How to be a Quad Queen

This blog post is a response to the prompt "Select three (3) assignments that meet one or more of the course objectives outlined on the syllabus". How to be a Quad Queen is an infographic that I created for my multimodal project where I urged the staff and residents of the Harriet Tubman Quadrangle to question their "Quad Queenliness.". I believe that this infographic is related to Objective 1 (Understand and demonstrate awareness of invention and creativity as essential components of the writing process) because it's a form of writing that wasn't strictly an essay. It allowed me to be creative and play around with my graphic designing that have been suppressed since I was fifteen. I had a lot of fun doing this project (even though I procrastinated and ended up doing it the day it was due) and although there are a lot of words in this inforgraphic (the bold sentences are most important) it's a cute way of exemplifying my desire to always be precise, no matter how detailed or lengthy my response may get. I also included my Making Connections 4, which further explains my multimodal project.

1. Who is your audience and why did you choose them? Be as specific as possible. I want you to think of certain types of people who might be driven to do particular things in response to what you created. If you want, name them. Give them interests, personalities, etc.

The audience of my multimodal project would be the residents of the Harriet Tubman Quadrangle. The specific residents would be the HU21 Quad Queens who live there, our student RAs, and staff members such as the mailroom lady and security guards. I chose these individuals to be my audience because the Quad is where we live, and we have to interact with each other on a daily basis.

There are some Quad Queens who straight up refuse to say please, thank you, and/or excuse me. This, along with other discrepancies from all parties mentioned, has bothered me for the past three months. I don’t understand why it’s so hard for people to be respectful and polite with each other. There are a few RAs in the building who are very sassy to residents, rude, and abusive of their power. They catch attitudes when we ask them simple questions and take away our visitation for every little thing--all while constantly muttering “I am not here to be your mom...we’re not friends...I’m not going to treat you like a child.” Everyone in the Quad needs a reality check about their actions and behavior and I hope that my poster does what it’s intended to do.

2. What are some of the cultural commonplaces (topoi) your audience might believe about your topic? How do you rely on or contest these commonplaces? Are you changing the conversation, or are you also relying on a commonplace for your argument?

Two cultural commonplaces that my audience might believe will be “Treat others the way you want to be treated” and “Treat others the way they deserve to be treated”. Not everyone in the Quad is disrespectful. Speaking from experience, I have been polite to individuals who weren’t respectful to me. I don’t believe in sending out the same negative energy in the air as someone else because then it could quickly morph into a bigger problem.

On the other hand, there are some individuals that’ll without a doubt be rude to someone if they’re rude to them. Their reasoning for this is that they don’t want the other party to think that they’re going to accept their attitude and try their best to “put them in their place”. For my project, I believe that I’m attempting to change the conversation by making the residents question their actions in the past and moving forward. By forcing to think about what it really means to be a Quad Queen, they’re able to understand that their actions are being watched, whether it’s good or bad.

3. Who are you to your audience? How do you develop your ethos so that they trust you? Did you have to negotiate appealing to their beliefs and with remaining committed to your own?

I am merely a resident of the Quad. A queen in the making that seeks to spark a new conversation about the treatment given to my fellow sisters and the staff members who are responsible for us. If I were to post my infographic, I want the audience to understand that it’s coming from a concerned resident who has witnessed what’s being discussed in the posters. I will provide examples to back up my claims and by doing that, it’ll help develop my ethos because it shows that I reside in the Quad and have observed or been informed about these instances. I also signed the poster in a font that I consistently use on graphics for my blog, so in a way I “signed” my name but secretly since not everyone knows about my blog. I’m not trying to pick sides on the situation, instead I’m bringing awareness to the behaviors of all parties to encourage them to change how they act. I didn’t have to negotiate or change my beliefs because I am able to see both sides of the parties and understand why they act the way they do.

4. Do you primarily use epideictic or deliberative rhetoric with this project? Why/why not?

Throughout my project, I believe that I primarily use deliberative rhetoric. Infographics such as “do’s and don’ts” or “how to give CPR” were the inspirations for my poster. Whenever you see those types of posters, they’re informing you of the norms of a situation or how to act in a situation. I want my audience to read the “How to Be A Quad Queen: Do’s and Don’ts” and self-assess their queenliness and make the effort to improve their attitudes during their first year at the Quad.

5. Why did you choose this form for this audience? What were the constraints you faced in choosing a form? Feel free to discuss what you might do if you had more time or more technical expertise, but please do not just say you chose your form because you “already knew how to do it.” If that is what you did, please at least try to make up some other reason.

The form I chose for my project was an infographic poster. Posters, fliers, and ads at Howard are well-known for their creativity. From something as simple as a party invite to a university event flier, the better the graphic, the more people show interest and attend. I knew that an infographic would be the best form for my audience because it’s digitalized and can be shared throughout our GroupMe chats and social media. Howard students can easily be found on GroupMe or on Twitter and I know that if the graphic would go around, it’ll spark some buzz and catch the eyes of the intended audience and outside viewers. A difficulty I faced with my mode was designing it in a way that’ll catch the eyes of the audience. I have some experience in graphic design, but I was nervous that it wouldn’t be as beautiful as intended. I feel very satisfied with the outcome of the poster and hope that it’ll capture the attention of others.

6. How does this multimodal project compare to writing an essay? Does this seem like writing to you? How/why/why not?

When it came to working on this multimodal project, I felt as if it was a little challenging in comparison to an essay. With an essay, you’re given a prompt and guiding questions. It helps with writing because you’re able to adequately outline what you need to discuss in your essay and you’re easily able to cite information to back up any claims you make. I felt very stuck throughout this project because I was constantly unsure if what I was doing was correct. This unlimited amount of creative freedom confused me and made me worry if the mode I chose would influence the audience to take the actions I wanted to them take. This project felt like writing to me because I couldn’t just say any and everything I wanted to. I need to make sure that my words flowed together and that my points were clear and concise.

#harriettubmanquadrangle #howarduniversity #quadqueen #multimodal #infographic