Week8: Reading Homework (Chapter 6)

1. Summary of information, topics covered
Chapter 6 talks about the information graphics case studies of Alejandro Tumas, The New York Times, Funnel Incorporated, White Rhino, Nigel Holmes, and The Wall Street Journal. Humans are visual learner. Info-graphics is turning something complicated into a clear, appealing, explanatory diagrammatic, and to five audiences a better understanding of information. You have to have good information to make effective info-graphics and it could help to start with more information than you would need to create it. A Whiteboard sketch gives the client something to react to, and allows them the opportunity for everyone to agree in the end. Good info-graphics tell the story with as little words as possible and helps people to read. It is important to pay attention to the use of colors and typography. You need to know the subject and have a desire to be a good designer. Complicated finance fields often hire someone who has background in finance, math, economics, or journalism to teach them to create an information design.

2. Two links germaine to topics covered
http://blogof.francescomugnai.com/2009/04/50-great-examples-of-infographics/
Here you can find a lot of good examples of infographics including some example we have seen in the class. You can see the how they create good images with text, use of colors, and kind of information other designers use.

http://flowingdata.com/2009/03/13/27-visualizations-and-infographics-to-understand-the-financial-crisis/
The website give you 27 visualizations and infographics to understand the financial crisis.

http://www.nigelholmes.com/
This is a website of Nigel Holmes who is one of the designer in the chapter 6. Here you can see some of his motion graphics, diagrams, charts, maps, and other information of him.

Project 3

Team Kayano and Laurie,

Laurie and I are proposing an improved way finding system for the Kubota Garden in South Seattle. The project will consist of new icons, improved map with garden areas differentiated in color, and trail signage.

Week7: Reading Homework (Chapter 8)

1. Summary of information, topics covered.
In Chapter 8 it talks about the wayfinding system for effective environmental design with some case studies for reference. Templates can give a structure to help viewers deal with information. It is important to use consistent and literate signs, and you have to address any exceptions. Viewers won’t stay interested if there is long text, but images can help keep their attention. Interactive information is also great options to get the attention of people and give good information. When you are creating the system, you have to have the big picture and see situations in sequence. Symbols need to be self-explanatory. Color is one of best tools to attract the viewer’s attention and show hierarchy. Creating some storyboard scenarios to see how some people would navigate the area would help designers to create a wayfinding system better because it is all about user experiences. The audience is usually very diverse, and the design should appeal to all of them. Environmental design could involve with a complex team but at the end of the project members have to agree to the final goal. Photos can help the design to be more emotional and to better speak to audiences.

2. Two links germaine to topics covered.

http://www.fd2s.com/work/

You can find a lot of projects of wayfinding here, and there are some examples of what this company offer as wayfinding and environmental graphic design that give you good ideas for the project 3.

http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/symbol-signs

This is one of the pages from AIGA site that talks about symbol signs. The symbols could guide people to find their way, and the page has some of the symbols used internationally and you could download them too.

3. Five potential clients for Project 3

1.Kubota Garden

Images of the garden

Idea site for sings:

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=和風%E3%80%80サイン&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Sign Board:

http://3219.cc/img_server/co_img1/plusmarks/user/2009/m_pka3.jpg

Map:

http://www.library.pref.nara.jp/gallery/ezu/map/img/map009.jpg

http://blogimg.goo.ne.jp/user_image/0d/e6/86f72c3cbfb2c13e2090042f22de7982.jpg

http://www.k4.dion.ne.jp/~skipio/04Kyoto/clip_ninna001map.jpg

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.lib.kagawa-u.ac.jp/www1/kambara/tenji2006/12-35.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.lib.kagawa-u.ac.jp/www1/kambara/tenji2006/2006-7.html&usg=__GkM_l7z8p_TjSt-Glq6oUlLIBRs=&h=440&w=463&sz=34&hl=en&start=182&um=1&tbnid=tqWDE9cCqodJMM:&tbnh=122&tbnw=128&prev=/images?q%3D%25E6%2597%25A5%25E6%259C%25AC%25E5%259C%25B0%25E5%259B%25B3%25E3%2580%2580%25E5%258F%25A4%25E3%2581%2584%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN%26start%3D180%26um%3D1

http://www.library.pref.gifu.jp/map/kochizu/data/02.html

2.Woodland Park Zoo
3.Art Institute of Seattle
4.West Seattle Junction:
http://www.westseattle.com/site/maps/businessdistrict.asp?area=The+Junction
http://wsjunction.org/
http://westseattleblog.com/blog/

5. Seattle Aquarium

Week6: Reading Homework (Chapter 5)

1. Summary of information, topics covered

Chapter 5 talks about how the most effective information designs in print should send a clear communication to audiences. Its topics are Carbone Smolan Agency, Smart Design, Addison, Pentagram Design, And Partners, and Simon & Goetz Design for case studies. It is very important to understand capital. The packaging of products and their labels need to be modern, but easy to understand and reflect the price of the product, saving spaces at retail stores when products are out side of the box, and give the consumer good information. Too much complicated text is hard to understand, it is clearer when you use plain English and typography. You could use different sizes, colors, and other styles to main information to create hierarchy. Grids also help to uniform and clarify the information. Simple geometric images catch the viewer’s attention easily. Visual information is a product that can show the emotions that appeal viewers.

2. Two links germaine to topics covered

http://www.designbygrid.com/

This website has a lot of examples, articles, tutorials, and resources of grid designs. One of the article from this website shows good examples of grid layout that show how effective grids are to unify and separate information.

http://www.designtaxi.com/article.php?article_id=418

This page talks about including emotions into the design. The emotions that are involuve a relationship are short, and personal add aesthetics, usability, and reflection to the design.

Project 2: Project Statement

Project Statement

Company.
U.S. Census Bureau is part of U.S. Department of Commerce. The Census data reflects the growth of the population as well as the changing values and interests of the American people.

Problem
The current U.S. Census website has spreadsheet fast facts but is not attractive and old fashion. It needs to provide some visual information for the audience so they can read this information more efficiently.

Opportunity
We can create a world map with fill colors that show the population change, and make the information design interactive in Flash.

Solution
The design should be simple so a broader range of the audience can understand the information. For example, the grayscale shows a decrease of population, and the reds show an increasing of the population. Usage of the map and interactivity to narrow the map into regions gives the audience a better understanding of the information. The website will be interactive using Flash, to give the audience more detailed information, but it can easily be transferred to a print format because of the simplicity.

Week5: Reading Homework (Chapter 4)

1. Summary of information, topic covered
Chapter 4 talks about some of the basic tools that are used by designers, and mentions effective tools such as color, type styling, weight and scale, structure, grouping, graphic elements, imagery, and sound and motion. The color helps viewers to scope out and separate from others more easily. The type styling is also a good way to differentiate importance of information. You could also change the typeface, use highlight, and so on. Weight and scale could be mixed with color and type styling to define tricky hierarchies. The grid would be a great structure to organize information. You could group information combinations with changing color, weight, and size. It helps the reader to locate the information easily and to create visual hierarchies. Graphic elements such as lines, rules, and bullets give a better understanding of directions to the viewer. Imagery is one of the most effective ways to get the viewer’s attention. It gives information visually, without reading. Sound and motion is interactive media. The mixture of aural and visual creates more powerful result.

2. Two links germaine to topics covered.
http://quakequizsf.org/
I got this site from “Communication Arts” magazine website. It is interactive annual and I could find Interactive Annual 15 winners. I think you can find a lot of good example of what we have been studying in this class and find good example of what chapter 4 is talking about. The site above is really fun to take a look at.
The website I found the address above: http://www.commarts.com/interactive/

http://www.colourlovers.com/blog/2009/06/02/color-basics-dos-and-donts
This site talks about basics of colors. There are some latest palette and patterns you can check out too. Understanding the color wheel is very important. You need to analyze the color undertones and know colors change up to their surrounding colors. Colors express psychology such as red is aggressive, hot, and so on. When you are designing is important to know readability of color combination.

Project 1 Final

Week4: Reading Homework (Chapter 3)

1. Summary of information, topic covered.

Chapter 3 talks about prototypes and the testing process, separating it into three sections such as Structural Overviews, Creating the Blueprints, and Research and Testing. Some of the structural overview documents could be sitemaps and page maps that are helpful for you to have big picture of your project and hierarchy of information. The wireframes give you body to the structure and characteristics. These steps help you answer the questions of what you need and don’t need for your project. The wireframes help you save money and time by figuring out the needs of your project. Usability testing is very important for you to know how well your design is and how you could improve it. It may cost your client to test the product, but it would save them money in the long run. It is better to start the test early and frequently. When you make any changes test it again and record the data. There are different types of user research and testing such as concept tests, participatory design, design testing, focus groups, usability testing, and beta testing and performance testing.

2. Two links germaine to topics covered.

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/sitemaps.html

This page talks about site map usability with research studies of site maps.

http://www.powermapper.com/products/mapper/styles.htm

this page shows examples of site maps.