IXD104 – Image and Data Visualisation
This week the first class of the new semester and the module, imaging, and data visualisation. Our lecturer Paul introduced the module and detailing that this module is all about converting information and data into a visual format to become more easily digestible to a large majority of people, as images and visuals can transcend language barriers, where words obviously cannot.
Rationale
We were then given a couple of rationales to help us better understand what the module intends to teach us for the rest of the semester and what we should take away from it as designers.
- We’ve been led to believe that a picture is worth a thousand words. This module puts that truism to the test. Exploring non-verbal communication, we introduce illustrative, photographic, and diagrammatic approaches to communication.
- Showcasing the power of the image in communication the module equips you with the ability to not only create images, but also brief others’ on how to create images, through the creation of illustrative assets.
We were then introduced to the two deliverables we would be tasked with creating throughout this semester. We were told in the slideshow for the class that images communicate reiterating the point that images can in fact communicate better then words themselves. Our deliverables for this semester are:
Deliverable 1: Illustrative – Travel App
Deliverable 2: Infographic
Our focus
- Illustrative – Icons and Digital Product – Weeks 1 – 8 (40%)
- Diagrammatic – Infographic – Weeks 8 – 12 (20%)
- Photographic
All these genres of design communicate in different ways to their audience, using framing, colour, shapes, and lines. Some with the intent of being used for simply aesthetic appeal, others to communicate info and others to trigger their viewers into a deep thought process.
Project 01 – Travel App
We were then shown a few examples of a travel app as this is likely to be the deliverable, we will be primarily focused on for this semester. A “travel app” seems like it would be a very vague theme for us to work off and construct an app out of. But its more than likely, intentionally vague, to see what we will do with this theming and the type of research we are going to put into it. Based on my own personal knowledge, I would say a travel app is there to help users to find info on destinations, seek out good flight and accommodation deals and book services. There are apps like TripAdvisor offers travel guides and allow users to look at reviews and ratings from other travellers.
We look at past pupils work as well to see how they went about creating a travel app, and when looking at them I was very surprised at how detailed and well executed they were. Which in honesty kind off intimidates me when thinking if how I will go about creating my own travel app.
Project 02 – Infographic
We were then shown infographic examples from students also, so we could get a better idea of what our infographics should look like. Infographics are used as a way for viewers to easily digest information using both a visual and textual format. Combing the two to help make the data the designer is sharing with the viewers, more memorable and more likely to stick in people’s heads, as most of us are visual learners. Therefore, it would make sense why people would create infographics that showcase their intended message in a short and simple structure.
Narrative
Simply, when we combine images, we can tell a story. We as people can “read” pictures; a narrative comes from a good picture. A narrative is the use visuals to a record or documentary that tells a story or conveys a message.
Juxtaposition
We were then introduced to juxtaposition for imaging, it was stated in the slideshow “When we juxtapose images, we can make new stories possible”. Which I assume means that depending on the choice of images used in our work can drastically change the messaging and interpretations of our future design projects. Image juxtaposition gets used quite a lot in photography, the definition I found can simply be used for all juxtaposition in design and imaging. “ we can say that juxtaposition photography involves combining two or more elements in the same picture, highlighting the interesting contrast between them, to create an eye-catching and thought-provoking image.” (Taylor, 2021)
Master and Apprentice exercise
We were then introduced to the master – apprentice exercises we would be doing along side the Travel app project. It seems obvious that this entire series of exercises are given to us to try and help with developing our skills as designers using software to recreate small, simple images. To gain the habit of breaking things apart and analysing visuals in a more efficient way as designers.
We then once again outlined what we would be doing over the course of the next few weeks:
- An Icon Set
- Trains, Planes and Automobiles
- Weeks 01 + 02
- A City Illustrations
- Amsterdam, Paris?
- Week 03 + 04
- An Interface
- Travel App
This week we will be focusing on the icon set of travel items, recreating shape for shape and colour for colour. We advised to use either adobe illustrator or Figma to create these icon sets, as they are the most well suited for creating visual graphic designs. We were given two different sets of icons to recreate: