RESEARCH DOCUMENT | Compare and Contrast - Information Environments
CONTENTS
COMPARE AND CONTRAST 4
Research
Asking questions/ Brainstorming Research
Searching for Ideas
Sketching
The First Idea
Project Brief
5
Research
6 What Is Information 7
Design?
Research
10 Knowledge is Beautiful: 12
Lecture
Sketching
13 Sketches/Prototypes
Sketching
Sketching, Visualising, Prototyping Outcome
The Final Piece/ Conclusions
17 Sketching
19 Prototypes: Visualising 23
Results
PROJECT BRIEF COMPARE AND CONTRAST: INFORMATION ENVIROMENT
Make a single piece of visual communication to compare the metro systems of six metropolitan areas. It must include all the categories of information for each of the six transport systems, not use any graphic elements, which belong to any of the transport systems, not use anything preset in a spreadsheet or graphics software package, not use any colour or pattern-coded keys and only use the Univers typeface.
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
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INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS
BRAINSTORM After the brief, we were asked to brainstorm the project with questions and ideas about it. Various questions were brought to light: What is a system? How to make it engaging/not boring? How do we test it? When would this info design be useful/used? Some of these questions will be answered within this document, as I tell how, why and where my idea came from.
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
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INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS
RESEARCH
/ASKING QUESTIONS
WHAT IS RESEARCH
INFORMATION DESIGN?
Info Design is an inclusive design, the practice of presenting information effectively rather than just attractively, in a way that people can understand the information. An information Designer should be concerned about the creation of usable information, organising the data in a way that is easy for the individual to read, to use and understand it. But how to make an info design piece without this being an infographic design? *Images taken from “Information is Beautiful” website
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
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INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS
SEARCHING
After the brainstorm and the research about what info design really is, I started to search for ideas and infographics - what I could and couldn’t do. My main source was Pinterest website, which I think is really rich in images, and inspiration in the Design field I also searched for the maps of metro systems, just to aknowledge the graphic elements that belong to those transport systems.
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
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INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS
RESEARCH
FOR IDEAS
RESEARCH
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
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INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS
RESEARCH COMPARE AND CONTRAST
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INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS
KNOWLEDGE IS BEAUTIFUL
RESEARCH
Lecture David McCandless
A month after the project brief, we had an amazing and brilliant lecture about Information Design with David McCandless, a London-based writer and designer, author of the books “Information is Beautiful” and “Knowledge is Beautiful”. He talked about info design , data visualisation and the beauty of it, discussing and showing how he does this work. It was a unique and very enriching experience, an opportunity to open the mind for new ideas and concepts about this field in Design.
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
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INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS
RESEARCH COMPARE AND CONTRAST
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INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS
SKETCHING
THE FIRST IDEA I first started drawing a timeline with the years when each metro opened and the last expansion as well, based on the ideas I found on the research. That piece was not so useful at the end of the project, but it was helpful to organise some of the data and visualise better what I was working with.
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
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INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS
THE FIRST IDEA SKETCHING
SKETCHES/PROTOTYPES
What I had in mind for my first idea/prototype was basically a project with layers, where the outcome should be interactive and practical to the individual who used it. The background was made of hard paper (a 300g, for example) and the content was a world map with a zoom to the countries where the transport systems were based, with a mark on the cities.
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INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS
SKETCHING Prototypes of the first idea
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
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INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS
THE FIRST IDEA The layers had to be made of tracing paper or any type of transparent or thin one, where the user could compare the information displayed. Unfortunately, this idea was not working. It was a little bit messy, with a disorganised appearance, besides not being practical and efficient to read the information. This was fleeing from all the principles about what a good information design should be. So I started to sketch a more a simpler and clearer view, with a minimalist idea in mind.
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
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INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS
SKETCHING
SKETCHES/PROTOTYPES
SKETCHING
Sketches of the second idea
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
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INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS
SKETCHING, SKETCHING
VISUALISING, PROTOTYPING
For this sketching, the idea was a interactive outcome with layers, but completely different from the first one. What I had in mind here was a more simplified view. The sketch shows a template of the following data: year opened and population served. The rectangles are gaps which are cut off in the prototype so when the layers are together, the information can be contrasted and compared. COMPARE AND CONTRAST
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INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS
PROTOTYPES
Digital prototype of the second idea
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
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INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS
PROTOTYPES, The images aside are the first digital prototype of the concept shown on the previous page. It is still very rough, but it is possible to get the point where I want to go from here. All the information was working well together, except the data for number of stations, which was a bit of a struggle to solve what would combine better with all the other data visualisation. So for the next prototype I tried to change the approach for this specific data.
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
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INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS
PROTOTYPES
VISUALISING RESULTS
PROTOTYPES, PROTOTYPES
VISUALISING RESULTS
In this printed prototype, the user should be able to compare all the data available. Each layer relates each data about the metro systems. The idea was that, by overlaping the layers, it should be possible to compare and contrast all the data through the gaps on each layer. However, as shown on the images aside, it is possible to compare only two types of data, which escapes from my original thinking.
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
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INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS
PROTOTYPES COMPARE AND CONTRAST
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INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS
PROTOTYPES, VISUALISING RESULTS
PROTOTYPES
While I was still trying to come up with a “solution” for this question, I solved another “puzzle”, the number of stations data, changing the geometric shapes to a more simple and easy reAfter sult. Here is the before and after digital outcome for this specific data. t is cleaner and a lot better to visualise and understand the information given.
Before
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
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INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS
OUTCOME Since the paper-based prototype was not working, the solution I found was to use a screen-based format, so the project would not lose its interaction and would still be interesting to the user. However, how to create a screen-based info design in an easy and practical way? All I could think about was create a HTML/CSS “system”, using softwares I’m not familiar with and that I did not had the time to learn about. So after look out at Lynda website, I found out that creating an interactive PDF using the InDesign software was possible. That was my final resource for the outcome. It was not easy to learn with so little time, but it was not difficult either; After a lot of
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
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tutorials and exercises, I finally was able to give a life on screen to my project. After shifting the paper-based project into a screen-based one, I could see how much easier it was to read and understand all the data visualisation, and how accessible and practical it was for the user. In this interactive PDF, the user only have to click on the small icons above the screen to see the data. Each icon relates to a specific data, i.e. year opened, year of the last expansion, number of stations,, lenght of system, area served, annual passenger journeys and population served, respectively.
INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS
OUTCOMES
THE FINAL PIECE
OUTCOMES
Nevertheless, the layout was not good. The project as a whole was functional, practical, useful The design wasn’t; wasnt’s good looking, something seemed to be missing. So, after solving the functionality puzzle, the next step was to change the layout and make it more attractive. In these two pages you can see the first outcome with the old layout.
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
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INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS
OUTCOME OUTCOMES
THE FINAL PIECE
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
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INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS
OUTCOMES
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
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INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
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INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS
OUTCOMES
This is the final layout, much better than the last one and I’m very satisfied with the results. With this I finally managed to combine beauty and funcionality without losing the features and authenticity of the project.
OUTCOMES
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
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INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
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INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS
OUTCOMES
The “less is more” concept not always can be used within the Design, but for this project, this idea fits perfectly. The simplicity of the design I was able to create is what attracts me the most. In the beginning of the project, I thought only a super elaborate and complex design could solve this puzzle, but certainly I was wrong. I’m very happy with this outcome. I learned a lot with this project, and it was a great experience, it opened my mind for so many ideas. It is something different from what I’m used to do in Brazil and makes me feel that now I’m on the right way to be a better designer than before, for sure.