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Rhetorical Views of
Business WritingWill Kurlinkus
1.8.13
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Rhetoric
The faculty of observing, in any given case, the available
means ofpersuasion.Aristotle
The economics of attentionRichard Lanham
Kairos
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EthosCharacter. Credibility: How the texts you create, the
style
you write in, the design you use, the clothes you wear allcreate
a persona in the mind of your audience that
influences what they believe (or dont) about your
message.
Reflexive Design: All about message, about culture,about the
meaning of the product or its usethe personal
remembrances something evokesDonald Norman
It is impossible to design a watch that onlytells time.
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Businesses Core Values
Moral Universes
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What does ethos look like in
business writing?
What does a business document look like compared to a
regular document?
Is business an ethos?
What types of personas might a document create and how?
Spelling and grammar?
What else?
Think about writing an email as well to a stodgy professor
asking for an
extension on a project. What type of persona would you want to
create
and what type would you want to avoid? How would you do
this?
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PathosTypes of Emotion
Affect: Someones bodily reaction to an event.Emotion: When
someone reflects on affect and attributes a culturalcause to it.
Emotion touches on ethos more than affect does becauseemotion
involves reflection whereas affect doesnt.
Pathos: The manipulation of emotion and affect.
Visceral design is what nature doeswe are exquisitely tuned
toreceive powerful emotional signals from the environment.Whenwe
perceive something as pretty, that judgment comes directlyfrom the
visceral levelDonald Norman
Look, feel, sound: Color, curve.
The Ideal reaction of a customer when looking at a product:
1. I want itPathos/Visceral
2. What does it do
3. How much does it cost
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How might you create and control emotion
in a business writing document?
How does one create brand loyalty?
What would you do if you had an angry
client?
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Logos
The logical appeal. Like ethos and pathos, logos will varyfrom
audience to audience. Is the information sound?Does this make
sense? Can I use this? Is thisunderstandable?
Information+Access: You have a set of information you
want to get across to someone and you have to know howto deliver
that information in a way that people willunderstand.
Usability:A document or product that does what isrequired and is
understandable may still not be useable.(Think about instruments
like the piano, guitar, violin).
Brings together the designers model (the idea/messageyou have in
your head) and the users model (what youraudience is expecting)
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