English 1010

Visual Assignment

Rough draft due: Friday, Nov. 11

Final draft due: Wednesday Nov. 16



Purpose: the purpose of this assignment is to look at images critically, and to practice writing about abstract concepts.





Overview: Your primary task is to compare related images, describing them in detail, and then providing us with a conclusion that creates a synthesis of your observations.



Here are some possible applications:



- Compare images used by different parties of a particular campaign



- Analyze album covers for a specific band, over time



- Analyze the use of images in advertising. Specifically:



How are ads targeted towards different audiences?



How do the advertisements in a particular magazine reflect their target demographic?



How is the same product presented in different magazines?



You may also analyze a website, using the same methods. For example, you could look at a website for a corporation and try to determine who their imagined audience is, based on the images used on their site.



Another possibility: Look at ads for a particular product, then create your own advertisement that breaks with conventions.



Page 226 has a checklist for analyzing images. You may also find the discussion of marketing segments on page 228 useful.





Please put all of your notes, images and drafts on your weblog as you work on this paper.