Analysis of infographics of the advertising sphere: multimodality and compositional metafunction

Abstract

Multimodality, which is characteristic of texts that gather two or more semiotic codes (KRESS; van LEEUWEN, 2006), requires an approach that emphasizes the verbalvisuality (BRAIT, 2013) of these compositions. The aim of this study is to analyze categories of the compositional metafunction (KRESS; van LEEUWEN, 2006) from the perspective of multimodality in infographics of the advertising sphere, with the purpose of understanding how the selected messages, configured in infographics, are organized. In order to do so, it is necessary to: (i) characterize the selected infographics based on categories of the compositional metafunction; (ii) understand how the multimodal and functional aspects relate to each other in these texts; (iii) investigate how the multimodal aspects act in the production of meaning. The sample consisted of five infographics from the advertising area selected from the Pinterest website. The multimodal analysis of the texts is carried out from categories of the compositional metafunction, from the Grammar of Visual Design (KRESS; van LEEUWEN, 2006). The analysis shows that there is not only a visual focus but also a variable number of multimodal elements that, with their different sizes, colors, and communicative functions, contribute to the creation of various degrees of salience.