With the advancement of digital technology and new media, writers today are not only writers but designers as well. A handout in class explained components of rhetorical design. These components include emphasis, contrast, organization, alignment, and proximity. Such components make for organized, readable, logical, and easy to use final product such as a blog post. When viewing a blog post, website, application, and others of the like, most do not think of design.

     The design of most websites, presentations, blog posts, applications, etc. often go unnoticed. It is important to remember that someone wrote, sometimes even coded, a work on the Internet. For blog posts and presentations, I took rhetorical design into consideration in making my choices. In another class, Writing for the Web, I even had to code an article using HTML mark up.

     Rhetorical design is important to composition. Design choices are important to creating a successful and
effective product such as an online presentation. Emphasis can guide the reader with text, visuals, and audio to show the main point. Contrast can affect the reader by using specific colors to point out a specific detail. Organization is key because one would want the product to be logical and sound. More importantly, it should be easy to read, use, and view. Alignment is important because lining up text, images, and videos together should make sense. Proximity is important because one wouldn’t want everything to be bunched up
together.