The rhteorical triangle and viral content

I read an interesting article from The New Yorker's blog "Elements" the other day about how and why viral content becomes, well, viral. What makes this video of a cat falling in a toilet more popular than that meme where Xzibit seems to be saying something funny? Why is a news story on protests in Greece less popular than another news story about protests in Vietnam?

Author Maria Konnikova might say it better when she asks, "What was it about a piece of content—an article, a picture, a video—that took it from simply interesting to interesting and shareable? What pushes someone not only to read a story but to pass it on?"

Essentially, she points to the traditional notions of the rhetorical triangle (logos, pathos, and... what's that other one?) and our tendency as language users (visual, textual, etc.) to lean towards one point of the triangle or another.

Aristotle used the rhetorical triangle as a means for creating information delivery devices that were not only persuasive, but also memorable (and thus able to be passed along by listeners, in his case). Konnikova refers to the "presence of a memory-inducing trigger" for viral content, and for example refers to her article about the popularity narratives containing lists. It's just one link to the traditional rhetorical triangle, but it's a meaningful one.

Based on the article, what do you think of some of the other connections she describes?

Skeumorphism, flat design, and the upcoming hotness?

Wow, that's a pretty indulgent title. Lookit me having no shame.

I recently discovered (wish it had been a long time ago) UX Magazine, a great site about - well - user experience, primarily in a design context. Per my post from Monday, I was especially interested in a couple articles I found there. One is on general design trends that need to be put out to pasture, and I think author John McKinney makes some excellent claims, especially about stuff like drop-downs and carousels (plus a couple no-brainers like Flash).

Hi, rabbit-hole! That led me to a great article about skeumorphism (current favorite word) and its significance (or lack thereof) in design, and THAT led me to another excellent article about flat-design, a trend whose popularity author Luke Clum accurately describes as "a growing tidal wave." It made me think of Copperplate Gothic, 'cause wow did that used to be hot until it got used by every single designer. Ever. Yup. That's how I feel about flat design.

Some claims about 2014 design trends

As my Layout & Design class begins to talk about design (so-called good and bad, what it is vs. what it ain't), I noticed this Gizmodo article about upcoming design trends.

ENGL 3333 students, what do you make of these claims? What parts of our first readings/discussions fit into (or don't) Gizmodo's claims about what's going to be hot in design this year?