The above picture is a sign in my workplace, Mike's Grill. It is a good example of rhetoric, because it meets the five requirements (author, audience, text, setting, purpose). It is both an effective method of communicating ideas and an ineffective way. Firstly, it is placed behind the counter where some employees hide to eat. It begins as ineffective sign because it did not succeed in telling the workers that we should not eat behind the counter; we all know this because of the bottom part. The bottom part however, does succeed. The first part likely does not succeed because it is smaller text and is fairly lengthy compared to what one might expect from a sign in the workplace. It could be safe to assume that the first part was not even read by some employees. The second part likely succeeds because it is quite obvious that employees should not eat behind the counter (due to larger text), and that the author, my boss Vicki, is upset with the continuance of something she asked to discontinue (due to the red font color and exclamation point at the end).
This example of rhetoric has already been improved once and may not be able to improve its purpose anymore, but it may be able to be improved through the use of participatory design. The boss, Vicki, wants to present a somewhat professional appearance, and when customers see that the employees are eating, it may look unprofessional or unsanitary. She actually writes in the first part, “I know everyone gets hungry,” it continues later, “please eat in the kitchen only or wait until your break.” The sign may have been improved by consulting the employees and asking their opinions. I, as an example, would think the sign could be placed by the grill or one of the small refrigerators instead of behind the counter. If the sign were placed in either of those locations, I feel that everyone would see the sign as they went to get their food instead of after they may have began eating. Other than that, I don’t see how participatory design could help.
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I chose your picture Jon because I can very much so relate to this picture considering I work at Mikes Grill with you. I completely understand why Vicki wrote this sign, everyone always used to eat behind the counter while customers were present. The first sign was far too lengthy, and I know personally that I never was one to read it. Vicki, being the smart woman that she is decided to upgrade her sign and go with a more attention grabbing sign. The way she used the bold and red print, you know she means business this time around. A lot of people now see this sign and think "oh crap, I'm not going to eat back here." I know I'm one of those people. Vicki has already improved the sign once, and I believe it has served its purpose.I dont know how much more she could do to make this sign more effective. Our boss tells us to eat in the kitchen rather than up front, which is very considerate of her. Her signs serve a very good purpose.
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