To date, I have a good handle on C.R.A.P., or maybe an idea of how to apply the principles. My thoughts about C.R.A.P. were limited until I started reading about “C.R.A.P.” principles in Robin Williams book, Non-Designer’s Design & Type Books (13). Understanding the acronym is easy, but spreading the C.R.A.P. around by design is another. I struggle with the learning curve for good C.R.A.P. in design, and hope I get better at spreading the C.R.A.P.
My last project had firm, solid C.R.A.P. principles, but I failed to hold true to the C.R.A.P. rules. Had I applied the visual images of the C.R.A.P. long enough; my audience might have been won over to my C.R.A.P. persuasion. However, I assumed that my C.R.A.P. images could stand-alone. According to Charles Hill (The Psychology of Rhetorical Images), long-term persuasion messages needed to draw a parallel with the relationship with long-term strategies (36). I created my presentation based on visual effects over content, oh C.R.A.P! I failed to take into consideration how the effects of my flashy C.R.A.P. would possibly be short lived. Hill goes on to state, “an emotional appeal will often result in a new conviction or acceptance of a controversial claim only as long as the triggered emotions last” (39). Had I applied that strategy with my C.R.A.P. principles, my presentation would have been more effective. Surely, this meant my content was not well thought out C.R.A.P.
If I have learned anything, it is that C.R.A.P. principles need to share a relationship with any space, medium, or form. One thing I truly missed was the immediate verbal context. According to Birdsell and Groarke (Toward the Theory of Visual Argument), the verbal context acts as an interpreter to the images (6). I learned that without the proper context to back up my images, my presentation doesn’t mean C.R.A.P!
Identity Theft!
I chose to Google “Google” to see what this entity is all about. The commonality of “Google” has seeped into our everyday lives. The mighty entity falls under the trope of identity. The link, http://www.google.org, is fascinating. Their identity is rather clever, a sort of “hypostasized” world if you will. Following the links, one can look to “Google Flu Trends,” or “Google Power Meter.” If you’re not sick of the “third person” analogies, just keep clicking! The term Google is a world with a world of Google! What? According to Ilana Snyder (Page to Screen), identity trope pushes connectivity across domains, cultures, associations, and through people as well (115). It is as if Goggle has multiple personalities! They cast this incredible net of unity by naming everything Google. Google is a household name, possibly in every country that has the Internet. When you surf Google Trends, do you get trends or Googlized [sic] trends? I think I made up the word Googlized! [sic]. Google could really identify with most of Snyder’s tropes as they have normalized the contextual framework of the web.
Google is not the only troped-up [sic] entity out on the web. Chevy Trucks rocks the term “hyperbole” with their official website (http://www.chevy.com). After turning my calendar to “Truck Month,” I found there really is a “thirteenth” month. Chevy has “cornered” the market on truck sales through their allusive tactics. Does truck month fall after the new tax year? Clicking on the link (Read Our Stories), one would think they are all related at Chevy! This passage came from their story section, “Some "toys" used to abuse parts are highly technical: machines that mimic vibration or glorified refrigerators and microwaves to test how parts react to extremes.” What? How can anyone mimic vibrations like a “glorified refrigerator?” Their stories follow the same rhetoric as the advertisements, and one would deduce they make the stuff up! I really wish someone would invent a “Homework Free Zone” at the end of “Truck Month” so I can follow the “Google Trends” and have more time to work on my “Glorified Refrigerator.”
Works Cited
Birdsell, David, and Leo Groarke. “Toward a Theory of Visual
Argument.” Paul Muhlhauser, Ph,Doctor. 1996. Web 17 Sept. 2010.
http://www.paulmuhlhauser.org/355/Readings/birdandgroar.pdf
Google.org - Google Technology-Driven Philanthropy. 2010. Web. 30 Sept. 2010.
Hill, Charles. "The Psychology of Rhetorical Images." Paul Muhlhauser, Ph,Doctor. 2004. Web 11 Sept. 2010.
“Our Stories." 2010 Cars, SUVs, Trucks, Crossovers & Vans | Chevrolet. 2010. Web. 30 Sept. 2010.
Snyder, Ilana. Page To Screen. Paul Muhlhauser, Ph,Doctor. 2001. Web 24 Sept. 2010. www.paulmuhlhauser.org/475/Readings/Burbules.pdf
Williams, Robin. The Non-designer's Design & Type Books: Design
and Typographic Principle for the Visual Novice; Two Award-winning, Best-selling Books on Design and Type. Berkeley, CA: Peachpit, 2008. Print.
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