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Writer/Designer

Third Edition ©2022 Cheryl Ball; Jennifer Sheppard; Kristin Arola

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Essential support for multimodal composing.

Grounded in multimodal theory and supported by practice in the classroom, Writer/Designer streamlines the process of composing multimodally by helping students make decisions about content across a range of modes, genres, and media from words to images to movement. Students learn by doing as they write for authentic audiences and purposes. With more and diverse real-world and student examples, the new edition illustrates how multimodal composition can amplify historically underrepresented voices and help to enact change.
This brief, accessible text is designed to be flexible, supporting core writing assignments and aligning with course goals in introductory composition or any course where multimodality matters.

Features

A process-focused approach introduces and illustrates key stages of multimodal composition while establishing clear connections to the writing process and to the practices students will actually use in creating their projects.

A central emphasis on design introduces and illustrates foundational concepts of design — contrast, organization, alignment, proximity, and more — to provide students the tools they need to develop multimodal texts.

Write/Design! Assignments in every Part One chapter help students dig into chapter concepts and scaffold students’ development of larger-scale projects. They ask students to complete assignments such as a genre conventions analysis for their chosen project, a proposal for developing and delivering their multimodal projects, and a report on the final project or draft. Write/Design! Options offer assignment options in classes where asking students to complete a large-scale, semester-long project may not be desirable. They ask students to complete activities such as a multimodal literacy narrative, rhetorical analysis of several multimodal texts of their choosing, and a genre analysis of visual arguments.

Touchpoint activities throughout each chapter prepare students to apply multimodal concepts from the book to small-stakes practice — either sample multimedia texts and scenarios (in Part One) or their own projects (in Part Two). Touchpoint activities teach students about practices such as examining modal affordances, analyzing project designs, learning about fair use and different kinds of Creative Commons licenses, developing practices for successful collaboration, and creating drafts of their projects through rapid prototyping techniques.

Case Studies highlight and analyze actual examples of multimodal texts, sourced from student writers/designers and professional publications. Case Studies offer in-depth analyses of an author’s composing processes that correspond to the stage of writing/designing outlined in that chapter. Case Studies also showcase how the design vocabulary or concepts presented in each chapter are put into practice in the design process. Example texts from Case Studies include a rhetorical and design analysis of a college website, and a student team’s pitch for an interactive museum app.

New to This Edition

More diverse, inclusive examples and images highlight new perspectives and the creative ways in which multimodal composition can amplify historically marginalized voices. Selections in the third edition span a variety of real-world write/design situations meant to raise awareness for social justice issues, including the Black Lives Matter movement, the Dakota Access Pipeline, LGBTQ+ representation, struggles faced by those with disabilities and chronic illness, and more.

More student examples showcase multimodal texts created by actual students in relatable rhetorical situations. While Writer/Designer emphasizes the value and impact that writer/designers compositions will have in the real world, the third edition packs in even more creative student models to guide authors as they write/design throughout their academic careers.

New Case Studies analyze timely and realistic examples of rhetorical situations, design choices, technological affordances, and the multimodal design process. New examples include a deep dive into a COVID-19 impact map in Chapter 1, and an analysis of Chemeketa Community Colleges website in Chapter 2.

New Write/Design Toolkit marginal callouts connect foundational concepts covered in Part One to relevant best practices included in Part Two: The Write/Design Toolkit. These marginal callouts encourage students to start thinking about important considerations -- like searching for and documenting sources, collaborating with others, technological affordances, and preparing for the multimodal afterlife -- early on in the design process.

“Writer/Designer takes the guesswork out of teaching multimodal composition. If you want to connect the work students are doing outside of the classroom with the writing you want them to accomplish inside the classroom, I highly recommend using this guidebook!”
--Heather Jordan, Bowling Green State University

“Because of its scaffolded project-based approach and myriad personal, professional, scholarly, and community-based examples of multimodal texts placed in rhetorical contexts, Writer/Designer has been my textbook recommendation to faculty since the first edition.”
--Crystal N. Fodrey, Moravian College

“Writer/Designer has made it much easier to integrate the WPA outcomes into our more primarily linguistic based comp courses because it is straightforward in explanation and guidance.”
--Sydney Darby, Chemeketa Community College

“Lightweight, clear, and the work of experienced teachers with a clear understanding of multimodal composition.”
--Fred Johnson, Whitworth University

“Writer/Designer accessibly unwraps multimodal communication and composition to help students better understand and also produce modern texts. It holds writing and designing together, revealing their processes as part of one another.”
--Sierra Mendez, The University of Texas at Austin

Writer/Designer

Cheryl Ball; Jennifer Sheppard; Kristin Arola

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Writer/Designer

Third Edition 2022

Cheryl Ball; Jennifer Sheppard; Kristin Arola

Preface for Instructors
Introduction for Students
PART ONE The Multimodal Process

1 What Are Multimodal Projects?
What Is Multimodal Composing?
Why Should Multimodal Composing Matter to You?
Writing/Designing as a Process

          The Typical Writing Process
          The Multimodal Composing Process
          Touchpoints
          ● TOUCHPOINT: Understanding Multimodal Processes

How Does Multimodality Work?

          Linguistic Mode
          Visual Mode
          Aural Mode
          Spatial Mode
          Gestural Mode

Understanding Modes, Media, and Affordances
CASE STUDY Mapping the Impact of COVID-19
Multimodal Affordances

● TOUCHPOINT: Mode, Media, and Affordance in Everyday Texts

WRITE/DESIGN! ASSIGNMENT: Mapping Your Multimodal Process

Write/Design! Option: Multimodal Literacy Narratives

2 How Does Rhetoric Work in Multimodal Projects?
Rhetoric and Multimodality
Analyzing a Rhetorical Situation

          Author
          Audience
          ● TOUCHPOINT: Analyzing Audience
          Purpose
          ● TOUCHPOINT: Analyzing Purpose
          Context
          ● TOUCHPOINT: Analyzing Context

Analyzing Design Choices

          Emphasis
          Contrast
          Color
          Organization
          Alignment
          Proximity
          ● TOUCHPOINT: Analyzing a Website’s Rhetorical Design Choices

Writing and Designing Rhetorically
CASE STUDY Analyzing the Chemeketa CC Website
WRITE/DESIGN! ASSIGNMENT: Designing a Rhetorical Analysis

Write/Design! Option: Writing a Rhetorical Analysis

3 Why Is Genre Important in Multimodal Projects?
Genre and Multimodality

Genre
Understanding Genre Conventions

Multimodal Genres: Defining the What and the How

          Static and Dynamic Genres
          Genre Structure and Design
          ● TOUCHPOINT: Finding Your Genre

Genre Analysis: Analyzing the What and the How

          Analyzing Genre Conventions
          Questions for Genre Analysis
          ● TOUCHPOINT: Analyzing Musical Genres

CASE STUDY Analyzing Multimodal Genres in Game Studies
What if the Genre Is Unclear?
WRITE/DESIGN! ASSIGNMENT: Analyzing Genre Conventions for Your Project

Write/Design! Option: Infographics as Visual-Argument Genres

4 How Do You Start a Multimodal Project?
What Are You Supposed to Produce?
Brainstorming Your Project Ideas

● TOUCHPOINT: Multimodal Brainstorming

Pitching Your Project
Designing Your Pitch

● TOUCHPOINT: Putting a Project Pitch Into Action

CASE STUDY Pitching an App for the National Gallery
Designing for Your Primary Audience
Drafting to Stakeholder Expectations

● TOUCHPOINT: Choosing a Draft Genre

Using the Feedback Loop

● TOUCHPOINT: Anticipating Feedback from Different Audiences

WRITE/DESIGN! ASSIGNMENT: Proposing to Get It All Done

Write/Design! Option: Project Timeline

5 How Do You Design and Revise with Multiple Audiences?
Designing with Your Collaborators

          Strategies for Successful Collaboration
          ● TOUCHPOINT: Write a Team Contract
          Collaborative Workflow Options
          ● TOUCHPOINT: Planning with a Team

Working Alone

● TOUCHPOINT: Working Alone Isnt Really Working Alone

Putting Together a Complete Draft for Your Primary Audience

Delivering Drafts for Peer Review
● TOUCHPOINT: Preparing Audiences for Feedback with a Delivery Plan

Peer Reviewing Multimodal Projects

          Read/View/Use the Text
          Evaluate the Text
          Provide Constructive and Specific Feedback
          ● TOUCHPOINT: Giving Feedback on a Rough Draft

CASE STUDY Revising an Advertisement Design with Stakeholder Feedback
Revising Your Multimodal Project

          Creating a Revision Plan
          Finalizing Your Project
          ● TOUCHPOINT: Revising Your Project

Creating Documentation for Your Stakeholders

          Collaborative Wiki
          In-Line Comments
          ● TOUCHPOINT: Creating a Style Guide

Reporting and Reflecting on Your Project
WRITE/DESIGN! ASSIGNMENT: Reporting on Your Project

Write/Design! Option: Reflecting on Your Project

PART TWO The Write/Design Toolkit
6 Working with Multimodal Assets and Sources
Collecting Assets

● TOUCHPOINT: Building an Asset List

Working with Multimodal Sources

          Find Credible Sources
          Evaluate Sources
          ● TOUCHPOINT: Annotating Credible Sources in an Asset List

          Copyright
          Fair Use
          Permissions
          When Humans Are the Text
          Creative Commons
          ● TOUCHPOINT: Tracking Copyright and CC-Licensed Work

Citing Assets and Sources

          Provide Enough Information for Readers
          Use a Credible Citation Style for Your Genre
          ● TOUCHPOINT: Finding and Citing Sources

Organizing and Sharing Assets

          Categorize Your Files Appropriately
          Use Good Naming Conventions
          Use Version Control
          ● TOUCHPOINT: Getting Your Assets In Order

7 Working with Technologies
Choosing How to Work with Technologies

● TOUCHPOINT: Learning How to Learn

Deciding Between Analog and Digital
What Does Your Audience Need?

● TOUCHPOINT: Choosing an Analog or Digital Project

Assessing Technological Affordances

● TOUCHPOINT: Conducting a Technology Review

Drafting Your Project: Static, Dynamic, and Timeline-Based Texts
Prototyping for Static Texts

          Outlines
          Sketches
          Models
          ● TOUCHPOINT: Sketching a Draft

Designing Drafts of Dynamic Texts

          Wireframes
          Mock-Ups
          ● TOUCHPOINT: Drafting Your Wireframe and Mock-Up

Composing Timeline-Based Drafts

          Storyboards
          Scripts
          Rough Cuts
          ● TOUCHPOINT: Drafting Your Storyboard

Getting Feedback on Your Rough Drafts
Preserving Your Assets with Metadata
Preparing for the Multimodal Afterlife

          Where Are Your Project Files Located?
          How Long Are You Responsible for the Project?
          ● TOUCHPOINT: Creating a Sustainability Plan

Index

Writer/Designer

Third Edition 2022

Cheryl Ball; Jennifer Sheppard; Kristin Arola

Find Your Rep

Cheryl E. Ball

Cheryl E. Ball

Cheryl E. Ball is a queer, cis, white woman residing in metro Detroit--the ancestral and contemporary lands of the Anishinaabe peoples, which she honors daily by caring for the land and all of its spirits. Dr. Ball (pronoun flexible) is director of the Digital Publishing Collaborative in the libraries at Wayne State University, where she collaborates with and mentors faculty, staff, and students on digital publishing projects including digital research websites, open educational resources, open-access publications, digital humanities project management, digital pedagogy, and other digitally based scholarly communications needs. Her favorite work time is spent training interns in publishing pedagogy. Dr. Ball also edits the longest running scholarly multimedia journal, Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy, and is Editor-in-Chief for the Library Publishing Curriculum. Publications include a scholarly multimedia collection The New Work of Composing (co-edited with Debra Journet and Ryan Trauman, C&C Digital Press) and the print-based RAW: Reading and Writing New Media (co-edited with Jim Kalmbach, Hampton Press).Through these and other efforts, she strives to teach folks how to publish their multimodal work in inclusive, anti-racist, and accessible ways

Jennifer Sheppard

Jennifer Sheppard is a faculty member in the Rhetoric and Writing Studies Department at San Diego State University, where she serves as the Associate Director of Lower Division Writing. She regularly teaches courses in visual communication, digital and popular culture rhetorics, and professional communication. Her research and publication projects have focused on the intersection of theory and practice in digital writing, new media composing, professional communication, and pedagogy for face-to-face and online instruction. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Literacy and Technology, Hybrid Pedagogy, Computers and Composition, and several edited collections, including Designing Texts: Teaching Visual Communication and RAW: Reading and Writing New Media. She lives in San Diego, CA, with her partner, Kathryn, and their son, Eli.

Kristin L. Arola

Kristin L. Arola is an Associate Professor in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures at Michigan State University. Her work brings together composition theory, digital rhetoric, and American Indian rhetorics so as to understand digital composing practices within larger social and cultural contexts. Her most recent book, Composing (Media) = Composing (Embodiment) [with Anne Frances Wysocki, Utah State UP, 2012] is an edited collection that explores how the media we produce and consume embody us in a two-way process. She is also the co-editor of the third edition of CrossTalk in Comp Theory: A Reader [with Victor Villanueva, NCTE, 2011]. Her work has appeared in Computers and Composition, Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion, and the Journal of Literacy and Technology. She resides in Pullman, WA, with her amazing husband and charming dog.