Visual Rhetoric

Both No Seconds and The Last Meal Project addressed the same issue, but approached the issue in different ways visually. Although both websites included a picture of the last meal chosen by each inmate, there was one visual difference that stood out to me.  The Last Meal Project included a picture of the prisoner.  I think including the picture made the author’s argument much more personalized because the reader was able to get a glimpse of that particular person’s final moments.  This author seemed to be targeting the readers’ emotions by including pictures of the inmates.  However, the author of this website seemed to have gotten carried away with visual rhetoric.  All the colored text, special backgrounds, messy font, and overlapping pictures were visually overwhelming. I also did not like the random “fun facts” thrown throughout the slides. In my opinion, these aspects made the argument less compelling because it was distracting and the actual argument seemed to be hidden under all of this extra design.

I found the No Seconds website’s argument more compelling for multiple reasons.  This author chose to include one important piece of information…the crime committed.  If these people received a death sentence, then as the reader I would like to know why.  The crime committed is an essential piece of information when discussing the death penalty.  Also, the visual aspects of No Seconds were much more “to the point” and plain.  Although this doesn’t sound aesthetically pleasing, it fit the topic of discussion which is a very serious subject.  The author did choose to use a messy font but it was balanced out by the use of a black color.  Also, I thought the pictures this author included supported the argument better than The Last Meal Project because it was one single photograph with all the same information. But, this high quality photograph made the food seem as though it was placed right in front of you and that you were now the prisoner. This allowed the reader to relate with the prisoner on a personal level.  Overall, the simplicity of this website allowed the reader to focus on the argument not the pictures and fancy fonts.