Reflection Essay When developing a visual argument, the design and layout are important aspects to consider.

There are four main principles of design that aid in fabricating the argument: contrast, alignment, proximity, and repetition. Within our multimodal argument we used each of these principles to portray our argument that Disney princesses are creating a distorted body image for young girls. Contrast was an important principle of design to consider when constructing our multimodal argument. Through color choice, font style, font size, and space to image ratio, we were able to construct a design which incorporated logical contrasts. We opted to limit our use of colors so that our poster would not be overwhelming or distracting. The four colors-pink, plum, white, and yellow- were chosen for several reasons. One, the argument being presented has to do with princesses, and princesses are typically stereotyped with girly pinks and purples. Also, the princess we chose to include on our poster displays various shades of pink; therefore, we decided that in order to establish a princess theme, plum and pink were necessary colors for our presentation. Two, in order to define the various plum-colored shapes found on our poster, we decided to outline the shapes in a light pink. We also made sure to choose text colors which would stand out from the plum-colored shapes, and also from our background. We found that white and yellow text showed up the best against the plum-colored background of the shapes. As yellow is typically very effective for attracting attention, we incorporated this color sparingly throughout our poster to highlight the most important phrases and words of our argument. The yellow color also contrasts the plum, as it is found on the opposite side of the color wheel. Regarding font style, we chose to increase text size and use bold font whenever we wanted to call attention to an important word or phrase. The title has the biggest font size, and is displayed

in yellow because it is the most important. Also, the title is exhibited in a Disney type of font, which added to the princess feel and theme of our poster. While there is quite a bit of text on our poster, we made sure to balance it out by having contrast with empty space and images. As a result, our text is presented in manner which is not overwhelming and confusing to our audience. Proximity was another key principle of design as we created our multimodal argument, and was demonstrated in multiple ways. We first put space between the different shapes to show that they are different thoughts. The text bubbles show the relationship between the two princesses and the information pertaining to them, which is why they are placed close together on the poster. The arrow is between the bubbles because it allows the text inside to connect the information in both of the text bubbles. Grouping together the princess and castle, with the tiara, was done to place emphasis on the negativity associated with the influence of princesses. As you progress down and to the right of the poster the idea that Disney Princesses are creating a distorted body image for young girls is developed until our solution is reached. Our solution at the bottom of the page is not placed in a text box to indicate that what we say is not absolute. Alignment was used on our poster to connect ideas, to emphasize important points, and to draw conclusions. The pictures of the princess and the young girl are placed directly across the poster from each other so as not to overload one side of the poster. An arrow shape is centrally aligned between the two pictures to demonstrate the connection between the princess and young girl. The text bubbles are aligned above both of the pictures to express the relevance of the text used inside the bubbles to the pictures. Also, the title has a center alignment to demonstrate the importance it holds. We chose to align the tiara with the picture of Sleeping Beauty to relate the quote used inside the tiara with the princess. The castle was centrally aligned between the tiara and our solution to fill an empty space with something to tie in our princess theme. Our solution

was placed in the bottom right hand corner of the poster as a conclusion to our steadily building argument. Repetition is another vital principle of design that we incorporated which aided in making our argument stronger. To strengthen and unify our argument about Disney princesses, we reused a palette of yellow, pink, plum, and white. We created symmetry by including two images of princesses, located on opposite sides of the poster, which allowed us to show correlation between our argument and the pictures. Next to each princess we placed a text bubble that paralleled the information in the text bubble with the image of the princess. Another repetitive method we used was in our word choice. We repeatedly used the words Disney, princess, beauty, thin, and young girl to express our argument that Disney princesses are creating a distorted body image for young girls. Repetition helped link our information and ideas together to draw emphasis and drill our argument into the audiences minds. All in all, when constructing a visual argument, the four principles of design are necessary to consider. Integrating contrast within our design allowed us to place emphasis on text and images, showing the reader what to look at. Using repetition throughout our design allowed us to unify our argument. The use of alignment helped to organize various thoughts and ideas together. Finally, we considered proximity when grouping our information together. Combined, these principles of design allowed us to create a strong and cohesive argument.