Rhetorics of Visual Representation
Rhetoric and Communications · 3 hrs Lecture
Offered: Fall Or Winter
RHET-3139 prerequisites
We couldn't read this course's prerequisites into a chain. The wording is under “Requisite courses” below.
Where RHET-3139 counts
Counts toward 6 more as one option among several, not as a course you must take:
Read from the departments' own calendar pages, where 50 of 208 programs are only partly machine-readable, so treat these as a minimum rather than the full list. Confirm with an academic advisor.
Description
This course provides a systematic and comprehensive account of the grammar and rhetoric of visual design. By looking at the formal structures of design - colour, perspective, arrangement, and materiality - students examine the ways in which images communicate meaning. This course draws on a considerable range of examples to demonstrate the differences and the similarities between the grammar of language and that of visual communication. Given the influence and sophistication of visual texts and their relative neglect in scholarship, visual critique is important and necessary.
Requisite courses
Any section of Academic Writing or exemption from the writing requirement and completion of 24 credit hours [prerequisite(s)].
Restrictions
Students may not hold credit for this course and RHET-2139.
From the 2026-27 undergraduate calendar. Always verify details on WebAdvisor or with an academic advisor before registering.