Information Design - Lectures & Exercises
3/2/2024 - / Week 1 - Week 3
Cindy Clarissa Leslie / 0367677
Information Design / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Lectures & Exercise
Information Design / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Lectures & Exercise
LECTURES
Week 1: Lecture 1
Types of Infographics
Infographic: tool/design to be able to communicate information more effectively
- List infographic - informational graphic that uses a written list to get a message across.
- Statistical infographic - includes pie charts, bar graphs, and any other visual representations of data.
- How-to infographic - explains how to do something, like how to solve a problem or perform a task.
- Timeline infographic - shows information in a form of timeline/evolution, mostly graphical.
- Comparison infographic - a visual way to compare and contrast different options by comparing them side by side.
- Flowchart infographic - a graphical representation of an information stream, such as a sequence of different steps or actions.
- Process description infographic - visually describes the main elements, actions, and steps of a process.
Week 2: Lecture 2
L.A.T.C.H. Theory
Theory applied onto infographics to structure and organize information as effectively as possible.
- Location - technique of organizing information based on its location.
- Alphabet - organizing content and information based on alphabetical order.
- Time - uses the temporal nature of content for organizing information.
- Category - refers to any meaningful group, with reference to the website or the audience. It is very important , however, to define categories which make sense to your users.
- Hierarchy - arranging information by any order, such as, size, cost (Low to High OR High to Low), popularity etc.
Week 3: Lecture 3
Miller's Law of Memory
This theory suggests' how short term memory works in the human brain, wherein remembering more than 7 objects and retaining that information may not last longer than 30 seconds.
The theory suggests that with effective information structure (clustering information into smaller chunks) the human brain may work within the limits of short term memory.
Week 4: Lecture 4
Manuel Lima’s 9 Directives Manifesto
Suggests 9 directives that may provide better clarity on how to visualize information effectively, further explains why information visualization differ from information arts or infographics.
- Form follows function - start with a question: your work should always be driven by a query
- Interactivity is key - allows for investigation and learning through discovery
- Cite your sources - always disclose where your data originated.
- The power of narrative - elaborate your information into storytelling to make it more interesting and memorable.
- Do not glorify aesthetic - the goal is to communicate information effectively, not making it pretty.
- Look for relevancy - why are you visualizing the information?
- Embrace time - time management is one of the key factor to organize and achieve better results for any decision making.
- Aspire for knowledge - translate information into knowledge.
- Avoid Gratuitous Visualizations - graphics should kept as minimal and relevant.
INSTRUCTIONS
Task 1: Exercise 1 [Quantifiable Information]
Ideas and process
In our fist exercise, we were instructed to use a quantifiable object for our design, to which we arrange and categorize based on existing information that can be observed. In this case, my object was 'Skittles'.
Figure 1.1 Initial number of Skittles, unsorted.
I counted the total amount of individual skittles I had before I started arranging them, to which I had 80 in total. I had fixed categories and how I will group them, therefore I started making different kinds of arrangements that can go along with how I plan to display the information. With the fixed
Figure 1.2 Skittles separated into colours
Figure 1.3 Arrangement attempt#1
Figure 1.4 Arrangement attempt#2
Figure 1.5 Arrangement attempt#3
Figure 1.6 Arrangement attempt#4
In the end, I chose to go with the 4th arrangement that resembles a rainbow, as this not only has the capability to allow me to categorize them as much as possible from limited variables, but also aligning with Skittles' slogan: 'Taste the Rainbow'.
Final Task 1: Exercise 1 - Quantifiable Information
Figure 2.1 Final scan for quantifiable information
- Total number: 80
- No. of orange: 24
- No. of yellow:16
- No. of green: 15
- No. of red: 14
- No. of purple: 11
- Light hues/warm tones: orange, yellow & green
- Dark hues/cool tones: red and purple
- Order of colours starts from most to least
Task 1: Exercise 2 [L.A.T.C.H. Infographic Poster]
Ideation of concept
For my concept, I wanted my poster to be surrounding something that I am personally interested in, which were games. During my first brainstorm process, I wanted to tackle the game 'Honkai Star Rail'.
Figure 3.1 Initial sketch of idea
Figure 3.2 Initial space concept of poster
I listed down the information I wanted to categorize within the game, however while I was creating the layout and design, I realized that I was missing one of the L.A.T.C.H element as there were no hierarchies and that there's too many information to be displayed from the number of existing characters which is why I decided to change the game.
This time, I chose the game to be Super Mario Party since the series had been one of the biggest parts of my childhood, therefore I had enough knowledge about it. Again, with the same process I created a sketch with information and different layouts.
Figure 4.1 Initial categorization of information for Super Mario Party
Figure 4.2 Sketch of planned layout and design
I was eventually able to find out the information that goes along with L.A.T.C.H. and started digitalizing it through Illustrator.
Digitization of poster
Figure 5.1 Chosen colour palette
Figure 5.2 Background design process
I initially chosen a colour palette that was able to reflect on the colours of the game well, with the design mostly including reds, yellows, green and yellow. I gathered images I got online and made a composition for the background of the poster before adding in the information.
Figure 5.3 Adding graphical information
Next, using sprites and removing background of images, I was able to sort the information without much text needed. I had 4 L.A.T.C.H. in my poster that I will discuss further.
Final Task 1: Exercise 2 - L.A.T.C.H. Infographic Poster
Figure 6.1 Final L.A.T.C.H.
Images source: https://mario.fandom.com/wiki/Mario_Wiki
- Alphabet - characters were arranged by alphabetical order, starting with A in each categories.
- Time - timeline of the development of every Super Mario Party games were provided in the bottom, including the dates when they were officially released.
- Categorization - playable characters were separated into categories, which were factions or the location that they are found in
- Hierarchy - hierarchy can be seen on the left of the poster where it shows the dangerous spaces players can land on, with the most dangerous being on the top.
FEEDBACK
Week 3
General Feedbacks
Again, try to utilise principles of design into the poster such as using contrast balance etc.
Specific Feedbacks
Choose the Kurt Cobain poster, ensure that the design has a balance of both graphics and information. It would be difficult to choose designs with an overwhelming amount of information.
REFLECTION
Through the lectures itself, I've learned a lot of different things, not only about infographics but also about theories regarding the human brain itself. These theories suggest the correlation of psychology in creating designs, where we have to learn on how to create products in the perception of our target audiences.
I've definitely learned the importance of information hierarchy especially in communicating through designs, with efficient hierarchy, the higher the rates of success it would be. With infographics being highly informative in content, designers should work smart and know how to structure their contents while they balance graphics and information.
Furthermore, I've noticed how my lecturer constantly emphasizes on utilising the principles of design. To be a good designer, you should be able to apply this unconsciously onto every single one of your works. I've decided to revisit the principles of design and work on applying this onto my works from now on.
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