Visual Rhetoric Toolbox

Here are 11 ways of using visual rhetoric:

1. Substitution: an element of the image is replaced by something else
2. Repetition: an element appears more than once
3. Addition: a new element is brought into the image
4. Subtraction: an element is removed from the image
5. Distortion: an element is altered, perhaps exaggerated
6. Scale: a kind of distortion, elements are increased or decreased in relation to something
7. Juxtaposition: an unlikely combination or improbable setting
8. Personification: applying human qualities to an inanimate object or an abstract idea
9. Reduction: applying non-human attributes to a human
10. Metaphor: a comparison that implies a likeness in things that are not literally alike
11. Catalogue: lists or represents the components of an object or an idea
(from Ted Zourntos's Conceptual Process Class, Sheridan College, B.A.A.)

Here is the Purdue OWL link for visual literacy:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/729/01/

The work of the best graffiti artists is a good place to find excellent use of visual rhetoric such as Toronto based artist Dan Bergeron(fauxreel): http://fauxreel.ca/,

or UK artist Banksy: http://www.banksy.co.uk/.

A good place to find weekly international examples is the Wooster Collective: http://www.woostercollective.com/.