In times of social media and the ubiquitous presence of rapid communication technologies, time always appears to be of the essence, which too often undermines the benefit of simple matters. The concept of humour epitomises this notion and the infographic from the website of Humor That Works attempts to depict this issue. Through the juxtaposition of colour, use of imagery and sustained appeal to ethos, the author intends to galvanise the audience into action, in order to facilitate change with regards to the use of humour at work.

Firstly, the author juxtaposes multiple shades of blue with a washed-out shade of orange to establish a contrast in mood. In terms of content, the blue shade depicts the benefits of humour, whilst the seemingly drab shade of orange quantifies the hesitancies of the general public. This adds a connotation of positivity and optimism to the shades of blue, whilst it characterises the tone of orange as a barrier of negativity. This allows the author of this infographic to depict a sensual narrative, which follows a simple narrative arc. The reader is firstly introduced to the benefits of humour at work, yet subsequently confronted with the barriers of fear and negativity that hinder this ideal. At the bottom of the infographic optimistic solutions are then proposed to counter the monotonous mood at work. This basic storyline is emphasised through the juxtaposition of the drab orange shade and comparatively bright tone of blue; in the second half of the infographic, it is evident that the proportion of orange colour progressively decreases, which sensually buttresses the idea of the barriers towards humour being conquered, in attempt to encourage the audience to embrace the mood portrayed by striving to facilitate the more widespread use of humour at their workplace.

Furthermore, the infographic sustains an appeal to ethos through the use of a myriad of statistics, as well as the juxtaposition of paratactic and hypotactic sentences. At the bottom of the infographic, a detailed account of the importance of humour with regards its human relationships is offered. The infographic informs the reader that ‘humour helps connect people by building trust, reducing status differentials, diffusing conflict, and creating positive shared experiences that bring us closer together’. This quote is characterised by the use of asyndeton and the first person plural pronoun to establish a basis of credibility for the assertions in the infographic. Through the use of the first person plural pronoun, the power relationship between the author of the infographic and the audience is levelled to avoid a patronising tone, which would discourage the audience from embracing the advice of the infographic and taking action. Moreover, the deliberate use of asyndeton allows for the juxtaposition of a hypotactic sentence with a series of paratactic sentences bove, such s ‘Humour can increase happiness by up to 42%’ or ‘Americans feel stressed about their jobs’, which enhances the credibility of the author by proving a certain degree of formal technocracy. The juxtaposition of various sentence lengths also allows the author to appeal to a cast audience, whilst supplementing his call for humour with personal aspects. The top of the infographic is dominated by generalisations, such as ‘Americans are unsatisfied with their job’, which is utterly necessary to engage a large and diverse audience, yet in combination with the use of the ‘first person plural pronoun ‘us’, the audience is directly engaged, which reflects the author’s intention of galvanising the audience into action on a personal level.

In addition, the infographic employs the use of imagery to disseminate an optimistic tone, whilst remaining realistic to galvanise the audience into action. The top of the infographic is characterised by unsatisfied facial expresson, which is contrasted with the first imagery at the bottom. In contrast, the facial expressions above, the fists imply a sense of power and force, which re-emphaises the sensual storyline depicted by the means of colour. The fists highlight how the doubts and aversions to humour have been overcome by portraying a tone of conviction, which suggests that the audience has the power to overcome the negativity that is holding it back to implement the more widespread use of humour at work. Therefore, the author employs the use of imagery to appeal to the audience on a sensual level, in an attempt to persuade it that imminent action is crucial.

Overall the infographic employs the interplay of text and image to convince the audience to take action in a multi-faceted manner. Whilst ethos is used to affirm the credibility of the infographic, colour and imagery are also utilised to hook the reader by conveying a sensual narrative, which remains realistic by depicting the barriers that exist, yet ultimately depicting an optimistic mood to encourage the audience to take action.