Rhetoric and design

The relationship between rhetoric and design has been the subject of numerous scholarly publications in the last fifty years, but has not been addressed by scholars of engineering design. This paper argues that the relationship is important for theory and practice of design in all its varieties, principally by providing evidence from the literature that rhetoric and design share key characteristics. Both - are broadly applicable across subject matters - concern the particular and the probable - require invention and judgment, and - involve arrangement in space and time From ancient times through the Renaissance, rhetoric was a key element in education, and its methods were widely adapted to other arts, including design. Rhetoric's loss of status in modern times is explained, and its resurgence in the latter part of the 20th century is described through the works of three scholars that focus on the relationship between rhetoric and design. The conceptualization of these scholars is best represented in the view that rhetoric is design limited to words and design is rhetoric with an unlimited palette