Every organization needs recruitment, especially if that organization is struggling to find employees and interest. This is especially apparent as one walks down the hallways of most schools and businesses. Business, school, and other companies’ flyers are everywhere, and they can be very important in the success of that organization. When analyzing flyers that are rhetorical texts, exigence, audience, and constraints are key components of a rhetorical text, and it is important to evaluate these points. A great example of a flyer that represents a rhetorical situation, is one I found on campus entitled, “Kaleidoscope is Hiring”. This flyer expresses a need for college- aged students to help young children with homework, after school activities, and mentoring. Thinking specifically about the problem here in Charleston, more schools are being added by the year, and teacher/mentor pay is not changing. This is a major problem for working teachers in the area, and a huge reason why the need is so large right now for help in these after-school programs such as Kaleidoscope. Aside from being a toy filled with color and illusion, a Kaleidoscope has come to mean finding beauty in small things, and taking the initiative to create beauty and “right” in our world. In reference to this flyer, Kaleidoscope is symbolizing the mentors in the program and people that give their time to help young students. This creates a sort of beauty in the school system and helps those in need.
This flyer is rhetorical, because there is a problem, which then creates an exigence, audience, and constraints. Exigence can be loosely defined as the reason for a rhetorical text. It can be the situation in which the text was created. For example, if a hurricane were to occur, the governor might decide that he or she needs to make a speech telling people to evacuate. The exigence would be the need for people to evacuate because of an upcoming hurricane. The audience is almost self explanatory. An audience is the group of people that the rhetorical text is meant for. If a flyer for a school play was put up, the audience would be students interested in theater, and even just every student that walks by the flyer. Constraints are anything that hinders or provides structure to a rhetorical situation or text. In the movie, “The King’s Speech”, some constraints on the king making the speech were his stutter, the closed room, the fact that the speech was put on the radio, and the fact that he could have his speech therapist with him in the room. Those both helped the situation, but also made it harder to handle.
In the case of a flyer, rhetoric has to be based on a certain situation for the flyer to be made in the first place. In Lloyd Bitzer’s article titled The Rhetorical Situation, he mentions that a rhetorical text comes into existence, “for the sake of something beyond itself; it functions ultimately to produce action or change in the world; it performs some task” (3). When a flyer is produced, the writer of that flyer had a reason to create that flyer– not only a reason, but a rhetorical exigence, which Bitzer thinks of as, “something waiting to be done” or “a thing that is other than it should be” (6). The exigence for the designer/writer of this flyer, is the need for mentors and role models for students in the CCSD’s Kaleidoscope program. The problem is that there are not enough mentors for these students; because there is something that is not right, as we saw in Bitzer’s article, there is a rhetorical exigence created. In the picture below, there is a big picture of young children smiling, which is effective in getting the message of the flyer across and drawing people’s attention in. After doing some research about mentoring and how relationships are created by mentors and young students, this rhetorical exigence created is effective and it is important for students who need them to have mentors. Sarah Schwarz talks about self-esteem and the key role that mentors play in self-esteem in her article titled, “Mentoring Relationships and Adolescent Self-Esteem”. She explains that children that have low self-esteem tend to experience positive development in their mood and experience after having the emotional support and guidance of mentors (8). This point makes a good case for the writer of the flyer, because knowing this information, the exigence, or problem, is weakened. If the exigence is the need for mentors, and people know this statistic about self-esteem in particular, they might be more inclined to help and sign up. Thinking specifically about the problem here in Charleston, more schools are being added by the year, and teacher/mentor pay is not changing. This is a major problem for working teachers in the area, and a huge reason why the need is so large right now for help in these after-school programs such as Kaleidoscope. While I do think that the exigence is strong, if the writer had included this fact on the flyer, it might have made the response even better.
The flyer includes a picture, pay scale, contact information, hours, and general information about the program
Many different kinds of people walk by flyer boards everyday: students, teachers, prospective students, and community members to name a few. With a flyer like this one for Kaleidoscope, it is important that the audience is a wide variety of people, since there are usually many flyers up around the walls. In this specific case, the audience of the flyer is students who go to classes in the building where the flyer is up, and who are able and willing to work with this program. Any person could walk by the flyer, notice it, and not give it any thought. Because the audience is relatively specific for every flyer, it has to grab the attention of the correct audience. Students who like to work with kids, who are exactly what the designer is looking for for the program, would notice this flyer immediately because of the huge picture of children in the middle of the page. To get even more specific, the designer was probably targeting studious, smart, caring students as well. The picture might capture most people, but only the exact students mentioned will reach out and contact the writer, because they know what it takes to work with children. The picture is a prime example of alignment and emphasis, because the designer chose for this image to be front and center on the flyer. In an article posted by digital printing about designing flyers, it is mentioned that a large picture can have more of an impact on the audience than a page full of words, and if it makes a connection with the audience, it is even more impactful (1). This is especially effective when the picture is of a group of cute children, and it is posted on a college campus. Examining the picture in more detail, there are many aspects about the children in the picture that make the audience more willing to help. Diversity, age, and expression are all key aspects to analyzing this. The children in the picture are of multiple different races, making the program seem inclusive and diverse. This is attractive for many people looking to work with a company. The age of the kids is also important because they seem to be elementary school-aged. Many people who work with children enjoy the company of small children, and this can be a draw in for much of the college-aged audience. Finally, the kids on the flyer are all smiling and looking excitingly into the camera leaning forward. Anyone who looks at this picture can assume the children in the Kaleidoscope program are happy and enjoy the program, so the atmosphere there must be happy, fun, and an overall positive place to work. While there is a broad audience with many people involved, there is also the downside of large bulletin boards, and not being able to see all of the flyers.
A picture of a large bulletin board on a college campus
As you can see from the above picture, the bulletin board is crowded, and some of the flyers are hard to see because they are partially covered by other flyers. As this is the case with most college club boards, the Kaleidoscope flyer can be hardly seen. When I went to pick up the flyer, I had to move a few out the way to fully see the entire flyer. This is definitely not the case for all flyers, however seeing as though this flyer was on a bulletin board similar to this picture, the audience might have a little trouble responding to the exigence created by the designer. A possible solution for the designer would be to find a more empty space on the walls of the same buildings. Because the building location is good but the chosen wall is not as good, finding a blank wall with less flyers already up could help draw more attention to that specific flyer.
There are many possible constraints to any flyer being used as a form of rhetorical text. For example, in all flyers, the size of the actual poster is relatively small, and not much can fit. For this reason, designers have to choose wisely and put only the most important information, and the things that will catch their audiences’ eye the best.
Image from flyer about pay, hours, and contact information
On the Kaleidoscope flyer, the large picture was a good choice by the designer, and so was the need to put hours, contact information, and pay scale. Having the CCSD logo helps people know that the program is probably on the CCSD website and they can then go to the Kaleidoscope website, which gives even more information about the program and how to get involved. This helps people know if they are qualified for the job. These things are crucial when potential employees are looking into a job. Some of the first things people always want to know is how much they will get paid, and how flexible the hours are. This is especially true for college students looking for part-time jobs. It was also a good decision for the designer to add details about location. Because there are multiple locations, this is a positive thing for off-campus students. Another constraint to this specific flyer would be where it is located on campus. The flyer is on a bulletin board in an academic building, Maybank to be specific, which is strategic in catching the correct audience for the program. Most students have at least one class in Maybank, making this an effective place for a flyer. If the flyer were hung outside, or in the dining hall for example, it would not be as effective, because the people who saw it would not as likely be the audience the designer was looking for. Time of the year/student schedule is another big constraint to this flyer. Because it is displayed on campus in an academic building, many students are rushing to class and/or taking exams. If the flyer is put up during midterm or finals season, there would be less response to the flyer, because students aren’t focused on getting jobs, they are rather focused on passing exams. It would be crucial for the designer to know what times of year get most interaction with job flyers. Finally, the number of posters put up around campus can be important to audience response. If there are only a few in the academic buildings, there might be a good response because of the target audience, however it is smart to put some up in other places around campus as well. If they are outside, or in more public spaces, community members can see them and interact– not only the students.
This CCSD flyer for the after school mentoring program, Kaleidoscope, is overall an effective rhetorical text based on the effectiveness of the exigence, audience, and constraints. Because the problem of needing mentors and employees for this after school program is extreme, the rhetorical exigence is strong and the way the flyer was designed should create a positive response from the audience. While there were a few flaws in location for the audience, and many constraints to think about, the designer seemed to take these things into consideration when creating the flyer. They included a large picture to draw in prospective audience members, added important information while not making the flyer too full of words, and placed the flyer in a location where they can attract their target audience. As Bitzer said in his article, “the world really invites change” (13), and where there is a problem, there is always a solution. The want for help by the Kaleidoscope program illustrates this perfectly, and because the rhetorical text is so convincing, a solution is likely to be reached for the program.