Infographics

1.      

The design is hard to understand. Basing mostly on words, it forces the user to read all the information before understanding it.  Because of the amount of information, it requires the user to read the whole poster twice before adapting all the information and being able to remember and evaluate it. 

The poster conveys much information, though, that is necessary, because the issued topic is wide.

The poster does not have a clear focus. The information is spread thoroughly across the design. There is no clumps of text, none of the information nor images stand out.

2.       We did not learn much from the poster, because it does not interest us, the information shown is boring, and so is the way it is shown. Too much reading. The only element that we remembered and was surprised by, was that there is the most pubs in the Wales (and not Scotland?) .

3.       The target for this design is business students, businessmen, and corporations. The design conveys it by very strict approach to the design. The poster is very clear, calm, there’s no vivid colours, they are all desaturated. The poster is very straight-forward. That definitely works, it conveys the information the way it should, you read the information from top to bottom, in the clear order.

Only one font is used in the whole design what makes it very clear. Also, it is a serif font, which increases the readability of the information.

4.       The design is centred. It’s based on a rectangle. The hierarchy is working only thanks to the information being put one under another , in an order. The hierarchy of the text does not work well. The most important title is the biggest, I agree, but it’s also more desaturated than the lower title. Also, the next most important title is too small. Both of those, compared to the big image at the very beginning ( image of shops) are small and do not catch the attention.

The spacing between different pieces of the design works very well. The information is not clumped all together, nor it is too far from each other creating a perfect harmony.

5.       The font used is clear. The kerning and leading are good. The font is big and suits targets needs. It also looks very professional, business – like.  

The hierarchy of text used doesn’t work well. There are only few different sizes of text used, what makes the whole design look alike. The eyes are getting lost in the amount of information which does not have a clear hierarchy. Some of the text is written in only caps, some of it uses normal case. Since the information written in all caps is not the most important, the fact it’s used is also very confusing.

6.       The images used on the design are symbols. They are simple, and easy to understand.  Some of the images used can be seen very often around us, for example : the arrows, which are used very widely on the street signs and other infographics, or the restaurant sign showing a fork and a knife, which is a known, very familiar to people symbol.  They are geometric forms. All of that makes the design boring. Person looking at the graphics does not need to think, he just understands them.

 The image of Great Britain is put in the design 6 times, which also makes it dull.

The imagery used is also very dull and desaturated, the colours do not get the users attention, making the letters stand out more.

7.       The colours used in the design are very basic. Even though, the meaning  of them was not conveyed properly. Red usually is a colour used to express an increase – on this design it shows a decrease, which is confusing. Another colour used is blue – which was applied to the most of design. This colour is associated with business, it conveys steadiness, clearness and trust. Using in as the min colour of design works. The third colour used widely is grey. Its very dull colour, used as a background for some information. That makes that particular information stand out a little.

The colours used for “Regional High Street Hot Spots” do not work quite as well. The colour associations were not taken into consideration while applying them onto the images. For example, the graphics showing information about coffee are green. That definitely does not convey coffee feeling – the colour used should be brown, or beige.

8.       The type used to describe different graphics used on the design uses the colour applied on the graphics. Eg. the description of the purple map and symbol is also written in purple.

The link between content and visuals is very clear. While writing about an increase, the up arrow is presented, the same with steadiness ( arrow pointing to the right ) or decrease ( arrow pointing down ).

9.       The graphics are very simple and clear – they are very easy to understand and quick to interpret. They are very straight – forward. Also, they  remind me of Olympic pictograms designed by Otl Aicher.

10.   Talking about the process of this design is hard, but I think it might have started with the research on how many people actually use the facilities presented in the design. Having that information, the designer was able to go deeper in the research and find out how did those places change during the 2 years – how often were they used in the 2008 and how did it change when 2010 hit. Having this information, the designer could also interpret it from the different point of view – check how many people use the facilities in each country, and basing on that, research the amount of ‘hot spots’ in each of the countries. Having all that information, the designer probably grouped it all into 3 parts. 

After the information was sorted, the designer started thinking about his target market. He knew people who the design must speak to are businessman – who are very strict, and do like to have all information black on white, and be able to read it without being forced to think creatively. Knowing that, he was able to design the way he presents the information as well as think of colours used. He also was able to choose an appropriate font.