Now your a storyteller......

The band I chose to research and create an info-graphic on is the band The Cinematics. I hadn’t heard of them before this project, but their music appealed to me on my first listening to it and had a similar vibe and style as some other bands that I listen too. Despite them breaking up in the summer, they were a very successful band based in Glasgow. The Cinematics had two successful albums, which is where I focused my research for my info-graphic.

I collected a large variety of album and single cover images by the band and analysed them in my sketchbook. The lack of colour was evident in all of them, with only black, red and white used; I took this into consideration when I created my info-graphic. Their use of typography appealed to me too, with the album/single title contrasting with the appearance of the band name and different and unique to each song or album. The use of photography interested me too due to the strange imagery such as a typewriter on fire, which could perhaps have a hidden meaning or message.

When I started to research the lyrics for each song on each album, I was both interested and quite confused with what I found. Some phrases made sense to me straight away: for example “are we staring at the same stars?”, however some phrases such as “is there a miracle drug that I can get?” contain more depth to them. Overall, The Cinematics lyrics are based on personal thoughts and experiences and offer advice and strong opinions for example “city life is a lie.”  I found their lyrics very clever and thought provoking.

I focused my research further, onto the repetition of certain lyrics in the band’s songs that help to convey and emphasise a certain message or enlighten the specific song title. I analysed all of the songs in the two albums “A Strange Education” and “Love and Terror”, and noted which phrases were repeated and how many times depending on each individual song. This gave me a great variety of data ranging from repetition from as high as sixteen to as low as two.

I created several icons for my info-graphic based on the content of the specific repeated lyric, and arraigned them on my info-graphic depending on how many times the specific lyric was repeated.

I kept my colour scheme relevant to the appearance of The Cinematic’s music covers, in order for it to be recognisable as part of the band’s appearance and approach. I chose a condensed typeface for my info-graphic keys as this style of type is used in the majority of their music covers. I chose ‘Gill Sans MT Condensed’ as it appears almost gothic and I felt it fitted with the colour scheme well due to the use of black and red. I used uppercase letters for the info-graphic subject and album cover titles as this feature is used in The Cinematic’s music artwork. I felt it also helped create information hierarchy along with the increased font size, due to the use of lower case letters used in the info-graphic keys.

Rip it up and start again

1.This info-graphic is in general, fairly easy to understand. There is a clear heading at the top, however it fails to tell the reader what it is about spam that the info-graphic is about. A small introductory paragraph, following the header would have communicated this appropriately. Personally, the images don't communicate well on their own as they are not specific enough to the data and I had to read the small text to understand the content. The focus of this info-graphic is the effect of spam e-mails on the environment - due to its large carbon footprint.

2. From this information graphic I learned the real affect that spam has in terms of the environment. I didn't realise just how damaging it was and how a spam/junk e-mail from my inbox could cause so much harm. I found the use of icons to display the information worked well as it displays the information in a different and interesting manner rather than just text on a page.

3. This info-graphic is aimed at computer users who use e-mail and are familiar with junk and spam in their e-mail inbox. There is nothing terribly striking about the design, however the different ways of displaying the information is effective and engaging. The layout makes the info-graphic easy to understand making it available to a wide audience and not restricting the viewer.

4.The format is easy to read and displays the included information clearly due to the simple colour scheme. There is a lot of white space, however this does allow for the individual sections of information to be easily read. The use of the chunky blue arrow behind the graph section does guide the viewer down the page but I think this would work if it just remained a simple rectangle behind the information.
Hierarchy is achieved through the use of clear headings for each section of information. Also, through the use of colour and text size as shown in the example below:

5.  The designer uses both Serif and Sans Serif typefaces in this design, with a Serif typeface for the headings and the use of a Sans Serif typeface for the smaller areas of information. As shown in the image above, hierarchy is created through the use of difference in size and colour, allowing the "95 trillion" to stand out to the reader, emphasising the number.

6. The info-graphic contains the use of symbolic and geometric imagery, used in relavence to the content it symbolises. This allows the data to appear more appealing to the viewer, for example the data could be displayed in a standard graph or chart but the designer chooses to display the information in this way. The use of both symbolic and geometric imagery allows the content to be easily understood by the viewer.

(example of a symbolic/geometric image used in this info-graphic.)

7. The use of blue does not seem relevant, due to the content- the damaging effects spam has on the environment. Therefore a grey,or duller colour would seem more appropriate. However the use of grey on these clouds work as they convey the idea of pollution:

The use of colour to create information hierarchy does work well within the text, as it creates a point of interest for the viewer due to the coloured text standing out from the rest of the information.

8. The imagery used supports the content of the specific data effectively, resulting in the user finding meaning in the imagery and text as they can relate the two together. The use of research is reflected in the visuals through the use of including percentages and statistics.

9. There is not a clear design style/ historic movement present in this info-graphic, however it does appear quite modern due to the topic of spam mail and the colours/layout used in the design. Due to the simplicity of the style of the graphics, the user is able to identify the object quickly and correctly.

10. The designer would begin by conducting research into spam mail through the use of interviews and surveys as well as using their own personal experiences. Researching different internet e-mail providers would also be beneficial to gain numbers of spam for example, AOL and Hotmail.

Selecting a specific area of data to focus on would be the next step in order to prevent overwhelming amounts of information. Here, the designer has chosen the carbon footprint of spam mail.

The designer would then look at various design concepts as to how the info-graphic would look to the viewer. Aspects such as font,colour, hierarchy and layout must be considered.

Through experimenting in great depth the designer would then select the aspects from one or each concept that work and create the final concept that communicates the effects of spam mail on the environment clearly while still looking aesthetic to the viewer.

How do I get here ?

My journey to uni is short, but it seems to take so much more time. I showed this by repeating the word "walk" to convey the feeling of boredom. The direction I walk to uni is very linear so I chose to use simple lines to show this. I included some of my thoughts which occur on a regular basis on my walk, such as the shelter of the subway tunnel from the bad weather and having to wait for ages at the many sets of traffic lights. I did this to again, to convey the unenjoyable walk I have to uni.

Helvetica

Before watching the film 'Helvetica', I knew very little about the typeface other than it is used everywhere in the store American Apparel. However afterwards, my knowledge of this font was increased greatly.

'Helvetica' was developed in 1957 in Switzerland by Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffman and was originally called 'Neue Haas Grotesk'.'Helvetica' is currently owned by the firm Linotype.
I was surprised to find out that the negative space around the letters used in this font play a big part in creating the type and making it appear as it does today, resulting in the letters looking firm and solid.

I found Erik Spiekermann's reference to the way he sees type amusing as he compares the way he looks at type to the way some people may see a bottle of wine, showing he has a strong passion for type. I also found Matthew Carter's reference to a particular plane journey experienced by him amusing. He mentions a discussion about employment with other passengers where they quote "I thought all type designers were dead?",in return to his answer of a type designer. I found this amusing due to the passenger's stereotypical opinion of type designers.

A new designer to me, was Lars Müller. I really enjoyed watching him justify his definition that 'Helvetica' is the 'typeface of the city', where he is seen standing next to various examples of 'Helvetica' in use in city signage. Another new designer who inspired me and I would like to find out more about was Michael C Place. I found it interesting to see how he designed, without knowing much about the main principles of typography such as type anatomy. I also enjoyed hearing how he found ordinary things beautiful and how he tried to incorporate this in his work. I particularly liked his piece where he uses lots of symbols to create the word ' symbolism'.

The designer Paula Scher, whose work I studied in the previous project featured in this film. I learned how she wanted to be an illustrator and began to learn to illustrate the type to give it personality. She describes 'Helvetica' as being very clean but does also blame it for starting the war!

There are varied opinions of 'Helvetica' by the designers in this film. Erik Spiekermann describes it as being dull and thinks it has become a default whereas Michael Place describes it as still being as fresh as it is now as it was 50 years ago. The emotional aspects of this typeface were featured often: neutral, timeless, modern, beautiful, legible and clear. The technical aspects were mentioned less, an example is where Michael Carter mentions the horizontal terminals and it is described as being "more machined and less manual".

I would say I am pro 'Helvetica' as I agree with Michael Place's explanation of this typeface being timeless. The film mentioned the fact that this typeface can be used to say both "I love you" and "I hate you" which shows that 'Helvetica' can be used in any context and still look appealing.

I really enjoyed watching this film and found it really interesting. I learned a lot from the designers.

That font sure is saucy

Getting Around

The example of type for transport that I have chosen to analyse is this car parking sign.

Font Choice

The sign uses the same Sans Serif typeface throughout the design which comunicates clearly and easily to the viewer especially when the viewer is likely to be driving at the same time. This is achieved by the typeface's simplicity and lack of character which I think is why it was chosen for use in this sign.
It communicates meaningfully as the clear display of information allows the viewer to understand the content immediately when looked at, allowing them to act accordingly. The typeface colour is also altered to communicate different sections of information to the viewer.

                                                          Information Hierarchy
Hierarchy is achieved in this sign through the use of colour and text size- the larger text displying the most important information. I find the various background colours behind the text a bit much and inappropriate as it distracts from the importance of the text information. However the use of various text sizes is appropriate as it allows the most important information to be seen first.

                                                      Usability
The users for this item are people who are driving in the area who enter the car parking zone. This covers a large range of individuals such as students or business people. Thier needs are fufilled as they would be able to read the sign quickly when driving and take the appropriate action due to the clear layout of information. The smaller text at the bottom of the sign may not be so easily read by individuals that are partially sighted due to the large quantity of text this size.

The design of this sign could be improved by varying the weights of the type and by removing the various blocks of background colour behind the text to improve the overall clarity of the information on this sign.

Modular Grids