Final Project

When deciding what we would do for the final project we knew that we wanted our visual to be a flow chart. We thought up many ways to show the flow chart in a 3D format that was different from the usual display. Once we had these ideas, we had to come up with the topic for the flow chart. It was hard to narrow down the entire semester into one flow chart so we decided to focus on the main concept that we should get out of the class. We this main concept is: how to know if your visual is effectively communicating.

When constructing the flow chart we came across problems on how to put each of the decisions, questions, terminators, and lines together. Some of the options we came up with were a 3D pull out version, a smaller on paper version, and then a larger more novelty sized display. When trying to construct this there were problems making everything fit. The chart was too big to fit together, so we had to cut some of the boxes down to make the chart more portable and easier to see

We choose to use the novelty sized version because our audience is a lazy student in the last row that has not paid attention all semester. His name is Joe, he is a sophomore whose major is Global Communications. We figured the bright colors of the process boxes and the size of the writing would grab their attention from the back row.

Through looking at our chart they can learn how to: properly use color and hierarchy, fix redundancy, tell the truth about data, design for their audience, use the least amount of ink when printing, and overall reduce the cognitive load. Through the flow chart it gives each of these steps on how to fix them which will result in an effective visual display. The flow chart was the best way to display this information, it flows well together and it gives easy solutions to design problems one might run into.

Ideally, my thought for the project was to make a concrete model of what a flow chart would look like. When I draw it on paper it doesn't necessarily make it stand out as much as having one that comes off the paper and is taller than I am. I thought it was a good way to give a flow chart a different feeling than just another chart we learned how to do in class. We started to get overwhelmed with it because we thought it was getting too big I was worried we were going to have to start all over again. We decided to cut some of the paper so it didn't look as big and made it a few feet shorter which seemed to work out well. I think overall it came together pretty well and became a good looking project. I think it captured the assignment because we were able to demonstrate two things in one that we learned from Visual Communications, that is how to communicate a visual properly and how to make and use a flow chart.

StoryBoard

#1

For this assignment I simply made up a narrative based around the picture I chose. In my case, it was a man praying so I just created a simple story explaining the situation behind the action. I was not sure how much detail I should go into when telling the story, so I decided to keep it short and to the point. It was a good exercise that helped me to use my imagination and create a story that could correlate with a particular picture. I wanted to choose this one because I hadn't used it in my other story and I thought I could make a good story out of it because it seems to have a lot going on inside.

#2

For this assignment I chose the picture of the young girl who seemed to be standing in her lawn. I liked this picture because I felt I could really work with it and come up with a good story. The second picture is just a blur because in the story it explains how there was a crash sound and lots of smoke filling the picture. The point is that the girl cannot see anything either. The third picture is of the four people who have face masks on, it seems like there is a lot of dust in the air, which is what I made my story based on.

I would say the transition I used was the action to action sequence. I drew pictures based on each action piece that was happening. The first action was the girl who was playing and heard a crash and couldn't find her mother. That is the action part of the story and the illustration is the girl alone, she seems to be scared etc. The second illustration is of smoke there are voice bubbles with exclamations such as "ahh" "help" etc. This is the second part of the action scene. The third picture is when the kids are trying to find their parents through all the smoke. This is the third action part of the story and the final is when they find their parents. I drew pictures of family reuniting.

Charts and Graphs

I struggled a lot trying to figure out what kind of data I was going to work with. The first thing I struggled with was reading the assignment carefully. I started using statistical data from the town of Bristol instead of having it relate to RWU. I then looked on the school website in order to find some kind of data I could use. I decided to do the demographics of Roger Williams students. I made a chart on excel and could not figure out how to delete the unnecessary rows and columns that were already established. I decided to take a screen shot and eliminate those extra rows. Probably not the best decision, but I was desperate.

The best part of Excel is that it has the layout all ready for you. I decided the best graphs to represent my information would be a bar graph and a pie graph. This way there is an obvious relationship between the data that shows the majorities and the minorities. From my graph it is obvious that there is a lot more white students than anyone else.

Flow Charts

For this assignment I had to actually perform the task of finding a book in order to fully capture all of the steps necessary. I had trouble at first, and had to redo the picture three times because it looked too messy the first time. I had to cut down the steps because I had too many and for purposes of space and clarity I thought it would be better if I had the basics only.

Explanation Graphics

For my explanation graphic, I added color to the illustrations to help create a more realistic appeal to the audience. I made the pictures bigger and cut out a lot of the text in order to avoid confusion. It turns out that it is a lot more difficult to to explain how to tie a tie without using a lot of text. The best way seems to be through a video where the audience can see step by step what to do. Something that I learned from this was that color can help bring out an image, and by using text and pictures together it makes it easier for someone who doesn't know what they are doing to remember the steps in the future.

I had a lot of trouble figuring out how to change the explanation graphic. I tried to do it on photoshop and add the color and change the graphic but it ended up a big mess. I ended up with a finish project that didn't do a good job explaining and looked completely different than what I wanted it to be. I decided to draw it manually and add the color and redraw the tie bigger and with depth and better instruction.

How to Cook a Spaghetti Dinner

For this assignment, although it seems easy enough to explain how to make a simple spaghetti dinner, I struggled with communicating the individual steps through pictures. I struggle with free hand drawing in general, but I felt as though my pictures were not sufficient in explaining the necessary steps. I started out with the materials necessary to start out with. If I were to redo this assignment I would have either taken out that part because it is confusing or made a distinction between that and the steps necessary to perform the task.

Collage

My list of patterns:

1. Mainly text

2. opposite directions

3. "Start Here" grabs attention, away from the rest of the words.

4. only colorful words

5. cluster of action words

Conclusion: Although there were a few differences between my patterns and the ones other people saw while looking at my collage, most of the comments validated my own thoughts. I used no pictures, not necessarily on purpose it just turned out that way. The words I did use were words that stuck out to me while I was quickly ripping through magazines. I put them in different directions on purpose. I wanted them to come together in a pattern. I thought it would be interesting to put "Start here" by itself at the top of the page.

Concept Map

For this assignment I struggled the most with figuring out which topic I wanted to make the center of my concept map. I came up with the idea of doing judgments because it is something that connects to a number of different things such as point of view, things one has experienced etc. I started off with the main things I thought judgments come from and continued to go through the layers that came afterwards. For example, judgements are subconscious and can come from jealousy, it has to do with attitudes and also perceptions. I used color to determine the relationships between the layers of connections that link ideas. The next layer of ideas I labeled red and yellow. Each thought pattern that comes out of each idea is unique to but still has the relationships to each of the corresponding colors.

I was able to link color to relationships and connect them all together in the end. I thought this exercise was really interesting and help me realize the importance of use of color and shape in terms of gaining an understanding of relationships around ideas. Although it started out as a fairly quick exercise, it turned out to be a lesson as to how the brain functions. I was able to visualize this idea I had on paper and communicate what I was seeing through color and shapes.

Mind Map 1

First Mind Map: For my first mind map, I had a lot of troubling figuring out what my center idea would be. Everytime I would think of something I would get stuck and I would think I wasn’t going deep enough into the project. I decided it would be most beneficial for me to write about the characteristics I want to live by. I was hoping to achieve a greater understanding as to the kind of person I want to be and what I want other people to recognize in me. I struggled in the beginning to come up with a specific way to articulate my plan.

I started off naming the qualities that I thought were important in a fellow human being. After a while of naming off the important qualities such as “honesty” and “courage” and similar characteristics that I thought were most important, I started to loose track of my thoughts and I found it extremely hard to continue to list qualities. I took a twenty minute break and I added color and pictures that helped me sprout a few more ideas. I wrote these ideas coming off of the pictures I had drawn. I felt like overall, my mindmap was helpful for me to actually see on paper these qualities that I want to posses.

Second Mind Map: For the second mind map I decided to use the word courage, since it was the one quality I wanted to focus on. I realized after looking at the first map, courage was vague and in order to better understand it I wanted to list things that I believe are acts of courage or just courageous in general.

I started off flowing with words. I spent way too much time working on the details of a tree but it got my mind working and by the time I had finished drawing the branches I was full of inspiration. After about ten words I slowed down and started letting my brain spew out random words that I associated with courage. It was hard for me to let go and I found myself thinking too much about it. When I felt like there wasn’t possibly anymore I could write, I took a break and came back and started coloring and drawing more pictures. It helped me relax and I ended up coming up with so much more information it was hard to fit it all on the page. Once I finally was able to overcome my own control issues I was able to tap into my brain and make an entire

Conclusion: I discovered that even things that initially didn’t make sense to write down actually do have something to do with the subject. I guess our brains work in mysterious ways and I am very happy to have had this experience.