Core Concepts- Exercise 20: Giving Information
Find some examples of information graphics. For example bus timetables, city maps, diagrams or representations of statistical data. Look at the way they are designed and try and work out the decisions the designer made. What can you learn from them and when would it be appropriate to use a similar design solution?
For this exercise you are going to describe your immediate surroundings using information graphics; this could be a plan of your desk, the layout of your house, the arrangement of objects in your cupboards or your morning journey; anything will do.
Before you start you will need to think about scale and about how you will break down the information for your design. Create a graphic that represents an aerial or front on view of your location. Be mindful of the hierarchy of the elements in the composition and the dynamics needed to draw the viewer’s eye from one stage to the next. Use typography, numbers and colours to describe what is being represented. You may want to produce a key to help us understand what is being shown, as well as a diagram title to put things in context.
I began by researching some examples of information graphics, and came across the website Venngage which provided some interesting information and examples.
Having looked at modern day examples of information graphics and their uses I wanted to understand more of the history of this form of design. I came across a great article on Smithsonian which provided some really interesting information:
‘The idea of visualizing data is old: After all, that’s what a map is—a representation of geographic information—and we’ve had maps for about 8,000 years. But it was rare to graph anything other than geography. Only a few examples exist: Around the 11th century, a now-anonymous scribe created a chart of how the planets moved through the sky. By the 18th century, scientists were warming to the idea of arranging knowledge visually. The British polymath Joseph Priestley produced a “Chart of Biography,” plotting the lives of about 2,000 historical figures on a timeline. A picture, he argued, conveyed the information “with more exactness, and in much less time, than it [would take] by reading.”’
‘By the middle of the 19th century, “moral statistics” were booming and scientists were using data visualization to quash epidemics. When cholera ravaged London in 1854, the physician John Snow mapped out incidences, and noticed a large cluster around the water pump on Broad Street. The skeptical city council closed the pump, the epidemic subsided, and Snow’s map helped nudge forward a crucial idea: that diseases could be caused by contact with an as-yet-unknown contagion—bacteria.’
‘One true believer was the British nurse Florence Nightingale. As a child she was so bewitched by math that she organized information about her gardening in tables. Statistics, she said, were a tool to know “the thought of God”; when weary, a glance at a table of numbers was “perfectly reviving.”’
This design was created by Charles Darwin in 1857 and is in my opinion even more brilliant than the tube map. The circular layout not only presents the information metaphorically (circle of life etc) but allows the information to be presented simply, be legible and in the shape of the earth. The diagram uses a colour coded key to present the time periods of the earth. The labelled shapes that point into these colours present species that were alive/survived through the coloured time periods. This is such a simple, yet clever way of presenting the information, again simplicity as presented in the tube map is vital when creating an information graphic.
Collecting information was hardly done throughout history, which began to change in the 19th century when people collected and wanted to publish information. Someone who began to help change the way information was presented was the Scottish inventor and economist William Playfair. In 1786 he published a chart showing the price of wheat in the UK against the cost of labor.
Florence Nightingale’s “rose diagrams” showing causes of mortality.
I found this diagram particularly enticing. Visually, despite the horrific data it is created from, I found it interesting and easy to understand. The non linear format of the diagram is clever, and clearly labelled and laid out. The dotted line connecting the diagrams is well thought out and literally connects the two into one.
Arguably, at least for me the most recognisable information graphic is the London Underground map. Originally designed by Harry Beck in 1933, he knew that geographical accuracy wasn’t what people needed, they needed clear instructions of how to get from A to B.
If the map were in black and white, it would be impossible to navigate, the use of different colours laid out in a key are vital. A key, or colour coded system is something to note when designing my own information graphic, will it be needed?
The interchange sections, and disabled access etc are also clearly labelled with the key. This design is so brilliantly simple, that it has hardly changed since its original design. Simplicity is again a huge factor to the practical use of an information graphic.
I began planning for this task by jotting down a list of ideas, the idea of a daily routine (on a day I’m not at work) came to mind. I drew up a quick ‘plan’ to get the idea written down. This was clearly inspired by the Nightingale and Darwin infographics. I had a few questions I needed to ask myself:
What title shall I use?
Do I need any subtitles?
How will I present this information clearly?
Does any information need to be colour coded?
What’s the simplest composition and hierarchy of elements?
I worked on this idea further and came up with a more clear presentation. I categorised meals as eating and read/film/tv as ‘recreation’ to make the categories and colour system as simple as possible. I wanted a colouring system as I feel it is easier to read a list, and relate the colour to the activity, rather than reading each word individually. This allows the viewer to also see where a certain colour is and how much it takes up of the circle, which in turn presents its importance.
The colours chosen to represent each category are the colours which best represent the activity, inspired by Johannes Itten’s colour theory, and the emotional use of colour by Mark Rothko. Eating being green, alluring to health and importance; work being red, an energetic important colour relating to danger (focus,) Exercise being orange- a positive energetic colour, a break being yellow- calming and new (fresh mind set,) recreation being pink- a positive happy colour to represent enjoyment and sleep being blue, a calming quiet colour.
The title ‘A productive day’ is used because this applies to 3 days a week where I am not at work, or having a day off from productive work. This is the ideal day that works. The times have ‘AM’ or ‘PM’ where these time periods start/finish, the gaps in between are those timeframes. The ‘main’ day circle is larger, leading to the other smaller circle which is mainly sleep. I feel like this is the hierarchy of importance in the day, and is represented by the size of the circle. The line between the 2 circles I am unsure about, whether to use a dotted or straight line, I will have to test to see which makes the connection easily legible.
I used Photoshop to replicate my design. I began by using circular shapes, and breaking them down into sections, then colouring them according to my key. I produced the elements separately and then combined them on a separate file. I added a few lines between the circles. The lines don’t need to include arrows because it doesn’t matter where you start viewing the diagram from, even though the left circle is larger- implying it’s more important. You can follow the diagram from any point and understand the time and what activity it happening when.
Final:
I decided on Neue Grotesk font to be used. This font is modern, bold and easily legible, making it perfect for an information graphic. I made sure that the kerning was slightly larger than usual to improve clarity. The key, is colour coded to the elements on the diagrams, I feel like this is obvious, and didn’t need a subheading. I may be wrong with this and will ask others for feedback and update accordingly. The colours I chose corresponded to the ‘feel’ of the action as described previously, the hues I used were muted simple block colours that all contrast from each other. The end result isn’t very aesthetically pleasing, but in this case function is of utmost importance. I was focusing on creating an infographic in it’s simplest and most functional form, and I hope I have achieved this. I feel like the graphic serves it’s purpose, but I would be interested in trying different methods of presenting the data.
