The Myth of Multitasking

jenelle law law13407812 gmd year 1 group e ual lcc 2014

the myth of multitasking info/expo project research document

the myth of

multitasking info/expo project

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project aim topic brainstorm pecha kucha presentation topic research types of information design information design in e&c symbols/icons/pictograms

infographics motion graphics script storyboard audio/icons outcome evaluation

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PROJECT 4

T 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 conjuction with developing sensitivity to typographic media and representative symbols.

OUT OF FIVE BROAD THEMES TIME SOUND LIGHT TOUCH EMOTION ONE WILL BE CHOSEN TO BE FURTHER EXPLORED AS THE MAIN TOPIC OF THIS PROJECT. THE CHOSEN THEME WILL BE FINE-TUNED IN THE RESEARCH PROGRESS WITH A PARTICULAR MODE OF ENQUIRY AND BE TRANSLATED INTO AN INFOGRAPHIC OUTCOME. THESE COULD BE A CHART OR DIAGRAM, A MAP, A SERIES OF PICTOGRAMS, AN INFORMATION FILM/ANIMATION, OR AN INTERACTIVE DISPLAY OR INSTALLATION.

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topics

brainstorming through various modes of enquiries

time

emotion 6

scientific

historical

jetlag body clock time zones weather/seasons

clocks stonehenge pyramids/mummies

continential drift fossils carbon dating tree rings

cultural

personal

calendars moon phases mayan calendar afterlife

time management multi-tasking punctuality sleep/dreams

scientific

historical

psychology fight or flight physical symptoms

photosynthesis refraction electricity biological clock

medicine chemical reactions disorders

aging puberty/growth birthday

flame/fire rainbows galaxy photons

cultural

personal

facial expressions symbols

anxiety/stress releasing stoic face

light touch sound

scientific

historical

photosynthesis refraction electricity biological clock

lightbulb torches morse code light house

shadows rainbows galaxy fireworks

cavemen fire warnings/signals candles

cultural

personal

festival of lights lanterns

glow in the dark soul

scientific

historical

fingerprints memory reaction time pain

instrument pyramid curse

sensitivity level feeling textures

HOPE AURA

cultural

personal

manners greetings showing affection punishment

blinness navigation trust relationships

scientific

historical

wavelengths ultra sound echo nature

instruments language music genres

animals voices frequency decibel scale

emotional reaction fight or flight habits interaction

instruments opera war cries

cultural

personal

music language religion

onomatopoeia silence repetition

national anthem dialect/accents urban vs. rural

loud/quiet rhythm laughing

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pecha kucha chosen theme | time mode of enquiry | personal topic | multitasking

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A photograph of the typical unfocused multitasker - too much to do in too little time.

Pecha kucha is a form of visual presentation that has 10 slides with 1 image each that is displayed for 20 seconds. this is a limitation that encourages the speaker to concisely convey the main points without too much elaboration and dragging it on. it’s also a good way to not bore the audience especially when there are many presentations to go through.

This is the animal depiction of a multitasker - the octopus. unfortunately as much as i would like to have more arms, humans are born with only two.

Switching between tasks can cause a 40% loss in productivity and introduce errors into an assignment, especially if there’s critical thinking involved in it.

Office employees with constant access to their e-mails tend to stay in a perpetual “high alert” mode with higher heart rates and stress levels.

Inattentional blindness - 75% of college students who walked across a campus square while talking on their cell phones didn’t notice a clown riding a unicycle nearby.

One recent study shows that just having a cell phone nearby during personal conversations—even if neither of you are using it—can cause friction and trust issues.

Being distracted during mealtime can prevent your brain from fully processing what you’ve eaten, which is one of the largest causes of overeating.

Texting or talking on a cell phone while driving, is as dangerous as driving drunk — yet many adults still do it even when they have their own children with them in the car.

People who use mobile devices while walking are less likely to look before stepping into a crosswalk. 1 out of every 5 teens who get hit admit to phone usage during the incident.

Multitasking requires a lot of what’s known as “working memory” aka temporary brain storage. When working memory’s used up, it can dampen our creative thinking.

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topic

further research deciphering the popular myths and harmful effects of multitasking

“A brain attempting to perform two tasks simultaneously will, because of all the back-and-forth stress, exhibit a substantial lag in information processing.”

- dave crenshaw

multitasking rewires our brains.

When we multitask all day, those scattered habits literally change the pathways in our brains. The consequences of multitasking is that sustaining your attention becomes impossible.

“When most people refer to multitasking, they are really talking about switchtasking. No matter how they do it, switching rapidly between two things is just not very efficient or effective.”

- dave crenshaw

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Brains are remarkably plastic and remarkably adaptable.

We train our brains to a new way of thinking through multitasking. And then when we try to revert our brains back, our brains are plastic but they’re not elastic. They don’t just snap back into shape.

advice

stop the madness and increase productivity!

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At the start of each day, prioritize your tasks into three groups: the tasks that you must do, tasks that you should do and finally those tasks that you would like to do. Focus only on the “musts” -- everything else is icing.

Check e-mail messages once an hour, at most. Listening to soothing background music while studying, instead of distracting music with lyrics may improve concentration.

There are many reasons to exercise, hydrate, and get enough sleep--and the ability to fight distractions is one of them.

Several studies have found that exercise improves brain function and focus.

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If your smartphone is the major source of your multitasking habit, don’t use it. It’s more effective to create an environment that predisposes you to do the things you do want to do or don’t want to do than to use willpower.”

If you can honestly pay attention to something for just 15 minutes, then divide all projects into 15-minute tasks. Do one, then switch over to another. Repeat, until what needs to be completed is finished.

When things go haywire, step away for a few minutes.

Changing your physical stance can have a tremendous emotional impact. Once you’ve reclaimed your calm, return your attention to your “must” list.

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types of

information design

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wayfinding

calendars

maps

Most signs will keep their information as simple as possible in order to help the viewers get the most out of a quick glance. this is especially for signs on the highway for drivers. for indoor signs, recognisable symbols and icons are commonly used to help locate places like the toilet or the lift.

There are many calendars that have a specific purpose rather than just simply showing dates and days. This vegetable calendar is clearly colour coded and helps the viewer easily identify when the vegetable seasons are. Symbols are used in the weather forecast to quickly summarize crucial information.

Maps are complex to design especially if it is a street one where there has to be very clear knowledge about the makeup of the area - usually from a bird’s eye view. It is important to include the most recognisable and major landmarks in each place so that the user will have more confidence in their wayfinding.

applications

menus

exhibitions

Application design is interactive and should have visually appealing graphics and an effective organisation system to help the user manage their information on devices. Application logos are also crucial for branding identity and to help users recognize the app admist others on their dashboard.

Imagery on a menu can strongly affect a customer’s choice of food at a restaurant. The brain reacts strongly to appealing photographs of appetizing food. However some restaurants know that their target audience go to their place and already know what they’ll expect - so they can omit images.

Exhibitions are visual displays within a three dimensional space. In museums, information is placed in a simple manner that does not overshadow the exhibit’s objects. However artistic exhibitions will find innovative ways to manipulate the content to increase audience interaction with the space.

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information design

elephant and castle During a workshop conducted during our class, we explored the different styles of information design that were found around the school in Elephant & Castle. Our mission was to capture objects that presented information that fell in the following five categories - icon, signage, text, interface and tabular design.

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icon

signage

Icons can simplify a word, concept, or action using recognizable imagery.

They work as a visual summary. Icons are used in road signage to quickly inform drivers about conditions ahead, because they have a very limited time to process information.

Signs are visual graphics created to display information to a particular audience through the use of symbols and/or text. This is typically manifested in the form of wayfinding information in places such as streets or inside/outside of buildings.

text

interface

tabular

Text in information design is the most complete way of conveying a message.

However, large amounts of text may not be entirely processed by the user.

Hierarchy, size and most importantly, where the text is placed will determine whether viewers will notice it or not.

The goal of interface design focuses on the user’s experience and interaction by making it as simple and efficient as possible, in terms of accomplishing user goals. It can include the design of websites, appliances, machines, mobile devices, and software applications.

Tabular design is information displayed within tables. these are most seen for transportation timetables as the table form organizes the information in a chronological manner. restaurants or food stands will use them to categorize and display food choices.

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pictograms A pictogram is an ideogram that conveys it’s meaning through it’s pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Today we use various terms casually for a broad sweep of pictorial symbols. The shorthand language of icons is a valuable tool especially In instances where there are language or literacy barriers.

categories of icon design

allegorical

literal

The term pictogram is most generally used to describe a flatstyled, often uni-colored, simplistic portrayal of ideas and objects.When these are used for screen – scaled down, and further simplified – we refer to them as icons. abstract

Think ‘information’, not ‘decoration’

symbols icons 16

The International System Of TYpographic Picture Education (isotype) was developed by the Viennese social scientist Otto Neurath (1882-1945) as a method for visual statistics. Gerd Arntz was the designer who created around 4000 Isotype’s pictograms for it. The Isotype symbols were not meant to completely replace words, but to summarize and support the verbal content of the statistics.

The images give the relations, so that the text can be limited to key words.

adolf hitler

the life of michael jackson This pictogram shows what a great impact colour can make when it is used with universally recognized symbols. The portrayal of michael jackson is short, straightforward and its simplicity makes it humorous.

munich 1972 olympics - otl aicher Aicher had been particularly influenced by the Tokyo Olympic pictograms of 1964. This was the first games in Germany since Hitler’s 1936 Berlin Olympics. The visual legacy from those games was the Swastika, so Aicher was interested in developing something that focused on the athletic events without any hint of propaganda.

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infographics when people take in information, they need a new way to relate to it and to discover its beauty - No dry facts, theories or statistics. Instead, visually appealing displays of information that blend the facts with their connections, their context will help to make information more meaningful and entertaining.

Information is Beautiful is a jam-packed visual guide for stunningly designed infographics. It was great to see how raw mathematical data and textual information could be transformed into intriguing shapes and symbols that kept words to a minimum. Overall, they were succinct and easy to comprehend. I believe that more use of infographics in publications like textbooks will help students to further engage in their studies.

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By combining simple object silhouettes or complex vector illustrations with graphs and charts, viewers can quickly glimpse at the infographic and be informed of its topic.

Hierarchy is not only important for organization, but also for comparing mathematical data (as shown with the ship sizes).

motion graphics Motion graphics are similar to infographics, but they use video footage or animation to create the illusion of motion. Unlike interactive data visualizations, which allow users to manipulate the infographic and interact with a dataset, motion graphics tend to transform on their own. Motion graphics are usually combined with audio, which makes them closer to films than static infographics.

This informative reference book deals with the fundamentals of animated information graphics. It focuses on key aspects of visualizing data, current forms of infographics, and future possibilities for moving images. The publication also outlines the factors that improve the viewer’s attention span and ability to absorb information.

Infographics in motion are great because information is fed to the audience, one section at a time. instead of one packed poster that needs to deal with a lot of hierarchy, the designer controls the pace through speed and the mood through the visuals and audio elements.

In these screenshots, text and shapes are used to add and create meaning to existing filmed footage. The text usually shows statistics or is used to highlight and support the main points stated by the voiceover. The visuals work hand-inhand with the sound and enhance the viewers experience.

UT Dallas Commencement Motion Graphics by Isaac Murray, 2011

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script

voiceover for animated motion graphic the following script was the original version before being edited down since its duration was approximately 5 minutes - which was excessively long. at first i had narrowed it down to six paragraphs of content, but after animating two paragraphs, i realized it was already a lot of work. so i had to further refine and carefully select the highlights to narrow it down to approximately 1 minute.

included in voiceover omitted from voiceover 20

In modern times, hurry, bustle, and agitation have become a regular way of life for many people — so much so that we have embraced a word to describe our efforts to respond to the many pressing demands on our time: multitasking.

Experts estimate that switching between tasks can cause a 40% loss in productivity. It can also cause you to introduce errors into whatever you’re working on, especially if one or more of your activities involves a lot of critical thinking.

When you multitask, you think you’re doing several different things at once, but there’s a problem: that’s not possible. We’re not really multi-tasking. We’re switching between tasks in an unfocused or clumsy way.” And unfocused can mean unproductive. US studies have shown that students who do homework while watching television get consistently lower grades.

Also according to a 2013 review by Health Magazine, being distracted during mealtime can prevent your brain from fully processing what you’ve eaten, which is one of the largest causes of overeating. Because of that, you won’t feel as full, and may be tempted to keep eating—and to eat again a short time later.

Strict multitasking involves engaging in two tasks simultaneously, but it’s only possible if: 1. at least one of the tasks is so well learned that it is almost automatic — such as walking or eating, and 2. the two activities involve different types of brain processing, for example, auditory and visual, like driving and listening to the radio.

Kids can study effectively while listening to classical music, since reading and listening use different parts of the brain. But if you listen to music with lyrics, your reading comprehension significantly drops. That’s because both tasks activate the brain’s language center. Similarly, you can talk and watch television at the same time, but you can’t carry on two conversations at once.

Many people may consider themselves as master multitaskers, but, according to a 2013 University of Utah study, that probably meant that they were actually among the worst. The research focused specifically on cell phone use behind the wheel. It found that people who scored highest on multitasking tests don’t frequently engage in simultaneous driving and cell-phone use—probably because they can better focus on one thing at a time. Those who do talk and drive regularly, however, scored worse on the tests, even though most described themselves as having above average multitasking skills.

Multi-tasking can also affect our stress levels. When University of California Irvine researchers measured the heart rates of employees with and without constant access to office email, they found that those who received a steady stream of messages stayed in a perpetual “high alert” mode with higher heart rates. Those without constant email access did less multitasking and were less stressed because of it.

Forget seeing the forest for the trees or the glass half full—according to a 2009 study from Western Washington University, people who are busy doing two things at once don’t even see obvious things right in front of them. 75% of college students who walked across a campus square while talking on their cell phones did not notice a clown riding a unicycle nearby.

The researchers call this “inattentional blindness,” saying that even though the cell-phone talkers were technically looking at their surroundings, none of it was actually registering in their brains.

So when it comes to attention and productivity, our brains have a finite capacity. What tends to save the most time is to do things in batches. Pay your bills all at once, then send your emails all at once. Each task requires a specific mindset, and once you get in a groove you should stay there and finish it off.

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storyboard

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audio

overlaying sound voiceover narration background music

For my motion infographic, I wanted to concentrate on mostly using symbols and icons to appear on screen, I decided to use the voiceover to support the imagery that would appear on screen. It seemed convenient to use an iPhone to record the sound, but the quality was not clear and sharp enough. So I borrowed the Zoom H4N Recorder from the LCC Resources.

audacity - audio editing software

zoom h4n audio recorder

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Jamendo - Royalty free music downloads

Since only playing a voiceover in the motion piece would sound too dry, I decided to search for background music that would support the voiceover. I looked on many sites for music, and found some potential tracks, but unfortunately they all needed to be bought at quite a high price. Luckily in the end, I was able to discoverJamendo.com as they had great quality royalty music that had been separated into playlists by topic. Most tracks were free as well.

I found an appropriate track named “All Corporate” in the “Inspiring and Motivational” playlist.

icons

symbols made explaining the information with minimal words

To visually convey the content in the voiceover, I decided to make a series of icons that would be a simple representation of mostly physical objects. These would be quickly recognizable and help the audience to easily process the information.

To visually unite them, I designed them under the chosen colour scheme and tried some style variation with the outling. Some had strong outlines and some didn’t. I think it would have been better to have all the objects outlined, while keeping the people non-outlined.

water

$ $ $

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outcome these screencaps show the final product that has been translated from the storyboard sketches.

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motion infographic screencaps

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evaluation overview opinions improvements

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I thoroughly enjoyed this Info/Expo project because a moving image infographic was something that I had wanted to design for a very long time - and this was the perfect opportunity!

Prior to this project, I had only used Adobe After Effects once. So throughout the whole process, I was able to learn many more animation skills such as live camera, speed graphs, and masking effects.

The Tech Talks in the Digital Space were a helpful resource, as I was able to refresh my skills and learn about the capabilities and possibilities that could be achieved through After Effects.

Technical skills aside, I thought it was very interesting to read up about research on the disadvantages of multitasking, because it is widely believed that it makes life much more efficient and is a necessary skill to possess. I have never been a talented multitasker but I constantly try to become one in order to be the same as the people around me. Through researching about this topic, I finally understood why I wasn’t an effective multitasker - because multitasking isn’t even efficient in the first place. It lags and confuses the human mind.

I’ve noticed that this really is true, because when I engage in my homework and plough through it without any distractions, I really do see a consistent progress.

In this project, we also had the chance to present our topic ideas using a formal verbal presentation for the very first time. I could have definitely done better if I had practiced beforehand and timed myself for each slide. However I had decided to write a script and just go through it on the spot. I know I could have paced myself better, as I was rushing a lot with my words. This was due to my presentation having too

many hard facts and statistics from studies. I think it would have been more appropriate and interesting if I had made half the presentation facts and the other half relevant to myself. Since my chosen mode of enquiry was “Personal”, it would’ve made sense to explain how the subject of multitasking interests, frustrates and relates to me on a personal level.

Before any animation had taken place, I decided to record a voiceover of myself. This was because it would make more sense to work according to sound rather than trying to make the sound fit to the animation. The voiceover was challenging in many ways because at the beginning, I failed to notice my intonation and some parts had strange high and low tones. I had to repeatedly re-record some parts because I just couldn’t end the sentence right. It was helpful to be able to constantly hear my progress by replaying the recordings on the audio recorder.

But in the end, I think some places still had strange intonations. Next time I think I would get feedback from my peers and family about the fluidity of my voiceover before editing with it.

Overall, to reflect on the final product of my motion infographic, I think the symbols and icons complement the content well, and their movements make it intriguing for the audience to watch.

However, I think there needs to be more breaks and spaces to breathe throughout the piece. It takes time for information to sink in and I think some animation movements could have been better paced, so that people can catch up and fully process the content.

It was a good idea to cut down on the script and make the duration around 1 minute. The length is a suitable amount of time that isn’t too short and doesn’t drag on for too long.

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