Die rhetorische Designanalyse und Buchanans ›Design-Argument‹ – am Beispiel des Lego Star Wars AT-AT Walker 4483.

With his concept of the »design argument«, Richard Buchanan presented a classification system in 1985 that allows us to differentiate different impact goals in analysing design artefacts. In the present article, this system is combined with the method of rhetorical design analysis after the Bernese model. Using a Lego set as an example, it is demonstrated how designers apply rhetorical techniques to achieve affects and how these function. Furthermore, it is explained how the emotions of adult Lego fans are prompted and influenced by building the (and playing with the) Lego Star Wars AT-AT Walker #4483 model. At the same time, this case study makes a contribution to the cultural history of the pop-culture cross-over of Lego and Star Wars.