Rhetorical figures have always been present in graphic design, accompanied by typography, advertising photography and branding. It is important to understand the verbal and visual context of each of these, in order to effectively deconstruct the visual messages and enrich the design with greater meaning through convincing concepts.
Transmit visual messages immediately, is the purpose of graphic design. Text is not always the best way to communicate information; that is why the images are more persuasive and often emit a new meaning through visual rhetoric.
Using rhetorical figures helps to play with the meaning of the images going beyond a literal meaning. In the bombardment of graphic communication, rhetoric helps to convey more sensations and to give new meanings through the senses in order to attract the attention of the viewing public.
In this article we share the creative work of various designers to explain 8 examples of figures of speech and how established resources are conveyed through design, advertising and photography.
Antithesis
Attempts to express an opposition between two terms or concepts. Its objective is to highlight an idea by mentioning its contrast.
Ellipsis
Attempts to express an opposition between two terms or concepts. Its objective is to highlight an idea by mentioning its contrast.
Euphemism
Use of sweetening to hide the crudeness or vulgarity of a composition that is socially considered offensive or in poor taste.
Hyperbaton
Alteration of the syntactic order that is considered habitual and logical in a composition.
Hyperbole
It consists of exaggerating representation, offering a disproportionate vision of what it says or represents.
Metonymy
Designate one thing with the name of another based on a relationship of dependency, chance, origin or succession, existing between the meanings of both terms.
Metaphor
Reality that is expressed to refer to something through another meaning that bears a certain relationship or similarity.
SimiL
Use the resource of comparison or similarity between terms. There is no situation like in the metaphor.
Conclusion
Rhetorical figures and their application in verbal and visual communication are of great help to contextualize certain meanings that we want to convey through emotions and feelings. They are effective for improving graphic conceptualization processes in design.
Source: G-tech design
Partial writing and editing: Sebastian Zuñiga
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