leave comments (Kangun et al., 57). As
with the previous research study, this one is also limited to pre-constructed ads. The
advertisements are judged based on their ability to truthfully sell a product, but not based on how
the designs specifically (and what qualities of the design) are informative in any ways. The ads
are looked at as a whole, but not as parts of a whole. Was the incorporation of a human image,
color usage, or typography a tool used to teach the viewer? Those are aspects we will address.
Shades of Green: A Multidimensional Analysis of Ecological Advertising by Subhabrata
Banerjee, Charles S. Gulas and Easwar Iyer, takes on a very similar approach as Leonidou’s
study in that it sorts the ads into categories depending on their compositions. They take five
categories: “ad characteristics, ad greenness, ad objective, ad appeal, and ad issues” to divide
their collection of ads (Banerjee et al., 23). Interestingly, their greenness category is divided into
shallow, moderate, and deep like Leonidou’s. One thing that was mentioned in this study, which
was not in others were the emotional appeals of the ad: “fear, guilt, humor, self-esteem, and
warmth” (Banerjee et al., 23). This is a missing link to which my new research will address as
well. In addition, financial and health points were identified. These interrelated topics are
important to address, because they indirectly relate to the other topics and give more depth to the
study. A missing link in their study was that it was hard to form consistent results since the
timeframe of the study was so short. There could have been a shift in ecological perspective
throughout the time that the study was given.
After reading Shades of Green I would approach my research with intent to have case
studies done in shorter time frames individually, but over a span of time collectively. The display
of resulting data in a new study would have to differ from that in Shades of Green. Their charts
were not set up in a comprehendible way, but rather took effort to understand without reading the
text that accompanied. A tree diagram would have worked to display the data, since a lot of the
subjects are related and have a cause/effect nature.
Part Two: Theoretical Review
An article by the United Nations Ecological Programme (UNEP) titled Public Ecological
Awareness and Education describes ways in which forms of media can successfully raise
awareness as a form of education. “They can seek to raise public awareness broadly on
ecological issues (e.g., through the media) or they may be a targeted campaign or educational
effort focused on a specific sector (or target audience) on a specific issue.” The article stresses
the use of online media and the role of education in those creating the media itself. “Some States
have found that educating the media can be quite effective in building capacity to report on
ecological matters” (UNEP). In order to capture the entire vision and message, designers should
have a full grasp of the concept, which they want to address. If not, the design can be left with
loose ends; these ends might not be intended by the company, but rather the lack of
comprehension on the topic, resulting in more focus on an aesthetic design.
A huge point made in UNEP’s article was about educating youth, contrary to any notion
brought up in the research noted above. “Young people comprise nearly 30 percent of the global
population and will be the decision makers of the future. Their way of thinking about the
environment is already shaping the world of tomorrow” (UNEP). New research on ecological
advertising should include information related to youth and their interpretation of ecological ads
which would thus prompt questions about how to adjust advertisements to benefit the mindsets
of developing children. Should we market more “green” products to children? Should ecological
advertisements about controversial issues or bigger business be geared not only towards adults,
but to children as well? “An educated public can be one of the most powerful weapons in the
world’s battle against harm to the environment” (UNEP). The goal of raising awareness is to
save the planet; how successful are advertisements in doing so? By incorporating constant
imagery into the classroom environment, there would seemingly be an increase in care and
awareness.
Anthony Blair uses the Aristotelian idea of the enthymeme and semiotics to break down
images to find the symbol. It is common knowledge what symbols represent because of historical
contexts unless they are used incorrectly, which our study will not do. Images create a didactic
narrative, or a story that supports a point (Blair, 42). The rhetoric of visual argument relies on the
tools of persuasion and the utilization of them to relay a message. If there is an argument or
discussion present about a design, there must be visual rhetoric. So, what composes visual
rhetoric? John Blair suggests an importance of the Aristotelian idea-enthymemes, or “an
argument in which the arguer deliberately leaves unstated a premise that is essential to its
reasoning. Doing so has the effect of drawing the audience to participate in its own persuasion by
filling in that unexpressed premise” (Blair, 42). It this situation, the arguer is consciously
persuading the viewer with language and images in their historical contexts and commonalities
using semiotics. He suggests that using an enthymeme in an ad exploits the vulnerabilities of the
viewer so that they give into the empathy they feel.
George Russalatos elaborates on the idea of the enthymeme, suggesting that it accounts
for hidden visual premises in advertising discourse. One form of the enthymeme would be quasilogical argument, which says that two or three connections are made between ideas to form a
basic logic. The other would be coexistent argument, which addresses that an argument from
coexistence comes from something that is observed such as a symbol or feature (Russalatos 11).
Russalatos also refers to the root of the word recollection as re-collection, or a re-collection of
thoughts and emotions that will bring a meaning alive again for the viewer. The enthymeme
represents the “they” in the situation (Russalatos 15). Its ambiguity draws the viewer in so that
they use their own imagination and perspective. It has the ability to drive emotions such as guilt,
happiness, or sadness. The use of the enthymeme is important for our research because it is a
concept that includes the viewer in a discussion. It makes them question themselves within the
context, which is the
Conclusion:
After a full review of advertisement campaign research, design methods, and
philosophical learning strategies I feel confident that my research will prove that the use of
visual images in ecology classes will benefit students educationally and thus benefit the world at
large. I truly believe that education is power and that it will help to change the dichotomy of the
world. It is clear that society is taking a more eco-friendly path as time goes on, but keeping the
youth aware is the most essential point. Trying to get people to care about a topic is a delicate
thing, but it stems from a desire to provide benefits for human living too. When people can
visualize what they are learning about it is more relatable-as we can assess from semiotics and
phenomenology. This case study should hopefully prove that concept true. I hope to see more
students becoming involved in efforts like this so that we can see a noticeable change in culture
as it shifts towards a more eco-friendly stage.
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