Project Brief Research: TIME Unit of Time Different Concepts of Time Monochronic Time & Polychronic Time Experiment Design the Infographic Improvement Final Outcome
Project aims The aim of this project will be to explore and develop your knowledge and understanding of infographics within the related but wider discipline of information design, in conjunction with a developing sensitivity to typographic media. The role of infographics is to condense large amounts of information into a visual form where it will be more easily absorbed by the reader or end-user.
Firstly, choose one of the following themes Time, Sound, Light, Touch, Emotion
Then, the chosen theme will be fine-tuned in the research process with a particular mode of enquiry. e.g. for the theme of Time, the research could be historical, scientific (e.g. systems of measurement / calendars / clocks etc.), cultural or personal (how time is subjectively experienced or perceived). For the theme of Sound, a scientific approach could be exploring how we hear (the ear / biology / sound-waves etc.), personal (our perception of sound) or musical (how sound is organised – exploring musical concepts like consonance Vs. dissonance, music Vs. noise, harmony, notation, rhythm).
The final outcome could be Print, Screen, Interactive or 3D ...
The chosen theme is TIME. I started to browse in my photo gallery to see if there any inspiration is useful for this theme.
Some ideas spark: - What could be a time unit? - A book, a cup of coffee, a film... - Compare life cycle of humans and animals - some surprising facts - The day and night of cities - Unusual timetable - How long do they live - Food, inflatables, toys, plants, cosmetics - ...
Wang Chien-Hao, The Answer is ( ). , Taipei If books turn out to be a time unit, what would you say after experience this book? Please dial 02-87893388 #3429 we look forward to hear from you. This call-in method is very inspired. A time unit, we all know generally what is a time unit. But do you ever think about what can be a time unit, maybe a book time, a film time, a tea time... Try to think contrarily with the key word ‘time unit’, what can be a time unit?
In a highly interactive way, the main part of exhibition is consisted of lots of questionnaires with the answers of ‘if books become a ( )’. The answers could be different depending on time. A: Books can be____. B: When the world ends, book can be seen as____ C: For the upcoming future, book can be seen as_____
SOURCE: 1. images taken by Cancan Huang, 2013, Taipei 2. http://biosmonthly.com/contactd.php?id=3574
Unit of time Units of time consisting of a number of years include the lustrum (five years) and the olympiad (four years). The month could be divided into half-months or fortnights, and quarters or weeks. Longer periods were given in lifetimes or generations (saecula, aion), subdivisions of the solar day in hours. The Sothic cycle was a period of 1,461 years of 365 days in the Ancient Egyptian calendar. Medieval (Pauranic) Hindu cosmology is notorious for introducing names for fabulously long time periods, such as kalpa (4.32 billion years). In classical antiquity, the hour divided the daylight period into 12 equal parts. The duration of an hour thus varied over the course of the year. In classical China, the kè was a unit of decimal time, dividing a day into 100 equal intervals of 14.4 minutes. Alongside the ke, there were double hours (shíchen) also known as watches. Because one cannot divide 12 double hours into 100 ke evenly, each ke was subdivided into 60 fen.
In ancient China, also in Western countries, there was no accurate methods to measure time. So people used sundial, a stick of incense, sandglass and etc. to measure time. It’s really hard to tell how long is the time of burning a stick of incense. Nowadays, we have clock, we have mobile phone, we measure time in seconds. But in some culture, people still do not have a clear idea of time. Frankly speaking, they are not punctual. It may cause some problems between people who has different time culture. Therefore, I’m attemping to do some comparisions between two typical time concepts.
SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_of_time McCarthy, Dennis D.; Seidelmann, P. Kenneth (2009). Time: from Earth rotation to atomic physics. Jones, Floyd Nolen (2005). The Chronology Of The Old Testament (15th ed.). New Leaf Publishing Group.
This topic can be extended from the ‘units of time’, which is universal knowledge, to ‘concepts of time’, which depends on different cultures. Researching further on this topic, there is a set of inforgraphics present the difference between Chinese culture and German culture (or generally western culture) very well in a minimalism design style.
East Meets West: An Infographic Portrait by Yang Liu What’s not to love about minimalist infographics — such an elegant way to depict complex concepts with brilliant simplicity. We also have a longtime love affair with social psychology, some of which deals with the fascinating cultural differences between Eastern and Western mentality — from the individualistic tendencies of the West versus the pluralism of Asian societies, to how differently Westerners and Easterners read the emotions of others. Naturally, we’re head-over-heels with designer Yang Liu‘s ingenious East Meets West infographic series, tackling everything from differences in self-perception to evolution of transportation. Born in China but living in Germany since she was 14, Liu has a unique grip of this cultural duality — and she channels it with great wit and eloquent minimalism in graphics that say so much by showing so little.
SOURCE: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2009/10/29/east-vs-west-yang-liu-infographics/
Lifestyle: Independent vs. dependent
Attitude towards punctuality
How to stand in line
Complexity of self-expression
The evolution of transportation over the last three decades
The volume of sound in a restaurant
Attitude towards punctuality
With the inspiration by Yang Liu’s art work, the idea of explaining time concepts in different culture came to my mind. Basically there are two major types of concepts, one is Chinese or African style which is not that punctual, and the other is German or Japanese style which is absolutely punctual. (This is generally speaking of my idea that can not be apply to professional or business level). More research is needed to explain the idea, there are two nouns can express the two concepts of time: Monochronic time & Polychronic time. These also can be understood as monochronic culture and polychronic culture. By referencing some acadamic essays and articles, this two words perfectly represent the two concepts of time that I mentioned earlier. Monochronic time is closer to German or Jananpese style, and polychronic time is more about Chinese or African style.
Do one thing at a time Concentrate on the job Take time commitments seriously Are low context and need information Are committed to the job Adhere religiously to plans Are concerned about not disturbing others; follow rules of privacy and consideration Show great respect for private property; seldom borrow or lend Emphasize promptness Are accustomed to short term relationships
Do many things at once, different tasks can overlap Can be easily distracted and manage interruptions well Consider an objective to be achieved, if possible Are high context and already have information Are committed to people and human relationships Change plans often and easily Are more concerned with those who are closely related than privacy Borrow and lend things often and easily Base promptness on the relationship Have strong tendency to build lifetime relationships
SOURCE: http://mgmtblog.com/?p=60 Adapted from Edward T. Hall, “Understanding cultural Differences: Germans, French, and Americans� (Yarmouth, ME: International Press, 1990).
Reviewing the brief and referring to the research, I decided to design a set of infographic to simplify the differences, and the infographic will be in pairs.
The idea of the format comes from a printed booklet from one of my friend. This book is also a comparision of ugly and beauty. The whole book can be spread on the flat surface, so the images all can be shown perfectly in a flat format.
SOURCE: images via Haihui Li
Choose colours I did try a few colour scheme. Finally I chose light yellow for polychronic time as the colour seems easily changeable, unstable and flexible. And navy for monochronic time as the colour is calm, stable and rigorous.
Format I have tried two different format. The first one is a square shape with a hole in the middle, so the images can be shown from the circle.
But I found that this format is hard to work well with the infographics and it’s meaningless to have such format. Refer to the research earlier, the second format is designed to present the infographics.
SOURCE: http://piktochart.com http://blog.lionbridge.com/enterprise-crowdsourcing/2013/04/03/crowdsourcing-vs-outsourcing-a-side-by-side-comparison/
Referring to the research of inforgraphic and icon design, I designed this in one of our workshops. Considering the size of the circle and how much information is appropriate to be provided in it, the first draft came out. However, there are some bubbles has wrong meanings in some situation. Therefore, all images have been improved in later experiments.
Two Concepts of Time
Monochronic
Polychronic
US
UK
Japan
China
Mexico
Middle East
Africa
Adapted from Craig Storti, Figuring Foreigners Out: A Pratical Guide (Yarmouth, Me.: Intercultural Press, 1999), 82.
Polychronic
Time is inflexible, schedules and appointments should be strictly adhered to as schedules are the primary coordinator of activity.
Monochronic
People view time differs from culture to culture.
Time is fluid and flexible. Relationships and interpersonal interactions, which are more important than schedules and appointments, coordinate activity.
In the beginning, there is an intro page to explain the two words.
Monochronic: Time is inflexible, schedules and appointments should be strictly adhered to as schedules are the primary coordinator of activity. Polychronic: Time is fluid and flexible. Relationships and interpersonal interactions, which are more important than schedules and appointments, coordinate activity. A simple diagram of the concepts of time in different countries could help the readers to understand the content.
The first design is about time commitment. Monochronic time people take time commitments seriously, so they are punctual. Polychronic time people are not, so the minutes on the clock are blurry that means they are never strict on the time. For the font, same meaning as the colour, for monochronic, the font is Bell Gothic Std; and for polychronic, the font is free handwriting Emizfont.
10:00 is 10:00!
Monochronic time cultures emphasize schedules, a precise reckoning of time, and promptness.
10:00 is 10:00?
Being on time is less important in polychronic cultures than in monochronic cultures.
These clock number designs are helpful to my first design.
SOURCE: http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?searchterm=numbers&search_group=&lang=zh&language=zh&search_source=search_form&version=llv1
In monochronic culture, time is a rigid and inflexible commodity.
In polychronic culture, time is fluid and flexible, and is not a commodity.
The second design is about time management. In monochronic culture, time is a rigid and inflexible commodity, they in this culture do time management well. In polychronic culture, time is fluid and flexible, and it not a commodity.
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finished 100
Do one thing after another, finishing each activity before starting the next.
Handle multiple things concurrently, emphasize the number of completed transactions rather than the adherence to time schedule.
The third design is about managing task schedule. In monochronic time, people do one thing after another, finishing each activity before starting the next. In polychronic time, people handle mutiple things concurrently, emphasize the number of completed transactions rather than the adherence to time schedule.
Finished first experiment: a printed booklet Size: 150mm X 150mm
The feedback is really useful from the formative critique, so I made some improvement from last time. The font for polychronic time is changed to Handwriting - Dakota which is more readable. Considering the audience and finding a more efficient way to communicate the information, I changed the format from a printed booklet to a screen image. The audience is the group of people that use Internet a lot and has a good sense of reading infographic with the age range from 20 to 45. After analyzing more, this work could be more environmental friendly and has a higher rate of exposure to the audience on the Internet, so the information could be spread easily through social media. Everything is merged on one screen page with a very long format which fit the screen well. Two colours, representing two concepts separates the page into two parts, but readers can still read the horizontal pairs of comparision easily through the grid. In this version, there are five pairs (two pairs added from last version) that help readers have more knowledge on this topic. The intro diagram is being removed because there isn’t much reliable resources show the relationship between the time cultures and the countires, and this also depends on different occupations and age.
TWO CONCEPTS OF TIME MONOCHRONIC POLYCHRONIC TIME TIME
Time is inflexible, schedules and appointments should be strictly adhered to as schedules are the primary coordinator of activity.
Time is fluid and flexible. Relationships and interpersonal interactions are more important than schedules and appointments.
10:00 is 10:00? Being on time is less important
10:00 is 10:00! Take time commitments seriously
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Do one thing after another, finishing each activity before starting the next.
Do many things at once, different tasks can overlap
finished 100
Time is a rigid and inflexible commodity. People in this culture do time management well.
Concentrate on the one thing
Are accustomed to short term relationships
Time is fluid and flexible, and is not a commodity. People in this culture are poor at time management.
Can be easily distracted and manage interruptions well
Have strong tendency to build lifetime relationships
Designed by Cancan Huang Source adapted from Edward T. Hall, “Understanding cultural Differences: Germans, French, and Americans� (Yarmouth, ME: International Press, 1990). http://mgmtblog.com/?p=60
Gathering feedback from previous two version, the final piece is a combication of the visual communication of first experiment and the format of second experiment. In this format, the information - the images and texts are very clean and in good grid. The proportion of length and with is better for screen - people always slide the screen from top to bottom.