Poetics of the Poster: The Rhetoric of Image/Text

The unique collaborative relationship between text and image has allowed the once-humble poster to evolve distinctive strategies of persuasion that have transformed modern advertising. Closely related to contemporary developments in the visual arts--in particular Futurism and Art Deco--these advances also reflect the contemporary confluence between art and graphic design. Focusing on the innovative visual equivalents of conventional textual ways of communicating meaning--metaphor, metonymy, and rebus--"Poetics of the Poster" looks at how modern-day signage--from airline logos to tourism advertisements to boxing match announcements--wields maximum persuasive power over viewers.