Info Graphics

Brief design a piece of useful info graphics.  I decided to look at the eye colour an create an interesting and factual diagram representing the distribution of eye colour.

This is my final outcome

Click image to enlarge

Semiotics

Semiotics is the theory of signs and signifying practices.  When you say think of a sign many will think of road signs or money symbols, signs that usually have only one meaning.  But there are many signs and symbols that have multiple meanings.  The sign of the cross is a good example as it has many meanings.  Obviously it has religious connections, but remember it is also used to represent a health service or when in an orange square meanings warning irritable substance and is also used to represent England.

Ferdinand de Saussure defined a sign as a 2 two sided entity.  One of these sides is the signifier, which might be speech or a written word, the other side is the signified, this might be a mental concept thought of by the receiver.  There must be a bond between the two for the viewer to understand the sign.

Charles Peirce on the other hand defined a sign as a three sided theory.  A representation which might be referred to as a ‘sign’.   An object which is the ‘actual’ thing, and the interpretent which is influenced by the experience of the viewer.   

Peirce also came up with another way of cataloguing signs into three groups. 

An Icon or Image has a visable link to the thing it represents, and we use other signs around it to locate its true meaning.  On its own you could only guess at its meaning.  A sign showing two children walking doesn’t mean much, but when it’s in a red triangle with the words school underneath you are able to understand its meaning.

An Index sign has a causal link between the sign and the object, it is more subtle and indirect, possibly with a hidden meaning, smoke caused by fire.

And a symbol, these have no connection to the meaning its trying to represent it can only be learnt, such as money signs.    

Book Cover

Brief: Re-design a book cover using Indesign.  I decided to make a book cover for the anime series Death Note.

Information Graphic Design

Information graphic design is a way of transforming raw data or facts and turning them into a more visual diagram to make it easier to understand.  It is simply a way of visualising data.  This can is most commonly used in news broadcasts and newspapers to get there facts (or fiction) across easier and more visually.  It is also used in maps and other way finding tools like signage in buildings.   

The piece of information graphics below by Charles Minard which portrays the losses to Napoleon’s army in his Russian campaign in 1812, is a great example of how a lot of raw data has been taken and transformed into a very visual diagram.  Information that would have taken awhile to gather from the data can be instantly seen from this diagram.

“A weekday edition of The New York Times contains more information than the average person was likely to come across in a lifetime in 17th century England.”

Richard Wurman

Information Graphics are often used in newspapers to try to make their information seem more interesting, as they have to compete with the flashy motion graphics often used by news broadcasts on the television and online.

Information Graphic design can also help businesses get the most out of their customers.  A good example is David Sless who was asked to redesign a customer application form that when researched found that only 42% could use it.  After Sless redesigned it they found that 95% could then use it and increased their sales by 8%.  There’s nothing customers hate more than having to work to purchase something or work to find something out about a company.  Having a website, application form, questionnaire that is easily understood can really help.

People get information though a number of different channels, mobile phones, computers, verbal interactions, printed information and audio information are just some of the many media’s out there so we have to design multi-media information systems to cover every possible way people will want to get information.     

Some of my favourite Information Graphics comes from two books called Visual Aid and Visual Aid 2.  These books take information that you hadn’t really thought about and made it into something that you find you actually would like to know about and their visual style makes their Graphics very clear and interesting.



Here is one of their designs comparing the speed of sound with the speed of light in a very visual way.  I found that it was something I hadn’t really thought about but after seeing this diagram something I thought I needed to know.

Ethics In Design

People do not usually think about the impact a designer can have with their work, and the moral dilemmas that they face.  There can me moral, immoral and amoral designs all with their own impacts on human behaviour.  A war poster telling people to join the army, is it moral for getting people to help defend your country, or is it immoral for getting persuading people to go and fight and kill each other, or an alcohol advert telling people to try a new drink.  All design, advertising or informative, can have impacts, good and bad on people and their behaviour.  So where do you draw the line between what you are willing to design.  Designers are agents of mass communication, what we design can be seen by millions of people and some of those will be influence by what you say.

James Montgomery well-known recruitment/propaganda poster created in 1917 is famous around the world and has been adapted several times and is a classic example.  This poster may have been a vital component in the driving force behind the war, getting the solders to recruit to the army and fight for their country, but it might also have sent millions of people to their deaths.

Some designers might say that everyone has a choice, that a poster cannot force someone to do something, but then does design really exist.  Isn’t the whole purpose of designs to influence people, to make a difference?

Another example the fine line in ethics is Google street view, many people feel that this is a breach of their privacy, did they ask for our permission before they took pictures of us and our houses.  Yet no one complains because Google is a big business and most of us use it every day.  The line between what is right and wrong is very blurry.

Designers need to think of themselves as tools of mass communication, everything that has been designed has a value, everything that we design has a value, and everything has some impact and someone.  Think about the personal responsibility when designing, consider the message that you are putting across.  Is it the one you intended?

Mini Brief

Brief - Create a new logo for an outdoor clothing range called Smile. 

Here is my solution

Old & New designs for Unbranded magazine

These are a series of images that I created for my Old & New design work for the new Unbranded design magazine.

NEW BLOG!!!

I have started creating a new condensed blog to post just my own work


http://brooksyart.tumblr.com/


Have a look and follow if you like my work