Rhetorical Analysis of an Image Depicting Personalization Principle
(Reflection at bottom of post.)
NCCER is a not-for-profit educational foundation committed to developing a safe and productive workforce through standardized training and industry credentialing programs. This artifact is part of a series that was posted on NCCER’s Facebook and Twitter pages in May of 2011 during a marketing campaign to raise awareness of the need for workforce development in the construction industry, where attrition and skills gaps are serious concerns. “Are You Ready?” targets company owners, career/technical schools, and employees through images and vernacular that resonates specifically with each group. This particular flyer aims at company owners and supervisors. The image shows a seasoned worker in the foreground of a familiar jobsite setting. The tower-crane in the background indicates a large, commercial project – a pinnacle project that requires meticulous management and professionalism, but foremost, it is the kind of job that is highly dependent on a well-tuned, focused workforce! NCCER implores the construction firms: “Are you ready?” Is your workforce prepared for success?
We in the construction industry easily identify with the image alone, but NCCER’s message is amplified through basic design principles that make this poster attractive and increase retention of its audience. Text colors contrast with their backgrounds to grab the viewer’s eye and the repetition of yellow underscores significant words, linking them to the hard hat, a symbolic reminder of workforce vulnerability. Deliberate alignment of the text and logos creates a clean page and proximity practices optimize “blank” spaces, providing subtle reflective moments of pause in the reading and emphasizing important facts. Grouping is used in the text as well as the social media buttons, giving the page an organized appearance.
The words ARE YOU READY followed by the big question mark rise off the page not as text but as a single bold, yellow image against the blue sky, drawing the viewer into the photograph. The worker in the picture is poised. Eyes fall to the text below him: “WE ARE.” NCCER has no doubt that they are ready – period!
“Ready for what?” Now our interest is piqued and curiosity entices us to read the small print. In construction, we know that workforce development is important, yet we continue to overlook its value as we cycle through employees in search for ready-made, self-driven workers. We tend to misread human resource development as irrelevant to our industry and namby-pamby, so we avoid it. . . The small print in this poster hides the agenda, building our interest through imagery and personal connection to substantiate relevance by discovery.
The message in this flyer is very personal to construction managers and leaders. Adherence to the personalization principle of multimedia is evidenced through direct, conversational language to remind us of our personal responsibility to improve our dwindling workforce – to build the people who get the work done! The image is personal because it resonates with experience unique to construction workers. NCCER’s reputation as a leader in skills training and construction education gives them credibility in the field, and their understanding of the needs in the construction industry is real; they relate with builders and speak their language. They empathize and we listen. They are here to help.
It is imperative: “Prepare your workforce NOW.”