A picture is worth a thousand words, a phrase we’ve heard countless times, and also true. This saying aligns with what Michael J. Klein and Kristi L. Shackelford discuss in their article Beyond Black on White: Document Design and Formatting in the Writing Classroom. They emphasize that while the message of a paper is important, the appearance of the paper is also important as to grab the reader’s attention. They highlight that writing is a multimodal process, combining textual and visual to communicate effectively. As Klein and Shackelford state, “When you are creating, don’t think of design features as only images. Remember that visual design applies to the style of the text you use to convey ideas.” So, while it’s great to use visuals in your writing, it’s also important to choose visuals that best suit the type of writing you’re working on. After reading the article, I was reminded of the time I used to incorporate visuals into my writing.
Back in elementary school, when we had projects based on the lessons we were learning, we were given the choice to either create a PowerPoint presentation or write a short paper. Since I was still grasping how to use PowerPoint, I wrote papers instead. However, I would always add pictures to my papers because I thought they added a bit of pizzazz and helped visualize what I was writing about. While my teachers thought it was cute, they also encouraged me by pointing out how great it was to include pictures that correlated with my paper’s content. So, I kept doing it.
When I got to middle school, I stopped adding visuals because I was told it was irrelevant and unprofessional in academic writing. I was instructed to stick to proper writing formats, like MLA. Visuals were only acceptable in research papers, such as graphs or charts, and even then, I avoided using them because I was scared to add them.
Melanie Gagich’s An Introduction to and Strategies for Multimodal Composing emphasizes the importance of multimodal literacy in writing, especially as technology has expanded the ways we create and consume information. And it’s true! I’ve noticed that in my previous classes, many of my professors offered “creative options”, that’s how they called it, for finals. These included creating art pieces, making videos, writing songs, or doing podcasts. The alternative was the “safe” choice (in my eyes) of writing a five-page paper. I always chose the paper because of what I was taught in middle school, which made me hesitant to be creative with projects.
This semester, I’m trying to be open to incorporating visuals into my work and being more creative, especially since my professors are encouraging it. For example, with the upcoming remixed essay assignment, I’m considering stepping out of my comfort zone. Maybe I’ll create a poster or write a poem using pictures. Who knows? I’ll just have to see where my ideas take me.
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