Chapters 1-2

The first two chapters of Writer/Designer: A Guide to Making Multimodal Projects explore how to recognize, define, and analyze multimodality. Chapter 1 offers concise definitions and engaging examples of the linguistic, visual, aural, spatial, and gestural modes. To illustrate the gestural mode, for example, the authors picture newscasts from famous reporters Katie Couric and Brian Williams to argue that Katie’s “body position was an attempt to be more approachable than other anchors, but her more personable gestures translated to more gender-stereotyped ideas of femininity” (13). While offering a tidbit of cultural knowledge, the example is memorable and thought provoking. As the authors explain, recognizing and describing multimodality is the first step in creating multimodal work.

Chapter 2 is a quick, yet effective review of rhetorical situation and rhetorical analysis as they pertain to multimodal texts. The authors break down concepts of rhetorical analysis such as audience purpose, context, author and genre—analyzing a parody of Psy’s “Gangnam Style” viral video is fun for this approach! Then, design choices such as emphasis, contrast, organization, alignment, and proximity are defined and exemplified with real-world examples of Twitter profiles and educational websites. In the classroom, students will enjoy such relatable examples, and apply transferable skills to their own multimodal projects.