Ploughshares is a literary journal that is run by mostly professionals. According to the “About” page, the literary journal publishes “four times a year” and has a literary blog that “publishes new writing daily”. The “About” page also mentions that Ploughshares has a base in “Emerson College in downtown Boston”. The visual rhetorical analysis that I will conduct demonstrates that Ploughshares has an efficient multimodal organization that is responsible for its success. This analysis also displays how compared to other literary magazines, Ploughshares focuses more on underappreciated writers and presents its website with an air of sophistication.
Ploughshares’ audience consists of Emerson College students, local residents, up-and-coming writers from around the country, fans of literature, and those with academic degrees. The “FAQ” page mentions that Ploughshares is “guest-edited by a prominent writer who explores different literary circles”. By having a recognizable writer edit two of its issues, Ploughshares becomes a more respectable literary journal that may be appealing to those who are more academically inclined. The “FAQ” page also states that the price for subscription is “$35 for one year”. The “Issues: Ploughshares” page displays that a printed issue is “$14.00”, while a digital copy is “$6.99”. This makes it safe to assume that the average viewer would be in the middle class.
In terms of context, Ploughshares sells its issues both in print and digitally. This can be seen on the “Issues: Ploughshares” page. However, as shown by the “Solos: Ploughshares” page, Ploughshares only sells its solos digitally through “Kindle, Nook, iPad, or Kobo”.
The purpose of Ploughshares is to promote up-coming writers, provide a broader spectrum of literature to viewers, and to endorse underappreciated writers. Within the “Emerging Writer’s Contest” page, Ploughshares encourages up-and-coming writers and acknowledges “three genres: fiction, nonfiction, and poetry”. Unlike the Tin House or the Paris Review, Ploughshares has a unique section called Look2 Essays. On the “Look2 Essay” page, it explains that “this series seeks to publish essays about underappreciated and overlooked writers”. The “Look2 Essay” page further comments that its goal is to bring “critical attention to the neglected writer and his or her relevance to a contemporary audience”. This shows that Ploughshares is unique. The literary journal goes beyond just introducing viewers to unheard of writers. Ploughshares also wants to give its viewers the chance to thoroughly contemplate the impact that this unknown writer may have on today’s society, which is something that other literary journals don’t do. This indicates that Ploughshares is a more cultured literary magazine. From what we’ve seen so far, the genre of Ploughshares is a combination of being informative and entertaining.
In Ploughshares, the diction is short and to the point as exhibited in the “Ploughshares” page with a small description underneath each article. The description gives readers the chance to know what they’re about to look at before clicking the article. The small description is a good thing, since a larger description would have caused the audience to lose interest. The main color theme of Ploughshares is this majestic navy-blue. For me, personally, the color gives off the feeling of the changing of seasons, in particularly, from winter to spring. Although navy-blue is the primary color, the different shades of blue help create this effect of seasons changing. With the lighter colors of blue on the “Ploughshares” page, it seems to give off the sense that winter is giving way to spring. The color of the text is light brown, which reminds me of the Earth, creating another connection to spring, a time in which the Earth is vibrant with life. The headings are also a dark navy-blue, and it creates a nice contrast with the light brown text. Despite the nice effect that it creates, the color of the text may be hard to read for some people. However, this can be fixed by making the font a little bigger that way the aesthetic won’t have to be changed. In comparison, on the “Home” page of Tin House, there is no unique color scheme. It is more casual compared to the color palette of Ploughshares. Another comparison could be made with The Paris Review, which uses hot neon pink on its “Sign In” page and throughout the rest of its website. This can be seen as distracting and be considered a bit too much for the eyes. Ploughshares’ navy-blue color adds a sort of elegance to the page that is not seen in the other sites. Going back to Ploughshares’ main page, I noticed that, despite the color, the font is still readable. The font also tends to resemble a newspaper.
For issues and solos, Ploughshares provides images that match the content of the writing without spoiling the piece. For example, on the “George Washington’s Teeth” page, the image of the book can be associated with its title. The purpose of these images is to lure the audience into reading these writing pieces. This means that these images must have been well thought out before being used by the staff. The staff may have picked these images for the writing pieces with a certain mindset. When talking about images on this website, I believe that it must be noted that there are very few images on the “Ploughshares” page. This page consists of an image of the latest issue and a picture of the guest editor. I disagree with the placement of the guest editor’s picture. I believe that the picture should be higher up on the “Ploughshares” page that way people get a chance to see the guest editor, since if the picture is at the bottom of the page, then there is a chance people will overlook the image and fail to give the guest editor the credit they deserve. Despite this minor issue, I do believe that the lack of pictures on the main page isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, the limited number of pictures on the home page, when compared to other literary journals, makes Ploughshares seem more formal.
While looking through the website, I happened to notice that there are no videos. Although a video would seem more appealing to some viewers, I don’t really believe it is required, since there are a ton of images in the “Issues: Ploughshares” and “Solos: Ploughshares” pages. Videos would also hinder Ploughshares refined aesthetic.
For Ploughshares, the informational architecture is nicely developed. The search bar is placed where everyone can see it on the “Ploughshares” page. The tabs are at the top and are easy to use. Each tab has options to choose from, except for the shop and blog tab. This adds an extra layer of organization. For instance, a viewer can just hover their mouse over the solos tab, giving them the option of choosing to look at the issues by genre or by year. The only thing that really bothered me was that in order to go back to the “Ploughshares” page, I had to click the title of the page. I think this can easily be fixed by having a home tab.
The user experience seems to be calming. The website is visually appealing and has a distinct professionalism. The fact that it’s easy to find what you are looking for is another reason why it is so relaxing to use.
While Ploughshares did have some issues, it still managed to be intriguing and efficient. It is also important to point out that the issues that Ploughshares did have were minor and easy to fix. The rest of the website seemed to be well organized and put together in a manner that was endearing to the eyes. Ploughshares’ multimodal organization is functional and effective, which contributes to its success as a literary journal. Ploughshares also stands out from other literary journals with its recognition towards underappreciated writers and its tendency to present itself in a dignified and intellectual manner.
Works Cited
About.” About | Ploughshares, www.pshares.org/about.
“Emerging Writer’s Contest.” Emerging Writer’s Contest | Ploughshares, www.pshares.org/submit/emerging-writers-contest.
“FAQ.” FAQ | Ploughshares, www.pshares.org/help/faq#How do I subscribe?
“Issues: Ploughshares.” Issues | Ploughshares, www.pshares.org/issues.
“Look2 Essay.” Look2 Essay | Ploughshares, www.pshares.org/submit/look2-essay.
Mays, Nancy K., et al. “Solos: Ploughshares.” Solos | Ploughshares, www.pshares.org/solos.
“Ploughshares.” Ploughshares, www.pshares.org/.
Reid, Kiley. “George Washington’s Teeth.” George Washington’s Teeth | Ploughshares, www.pshares.org/solos/george-washingtons-teeth.
“Sign In.” The Paris Review, www.theparisreview.org/.
Smith, Patricia, et al. “Home.” Tin House, 5 Feb. 2020, tinhouse.com/.