Infographics Workshop Jake Cohen
Synopsis I have chosen to present my work from the infographics workshop separately as I believe it didn’t largely contribute to the narrative of my storytelling within the PPJ. However, I did learn a lot from the workshop regarding the uses of information design and how I can approach it as a design technique for both this project and those to come. As the infographics workshop was held quite early in the project, I was still in the ideation stages, and so used this opportunity to explore my concept whilst also improving my skills in presenting information as design.
Project Brief In this short workshop I will analyse and visually communicate some of my research insights before beginning to design a system. By completing the workshop, I will have initial qualitative research, sample quantitative data and have materialised these into an infographic, as well as having identified some design opportunities. From the design opportunities developed within this workshop, I will select one to take forward and develop this into a system.
Introduction At this stage of the project, I had just defined my focus to be sound data. This included quantitative information such as sound levels, and also qualitative insights, such as the physiological, psychological, cognitive and behavioural impacts of sounds on humans.
for health reasons for productivity reasons
people wanting to take control of the sounds they hear
people who want a positive relationship with sound
people interested in tracking their daily decibel intake
Who is the audience? To surround themselves with sounds that are “good”
To become more observant of the sounds they hear?
To reduce the amount of loud sounds they hear?
people who are curious to how sounds affect their physical and mental behaviours
How might users want to change their behaviour? To discover how friends and family express their emotions through sound
What could the platform be?
mobile app? wearables?
Design Opportunity Taking control of the sounds around us to influence positive emotions and wellbeing. I.E
• What sounds make us happy? • How can we avoid or embrace unpleasant sounds? • How could self or automated documentation be used to change behaviours with sound?
Ideation With my design opportunity decided, I began to think about the types of data that would be collected and how this could be represented in a visual format. This involved researching existing examples and sketching out possible solutions.
data representation
data collection Joy
+
apathetic
Broody anxious
self documentation artefact
emotional values
mobile app
categorical
avoided
pleasant
disruptive
ambient
types of sounds heard
Data to collect and visual representation
Sound distribution
sound level (db) sound maps to show loud and quiet areas
Sound vs. emotion
location
negative
db level sound gauge
db
positive
high energy
low energy
From here, I began to think of ideas of how this collected information could be translated into a designed experience that positively changes a person’s emotional relationship with sound.
Mobile App My final outcome for the workshop was a designed app with a series of features that changes a person’s relationship with sound through the collection of sound data and presentation through infographics.
Why an app? I decided the platform for the infographics to be a mobile app for a number of reasons. Firstly, I was not sure what artefact I wanted to design yet, but knew the likelihood of a companion app would be high for my final outcome at the end of the project. Secondly, a mobile app offers a lot of room for explorations with infographics, and so felt I could explore and experiment more throughout the workshop.
What did I learn? By designing the app I was able to explore more ideas for my concept and also learn more about information as design. This included such thing as the use of object representation and universal symbols, colour associations, layout and finally, design for ease-of-use. I have designed a number of apps for previous projects, but they have not been as well thought out as this one. However, whilst on exchange, I was able to study a graphic design class, and so most of the learning outcomes for the workshop seemed less challenging. Although saying this, I feel this workshop has further improved my confidence in infographics and data as design.
Unconscious Sounds
Sound Reflection
The mobile app will record small sound snippets throughout they day. The user can then listen to these sound recordings and try to guess where abouts on the map they think they heard it. This idea works with mindfulness and triggers the user to reflect on the conscious and unconscious sounds they hear, and linking certain sounds to certain places.
After tapping where you think you heard the sounds, the correct location will then pop up in green, showing the area where it was recorded. This intends to make the user reflect differently on certain locations and the sounds that they subject themselves to in these places.
Sound Maps
Documentation
Sound level data (dB) is also collected, and builds sound maps using everyone’s data in order to see louder and quieter areas.
After guessing the location, the user can then document the sounds they heard in the recording. By doing this, the app begins to detect what sounds are making the user feel certain emotions and presents this information graphically to the user.
Sound Diary
Sound Emotion Maps
The app will detect the sounds a user subjects themselves to and categorise them based on how it influences the user’s mood. For example, in the above information, we can see the user has subjected themselves to sounds that have made them happy 71% of the time this month.
Upon clicking a sound emotion, it will take you to a sound map which will pin point the locations you felt this particular emotion. This allows the user see locations where sounds are making them feel certain emotions, allowing them to change their behaviour. For example, the user may decide to go to Rottenrow Gardens on a date as the sounds heard there are typically romantic.
Deeper Insights
Graphic Sound Map
As the user taps a specific area on the sound emotion map, they can reveal more insights about that area. For example, the most frequent sounds they heard there, the average dB level and the average mood they experience based on sounds in this location.
As the app begins to detect more sounds the user has heard, they are able to produce a graphic that they can share to social media. This graphic shows the sounds the user has heard the most: the bigger the letters, the more times they have hear that noise.
Sound Documentation
Locations
Whenever the user hears a sound that is eliciting a certain emotion, they can document it using the app. As they record the noise, they can slide the satisfaction level, add tags for sounds heard and the feelings associated with the sound. This will create a library of sounds.
Frequent locations visited by the user can be analysed in depth through simplified graphics.
Overview: locations
Overview: emotions
The user can reveal all frequent locations and sound data for each in an overview. These can be ordered in a particular way. For example, in the above image, the locations have been organised in order of satisfaction.
The overview can also be changed to see the most frequent sound emotions over a certain time. Again, the bigger the icon, the more that particular emotion has been experienced.
Overview: sounds
Overview: sound maps
By tapping an emotion in the overview, it will reveal the most common sounds the user associates with that emotion.
Tapping a sound icon will then reveal information about it on a map, showing where they have heard those sounds.
Timeline
Timeline: zoomed
Over time, a timeline is built up of sounds and The user can pinch to zoom to see sounds emotions. This is colour coordinated as per heard on the timeline along with location. documentation, creating an appealing visual that provides the user with reflective insights.
Final Reflection The feedback from this mini workshop gave me a lot of insights for my design opportunity. Whilst I had a lot of ideas, the crucial missing element was the outcome and purpose for these concepts; the ultimate question being why people would want to use them. Because of this, I brainstormed from my vast amount of ideas developed in the workshop and decided that sound levels are the most useful piece of data collection as it can be used in the prevention of Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL).
This workshop was a fast yet fun addition to the project that has improved my confidence in producing effective infographics. However, I did find the placement of the workshop too early within the project, and so I’m unsure of how beneficial it was to the narrative and development of my concept. Although saying this, by designing an app, it aided my stages of ideation and helped me to think in new ways of how sound data could be treated and utilised to develop design opportunities. My final design for the Data project was aided by this workshop because, as predicted, I created a companion app to my product. The workshop helped me consider important elements of infographics that can contribute to a well designed app experience, including, but not limited to: object representation, layout and colour associations and typography rules.
My key learning from the workshop is the idea that the purpose for information as design is to communicate as fast and effectively as possible; with my designed app, I have tried to meet this goal through a well considered interface with minimal text, careful object representation and a visually appealing & user friendly design. Although the workshop was somewhat beneficial to the end result of my project, I believe it would have been advantageous to have the workshop towards the end of the project for the creation of a systems diagram, which was ultimately more important in terms of communication. Nevertheless, I used this workshop as an opportunity for initial ideation for the project, which worked quite effectively both in terms of idea generation and exploration with infographics and designed information.
PRODUCT DESIGN The Glasgow School of Art