In an “An Introduction to and Strategies for Multimodal Composing” by Melanie Gagich, she breaks communication into five parts. Gagich does this in order for her audience to get a better idea of a multimodal project. The first part is the visual mode. She states, “-refers to what an audience can see, such as moving and still images, colors, and alphabetical text size and style”. Some people when learning are visual learners rather then listening and obtain information that way. For example I learn efficiently when someone demonstrates for me. The second mode Gagich explains is linguistic mode. For example, a five paragraph essay relies on linguistic mode because its alphabetic text; could be spoken as well. Spatial being the third mode is how a “text deals with space”. Its correlation on how other modes are arranged, organized, contrasted, and emphasized in a text. The mode apparent in delivery of speeches in the ways speakers give gestures in their face or body movements is the gestural mode. This mode is often seen in speeches and videos to get their point across to the audience. What a audience can or cannot hear refers to the aural mode. Gagich states, “A podcast exemplifies the aural mode because of its reliance on sound”.
Gagich gives these steps to help students gain literacy skills. This gives students the opportunity in the multimodal community and for real life scenarios as well as digital literacy.
Klein & Shackelford
In, “Beyond Black on White: Document Design and Formatting in the Writing Classroom“, Michael J. Klein & Kristi L. Shackelford speak on how to make writing more enjoyable for the author. They state, “An often-overlooked element of design is the visual treatment of text itself”. I believe this to be true because if the author is not making it the least bit enjoyable for themself, the audience will not either. She gives out other examples like images, alignment and even repetition. This allows expression for the author and that will stand out to the viewer. Applying these designs organizes the media to allow the piece to be comfortable for the reader.
From these two articles, I learned a great deal about how to make my writing better and more enjoyable to not just the reader but myself. This will allow me I believe to be more efficient and consistent within my writing.
Class blog: https://eng2020.chrisfriend.us/blog/category/technology/document-design/
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