visual analysis #2

Running Head: VISUAL ANALYSIS OF THE BETTER HOMES & GARDENS BROCHURE

1

Visual Analysis of the Gary Greene Better Homes and Gardens Tri-fold Brochure

Jelilat Adesiyan

University of Houston-Downtown

November 05, 2014

VISUAL ANALYSIS OF THE BETTER HOMES & GARDENS BROCHURE 2

Introduction

In this paper, I will be analyzing the Gary Greene better homes and gardens real estate tri-fold brochure. The artifact is

created in a three page portrait format. The front and back of each page is utilized in order to serve its rhetorical concerns to its

fullest degree (i.e. it has six pages in total). The brochure uses a variety of colors and images (sign, representational, and

informational), data displays, and free standing text in an attempt to fulfill its rhetorical concerns (See Figure 1 & 2).

Figure 1: Inside Panel of the brochure

Figure 2: Outside Panel of the brochure


Rhetorical Background

The brochure’s purpose is to persuade a potential seller to contract their home to Gary

Greene’s real estate company for sale. The title of the brochure is “Strategies to Get Your Home

Sold”. It is intended to be used as a fully informational reference booklet that can be carried

around. This brochure is for advertising and informational purposes only.

Method

I will assess the brochure in order to prove the overall ineffectiveness of the visual

design. In analyzing the brochure, I will discuss five of the design principles it utilizes, images,

color and the four levels of design it employs. The four levels of design are the intra, inter, extra

and supra levels. Each level has three coding modes. The presence of design elements

contributes to the weight of the coding modes present in each level of design. The five design

principles I will be utilizing are gestalt principles of similarity, closure, and the support design

principles of movement, rhythm, and repetition.

Thesis

It is my opinion that when the brochure pages are assessed in respect to the images, color,

design principles and levels of design present in it, the brochure’s overall visual design will be

found ineffective. One of the reasons I find the visual design ineffective is the lack of a

consistent theme. The front page, using images and color creates a theme suggestive of a sedate

earthy tone. The front page of a document usually sets the tone for the whole document,

especially in the cases of small documents like a brochure. The rest of the brochure pages deviate

from the sedate earthy tone created by the introductory page. There are mismatched font

treatments present in the same section. The brochure also uses several font types and treatment.


As I’ll later fully develop, on an intra, inter, extra, and supra level, the document also needs to be

further improved. The presence of these inconsistences lead me to conclude that the brochure has

an overall ineffective visual design.

The importance of Design Principles

Evans & Thomas (2013) define design principles as “a structure for combining the

common elements of design by serving as the relationship between the parts or design elements

involved” (p. 4). Design elements are the functioning parts of a document’s visual design.

Design principles unite the various design elements on a given page and assigns them a purpose.

Design elements are already working on a document anyway, but design principles ascribe them

a stated purpose.

Naming design principles bestows upon it its place as an important part of visual design.

People who do not know the name of a design principle still use it; but by naming the effect of

the design elements on a page, that is calling it a design principle, they acknowledge that the

design elements are working together as a cohesive unit rather than as a lone wolf. Kimball

(2013) refers to design principles as lore. He defines lore as “anecdotal, implicit, and often using

design principles and claim to rely only on instinct and artistic sensibilities (p.4). Some study

participants stated that did not use design principles and yet as the study progressed, Kimball

(2013) was able to collect information regarding the terms that designers often used to refer to

their design process. These terms were terms associated with visual design. This indeed proves

that whether designers know it or not, they exercise the functions of various design principles

when using various design elements. Now that it has been established that design principles are


being used in every given document whether unknowingly or knowingly, it stands to reason that

they must be an important part of document design.

Design principles are very important because they affect the internal and external

relationships of a document design. Designers make decisions every time they include a design

element on a page. They question whether their design decisions are the right decisions for the

rhetorical situation at hand. In the case of the Gary Greene tri-fold brochure, the rhetorical

situation demands that the design take into account the audience, context and purpose of the

brochure. That is, who the tri-fold brochure is intended for, how it is going to be used and what it

is going to be used for. Without the use of design principles, a designer would not know how to

organize the design elements to best suit the rhetorical situation.

Defining Design Terminology

There are several design principles in use in the creation of the brochure. However, I

chose to focus on the gestalt principles of similarity, closure, and the support design principles of

movement, rhythm, repetition. I believe that the similarity, closure, movement, rhythm, and

repetition utilized in the visual design of the brochure can be further improved. In order to define

the gestalt design principles I will be assessing within the document, I chose to reference Fitz &

Moore’s (1993) definition. They are as followed;

o Similarity: “[…] suggests that units that resemble each other in shape, size, color and/or

direction will be seen together as a homogenous grouping” (n.p).

o Closure: “refers to the “closed areas of a document that are self-sustaining and stable

organizations” (n.p).


In order to define the support design principles, I will be referencing the definitions put

forth by Evans & Thomas (2013). They are as follows;

o Movement: The “creation of implied direction and rhythmic path with the placement

elements as manifested through the eye of the viewer” (p. 14).

o Rhythm: “an alternating repetition of shape and space, or a planned movement of

elements in a composition” (p.14).

o Repetition: “a pattern of related or juxtaposed elements” (p.15).

Several elements are also utilized in the visual design of the brochure. Design elements

such as shape, line, size, space, type, value, and color contribute to the composition of the Gestalt

and support principles. These principles then contribute to the ineffectiveness of the visual

design of the tri-fold brochure as a whole.

As stated earlier, the levels of designs for examining visual language are the intra, inter,

extra and supra levels. Kostelnick & Roberts (2011) refer to the first two levels, the intra and

inter levels, as levels that have to do with text design (p. 81). In order to define these levels, I

will associate them with their use in the brochure. They are as follows;

o Intra: In the brochure, the intra consists of the punctuation marks, the type styles and

sizes, as well as the treatment of the characters present. Were they bolded, italicize, or

bolded and italicized? (p. 81).

o Inter: The inter level in the brochure, deals with the numbering system, the headings, and

the spacing distribution of words (p. 81).

o Extra: The extra level has to do with non-textual elements which in the Gary Greene tri-

fold brochure consists of the horizontal bar chart, the front page image, the home listing


distribution chart, the multi media exposure magazine images, the CARTUS logo, the

guarantee contract image, the flower chart, the social media icons, as well as the image of

the map on the back page. (p. 81).

o Supra: The supra level “refers to the large-scale design” of the tri-fold brochure such as

the orientation of the tri-fold brochure, placement of data displays and pictures, the page

size and thickness (p. 81).

Each design level has three coding modes, textual, spatial and graphic. Kostelnick & Roberts

(2011) define coding modes as the “raw materials of design, […] –the words and numbers,

the graphic elements (lines, texture, shading etc.), and the spatial positioning of the elements

on a page “(p. 81).

There brochure also uses the three types of images. There are three categories of images,

representational imagery, informational imagery and signs. Evans & Thomas (2013) define

them as follows;

o Representational images: Images that “replicate the real world in a descriptive

manner using objects that are defined and are namable referents to the real world (p.

309).

o Informational imagery: Images that “guide and inform people in situations where

words do not do an adequate job” (p. 110).

o Signs or icons: “images or words that have been stripped down to their simplest form

in order to emphasize its most salient points” (Evans & Thomas, 2013, p. 103).

In the following pages, I will be analyzing the document using these terminologies.


Analysis

The images used in the brochure come across as ineffective due to the deviation of theme

from the established pattern. The brochure utilizes the three types of images in an attempt to

create an effective visual design. Images are a persuasive tool and in a brochure like this can set

the tone of the document. It can also dictate the manner in which the document information will

be received by the audience. Images function on the extra plane on the levels of design. In

regards to the representational images, the brochure uses three to make referents to the real world

(See Figure 3 below).

Figure 3: the three representational images


The front page employs a representational image that should supposedly set the tone of

the entire document (See Figure 4 below). The front page is an important part of a document

because it can set the tone of the entire document, and using a representational image like the one

below can further that impression.

The front page pictured above is an inviting representational image whose message might be

familiar to the audience. The image uses the ‘realness’ in an attempt to convince the audience

that what they’re seeing could be a possibility for them if they give their business to the Gary

Greene Company. As Evans & Thomas (2013) write, “the realism in a representational image is

what helps to convince the audience members that what they are seeing is or could be within the

Figure 4: Front page of brochure with inviting representational image


realm of their experience” (p. 90). Representational images because of their realism can be used

to elicit emotional responses in the audience. The image above is supposed to evoke in the

audience a feeling of companionship and trust, not only between the couple, but between the

couple & the Gary Greene real estate company. This front page seems to stand alone in its

message when viewed with the document as a whole. The colors of the fonts that accompany the

image also work in tandem to send this message to the audience.

Color, like images, functions on the extra plane of design levels. Color is important in

design because it increases the emotional response of the audience. It can make them happy, sad,

angry, nostalgic, and can present the mood that should accompany a rhetorical situation when

used in conjunction with other elements and principles. As Evans & Thomas (2013) write, color

“heightens a viewer’s perception and intensifies emotional and psychological reactions” (p .123).

Certain colors can create certain moods, and when a designer understands the power of a certain

color, the use of that color can intensify the purpose of a rhetorical situation. “Color creates

mood, enhances content, composition and communication” (Evans & Thomas, 2013, p. 162).

Color can give a composition a stronger voice.

Judging from the colors brown, green and yellow from figure 4, the theme is supposed to

be earthy and natural. Green is supposed to represent growth, yellow sunlight and brown the

earth. With the conjunction of the Greene present in the name of the company, a lush

environment that represents growth is expected (Evans & Thomas, 2013, p. 149-150). What isn’t

signified nor expected based on the use of the establishing colors from the front page is a tropical

theme. The next page of the brochure uses colors that don’t match the initially established mild

and earthy tones. The colors used in the subsequent pages are tropical colors (See Figure 5

below).


Figure 5: The blue, green and orange color variations

This is quite different from the mild and earthy tone of the front page. Tropical colors are

colors that invite the audience to think of calm and bright beaches. The variations of blue, orange

and green used in the above image seem to perpetuate that idea. The repetition of the colors used

in the front page is expected, what is not is the introduction of the new colors; turquoise blue,

orange and lime green. The introduction of these new colors violates the support principle of

repetition. The orange color is only used twice later but the lime green is used for numbering

purposes as well as once more to color a character with a huge font (See Figure 6 below). The

yellow highlight (color) is also introduced later in the brochure (See Figure 6 also).


Figure 6: Repetition of the lime green color & the introduction of the yellow highlight (color)

The introduction of the yellow highlight color, a color different from the yellow of the

front page contributes to the violation of the repetition principle. This contributes in part to the

overall ineffectiveness of the visual design of the brochure.

The numerous amount of types used in the brochure also renders it visually ineffective.

On the intra level of the brochure, the type style is on the textual sublevel, the size of the

documents and the space taken up by the characters are on the spatial sublevel while the

treatment of the fonts operate on the graphic level. There are a minimum of three fonts used in

the brochure (See Figure 7 & 8 below). The characters are either bolded, regular or italicized.

Due to the treatment of the characters, it is hard to tell precisely how many fonts are used in this

document. This uncertainty also contributes to the ineffectiveness of the brochure.


Figure 7: The use of various front treatments on a page

In the figure above, at first glance, it appears as if a variety of fonts have been used. The colors

are all different. In this page alone, there are different shades of green, tinted orange and orange,

black, and turquoise blue. If one used the color pyramid to choose a color palette, only two

colors at a time would pop up. The color pyramid is a color system that can assist in the creation

of a color scheme (Evans & Thomas, 2013, p. 129). In the figure below, the highlighted

characters have also been treated in a different manner from the previously established character


treatment style.

Figure 8: Further use of various front treatments in the brochure

The first image of the three images has a different sized font and is colored lime-green. The

second image has a different font and is colored yellow while the third image has a different

color, font, and is also italicized. This gives the document a cluttered look and violates the gestalt

principle of similarity. The middle image which actually functions as the front page seems to be

widely different in theme due to the color and size of image used. The numerous amount of types

and treatment in the brochure altogether reduces its visually ineffectiveness.

Another image category used in the brochure is that of the informational category. The

brochure uses charts and maps to display data. There are two charts and one map present (See

Figure 9 below).


Figure 9: Informational images present

The diagrammatic illustration used in the second page of the brochure detracts from the

visual ineffectiveness. The first informational imagery is a horizontal cloister bar that instead of

having a y or x axis just has percentages. When an expectant customer opens the brochure for the

first time, the first thing seen is the diagrammatic rendering of the bars that illustrate the

percentages of the information sources buyers use to find a home. When read on its own, it is

self-sustaining. When the audience moves on to the first numbered item, due to the placement

and title of the first numbered item, a relationship is immediately visualized. Whereas, based on

the placement and intellectual task that the brochure attempts to disseminate, the relationship is

not the one the reader would imagine. One can’t help but view the first numbered item in respect

to its intellectual task because of its highly visual look and that’s why its intellectual value must


be acknowledged as part of the visual analysis process. If the section with the diagrammatic

illustration is moved to beneath the first numbered item and above the second chart, and is

enclosed with a border, (maybe not even a border since the color also delineates it from the

numbered item) the rhetorical situation will be further served and proper movement will be

established (See Figure 8 & 9).

Figure 9: Disconnected relationship between number item and “How we promote your home” section

Evans & Thomas (2013) refer to movement as the “creation of implied direction and

rhythmic path with the placement elements as manifested through the eye of the viewer” (p. 14).

In figure 8, the implied direction is from the top to the side then to the bottom of the page. This

direction is implied based on the brightness of the color of the diagrammatical illustration,

because the color is the first element to draw the viewer’s eye. It is then followed by the

numbering which is further highlighted with the use of the bright lime green color. Although,


based on the intellectual task at hand, the number ‘1’ should have come first. The number ‘1’

itself implies hierarchy and dominance. When items are numbered, people expect to see number

1 on top rather than above the middle of the page unless there is preceding information needed.

In this case, I believe that the number ‘1’ could have stood first rather than to have been

preceded by bar especially with the title being ‘How we promote your home’, Not ‘how homes

are usually promoted’ or some other variation saying the same thing.

On the Inter level of design is the numbering system of the booklet. Graphically, the

numbers all have the same font and color treatment. This numbering system creates expectations.

On a textual, spatial and graphical coding level, these expectations create a rhythm for the

document (See figure 10 below).

Figure 10: The consistent numbering style and font treatment


The numbering system is a planned movement of the elements of color and font treatment for the

numbers. Visually, the topic sentence/ phrase that emphasize the point of the numbered section

in the brochure are not consistently characterized and this disturbs the rhythm of the booklet (See

Figure 10 below).

Figure 2: Inconsistent emphasis of main point in sentence

In the above image, there are two different font treatments as well as an added image to

one of the numbered lists, particularly number 4. This could be an attempt at emphasis but one

that is poorly rendered. In Figure 10 below, the number ‘1’ font is the same one used for the

number ‘4’ font. This further detracts from the effectiveness of the brochure’s visual design.


Figure 3: Implied direction due to similar font treatment and proximity to each other

Recommendations

Overall, I believe the brochure’s visual design is rendered ineffectively but there are still

several good uses of images and colors in the brochure. Choosing earthy tones was a genius

move because the name of the company had ‘Greene’ in it. The color scheme established by the

front page contributed to the ethos of the brochure, unfortunately, the designer deviated from that

color scheme and rendered the brochure visually ineffective because the new colors were so


different from what was expected due to earthy nature of the front page. Images already give

emphasis in this case especially because it is the first and only image on the page. In order to

keep consistency, one of either font treatments should have been chosen. Choosing one font

treatment would have improved consistency and created repetition as well as improved the

implied direction of the viewer. Based on the position and treatment of the number ‘4’ item and

its close proximity to the number ‘1’ item, the viewer’s eye is likely to follow that implied

direction from number ‘1’ straight to ‘4’rather than the ones implied by the order of the numbers

from 1 to 4. This further contributes to overall ineffectiveness of the visual design of the

brochure. As implied earlier, the diagrammatic illustration that depicted the percentages of the

information sources buyers use to find a home is misleading. It is only misleading, especially at

first glance, because it has some of the characteristics of a horizontal cloister bar. The lowest

percentage possible, 0%, is represented by the lightest of tints with the color becoming more

saturated in conjunction with the increase in percentage. Its persuasive power would be better

utilized with better closure and movement. Overall, a consistent type font and treatment and

better use of color could improve the effectiveness artifact’s visual design.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the brochure made of good use of signs and icons, the third image

category. In this booklet, social media company logos are used to signify to the audience that the

real estate company has an online presence (See Figure 12 below).


Figure 12: Social media icons that signify social media presence

These icons are understood globally as social media icons. Using them in conjunction

with the written links not only informed potential customers of the sites in which the real estate

company has an online presence, it also functioned as an immediate signifier to the audience.

On a supra level, the brochure functioned effectively, all the pages have the same border,

one of a grassy nature (See figure 13 below).


Figure 13: Consistent Grassy border

This border is on every single page and further contributes to the tone of the brochure as

an earthy one. Although this earthy tone is negated by the tropical colors that were later

introduced to the brochure.

On a supra–graphical level, the large size of the brochure pages as well as the abundance

of color, and the glossy texture of the brochure also contribute to the tone of the brochure. It

projects a friendly yet business like tone. The format of the brochure also establishes the

company as a serious yet down to earth company.


The brochure also has the Better Homes and Gardens logo and sometimes name in at

least three pages of the brochure (See Figure 14 below).

Figure 14: The various places in which the Better Homes and Gardens logos are used

This gives the document credibility because the Better Homes and Gardens Company is

already established as a premier company in the real estate market. Gary Greene is just a

subsidiary agent for the company.

I would recommend that one color tone should be chosen and used. Either use brown,

yellow and green, or use turquoise blue, orange and lime green. I would also recommend that the


fonts shouldn’t be treated with quite so many modifications. Either stick with regular and bold or

regular or italics.

Overall, I stand with my initial assessment that the menu’s visual design is ineffective.

There are too many fonts and too many font styles. The color scheme uses too many colors that

have different meanings when used together at the same time. Similar font sizes use different

colors, the introduction of new colors violates the support principle of repetition, and the order of

some information could be improved. I believe that the similarity, closure, movement, rhythm,

and repetition utilized in the visual design of the brochure can be improved.

All in all, the use of images and colors in the brochure contribute heavily to the

ineffectiveness of the brochure’s visual design.


References

Evans, P., & Thomas, M. (2013). Exploring the elements of design (Third ed.). New York:

Cengage Learning.

Gary Greene Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate [Tri-fold brochure]. (n.d.) N.P: n.p

Kimball, M. A. (2013). Visual Design Principles: An Empirical Study of Design Lore. Journal of

Technical Writing and Communication, 43(1), 3-41. Retrieved September 21, 2014,

from http://dx.doi.org/10.2190/TW.43.1.b

Kostelnick, C., & Roberts, D. D. (2011). Designing visual language: strategies for professional

communicators (2nd ed., pp. 3-45). Boston: Longman.

Moore, P., & Fitz, C. (1993). Using Gestalt theory to teach document design and graphics.

Technical Communication Quarterly, 2(4), 389- 410. Retrieved October 23, 2014, from

https://bb.uhd.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-947715-dt-content-rid-6898404_1/xid-6898404_1

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