The Rhetoric of Interface Design

What do the following examples
have to do with teaching writing?

They show that good interface design,
like good writing,
requires rhetorical awareness

 Encouraging students to see the value of
“rhetorical awareness” in their writing can be
difficult
 Especially given that very little in their 20+
years of writing for school has required it

STUDENT BELIEFS
ABOUT WRITING
 Purpose: learning
 Audiences: obligated to
read
 “Design” considerations:
following the handbook
format is sufficient
 Writing is "student-
centered"
REALITIES OF WRITING
BEYOND SCHOOL
 Purpose: communication
 Audiences: need to be
enticed to read and believe
 “Design” plays a significant
role in audience response
 Writing is “reader-
centered”

Connect rhetorical awareness to familiar reading
situations: digital interfaces
 "Interface" - any space where users interact with
technology, typically for the purpose of reading and
writing
Both writers and designers need to know how to:
 anticipate the needs and expectations of end users (or
readers)
 design interfaces (or messages) that will meet these needs

 Good writing, like good interface design, is:
 usable: easy to comprehend
 persuasive: influences attitudes or behaviors
 Examples:
 Document design
 Blog posts
 Web sites
 Physical and software interfaces

 Gather sample resumes and show each to students
for 10 seconds
 Ask them to record:
 what they remember about the candidate
 their impressions of the candidate
 Ask them to study the samples more closely
 To identify traits that make some more usable and
persuasive than others

 no document design =
 can't remember anything
 rhetorically clueless document design =
 remembered the wrong things due to misplaced emphasis
 rhetorically aware document design =
 remembered the right things
 had a more positive impression of writer

Strategic use of formatting elements
 headers and sub-headers to reflect hierarchical
importance
 font size and weight as well as font type
 bulleted lists to emphasize key qualifications
 balanced overall layout (not too dense or sparse)
General observation: if you could've prepared this on a
typewriter, you're doing something wrong!

 Gather sample blog posts and show each for 20
seconds
 Ask students to record:
 How likely they would be to choose that post to read and
respond to
 Their impressions of the person who wrote the post
 After closer study, ask them to identify:
 The traits that make some posts more usable and

Prefer to read posts that are "usable" and "persuasive”
 Engaging subject lines, short and focused paragraphs,
helpful formatting, good use of web conventions
Steer clear of poorly designed messages
 Appear harder to comprehend
 Convey impression of disorganized writer
Revelation for some: what they prefer to read is not
how they typically write

 Gather sample web sites and show each to students
for 20 seconds
 Ask them to record:
 Which sites they’d most likely gravitate towards
 Their impressions of the site’s credibility
 After closer study, ask them to identify:
 The traits that make some sites more usable and

Not a sample web site but a sample teaching tool
From: xkcd.com

 More likely to choose and to trust sites that meet
principles of usability and persuasiveness
 Similar to Dave Underwood’s principle of good
visual design:
 Made you look
 Made you stay
 Made you believe

Familiar designs are more inviting and user-friendly
because they meet audience expectations regarding:
 Layout
 Navigation
 Text formatting
 Conventions
Good design also reflects typical reading habits

TypicalWeb Page Layout
From: webstyleguide.com/wsg3

Typical Blog Sidebars
What rhetorical purpose do these serve?

What should you put in the space
opposite the “golden triangle”?
TypicalWeb Reading Habits

Menus and menu items are in familiar spots
 top menu most common
 "home" button on left
 easy access to about, contact, and search
 external links are on sidebar, not top
Menu items reflect
 logical site structure
 interests of target audience

 Students start to understand
 the importance of following conventions (and the
consequences of not doing so)
 the rhetorical power of logical organization
 Students see writing as "creating a user experience”
 Peer review becomes a process of "user testing”
 For usability and persuasiveness

Principle: Rhetorical awareness extends beyond web
sites to:
 The design of spaces and objects
 Software interfaces
Activity: Ask students to analyze examples
 how they function as “messages” with “writers” and
“audiences”
 how they illustrate concepts of usability and
persuasiveness

Handles are
for pulling…
right?
From baddesigns.com

What “reading problem” does this design address?

So… do I upload by
creating?

These activities use concepts from “interface design”
to help students meet the learning goals common to
our discipline:
 rhetorical knowledge
 critical thinking
 genre conventions
 digital literacy
End result: Students see "rhetorical awareness" as a
concept useful well beyond the classroom

Be sure to practice what you preach:
follow the principles of good design
in all your course materials!

 References and resources, along with a copy
of this presentation, to a post on:
http://digitalwriting101.net/teaching
 See also:
 Rhetoric of Presentations
http://digitalwriting101.net/content/tips-rhetorically-
effective-presentations/

The Rhetoric of Interface Design

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