Information Design - exercise

03.02.2025 - 17.03.2025/Week 1 - Week 7

Guan Wee Lun/0364012

Information Design/Bachelor of Design in Creative Media
Exercise

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Content

1. Lectures
2. Instruction
3. Exercise
4. Feedback

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Instruction

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Lectures

Week 1 03.020.2025

• Briefing
• Assignment 1 introducing
• Quantifiable information
• quantify our object
• arrange into presentable layout or chart
• info and graphic
• DATA
• SORTED
• ARRANGED
• PRESENT VISUALLY 
• EXPLANATION
• Exercise is in individual work
• Project are all individual other than project 2 are group project
• Project 2 duration 1.5 min - 3 min excluding credit 
• relied more on static poster, animate is just add on mark, but it's a must
• Software choosing are not restricted
• Final Project
• proposal presentation

Week 2 10.02.2025

What is infographic

• It's to increase engagement and capturing audience attention
• A powerful way to capture

Type of infographic

• List infographic
• informational graphic using written list
• written copy
• Contextualizing information with visual will make it easier to read and make the statistic more memorable 
• Statistical infographic
• Infographic that includes graph chart. and other visual presentation of data
• It's to represent information in a visual way to make it easier for understanding purpose
• To grab audience attention and reel them into reading information
• How-to infographic
• Explain how to do something
• Alternative to long text to describe a process
• Example: cooking book
• Timeline infographic
• One of the most diverse term of their use
• Need to use icon and illustration along the timeline to represent the point such as Year, Object.
• Comparison infographic
• Visual way to compare and contrast different option
• Help understand
• Map or Location infographic
• Tend to use it for demographic data or other location specific information
• Flowchart infographic
• graphical representation of an information stream such as a sequence of different step or action
• Boost engagement while giving user a clear idea of process
• Guide people through various step
• Process description
• Describe the main 

"NEVER EVER LOVE YOUR WORK AS A DESIGNER"

1. Identify Problem
2. Evaluate Data
3. Define statement
4. Storyboard
5. Execution
6. Deliverable 

LATCH THEORY

• Location
• Organizing information based on location
• Alphabet
• Organizing using alphabetically is the easiest method for user
• Time
• Use temporal nature of content for organizing information
• Category
• Common way to sort information on website
• Hierarchy
• Arranging information by any order such as size, cost

Always start with sketch

Week 3/17.02.2025

Miler's Law of Memory

• How our short-term memory more than 7 item at once
• The magical number SEVEN, plus minus two
• just a certain amount of information in communication

Week 4/24.02.2025

Maneul Lima's 9 Directives Manifesto

• Form Follow function
• Interactivity is key
• Allow for investigate and learn through discovery
• For example, Website as for navigate to get more info for user
• Cite your Source
• Always disclose where your data originated
• The power of narrative
• As human love story more that boring fact, by elaborating information into storytelling, it can increase info to more interesting and memorable
• Do not glorify aesthetic
• Should always be a consequence and never be a goal
• First place come for Information, fact, not taking priority for aesthetic compare with true info
• Do for user, client, public, not design for designer
• Look for relevancy
• Why are u visualizing the information
• To concern what the user wants and need, not by giving what we want to user
• straight forward to relevant for user need
• such as compare with google search and Gmail
• Embrace time
• Time management, the key factor to organize and archive better result of any decision making
• Aspire for knowledge
• Core ability of information visualization is to translate information into knowledge
• Avoid Gratuitous Visualization
• Should respond as a cognitive filter, an empowered lens of insight 

Week 5/03.03.2025

constructive workflow

synchronise the workflow

start without technology first, start with our hand draw to show the initial idea.

1. understand the workflow
1. google as example: start with finding reference and information for it, not by searching the method first in web
2. Construct a strategic plan
1. evaluate data and information
2. identify pros and cons
1. viewer will only focus on outcome the pro, and criticise the cons of designer's outcome
3. create a content creation plan
1. it's can be easy if plan before doing a project, such as filling blank space
4. understand the outcome
1. understand the purpose of doing the project, for own? For money? For activity use?
5. build case studies
1. it's more for other, as design is not artwork, it's a bunch of information and design a simple method for other to view as to get to the straight point for them 
3. synchronise working file for each software 
1. it's to work efficiently, and for collaboration use
4. a
5. set a parameter
1. to make sure the timeline of our workflow
2. Ideas are limitless
3. time is constraint
4. identify your strength
5. reference is just benchmark
6. solution is the answer

Brain can be separate to two, left brain are more for logic sense

right brains are more creative, it should collaborate together to get a good outcome

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Exercise

Exercise 1 Quantifiable Information

Description:

- Quantify raw data and visualize information as a photograph
- Visual representation of numerical data that allows for easy interpretation and analysis. 

Instruction:

Gather a set of objects and separate it into category such as color, shape, pattern, and other quantifiable factor.
Example:

1. Box of Lego
2. Jar of button
3. Jar of marble ball
4. Set of colourful rubber strap & more.

• Required to quantify chosen objects and arrange them into a presentable layout or chart. 
• The information must be presented as is and need to arrange the objects with relevant indicators written out with pens to help you visualize the quantity and data. The examples of objects that can be use are buttons, coins, Lego pieces, M&Ms, and more.

Progress

DATA

First, I put a bag of M&N chocolate bean on a B4 paper, as data stages to show all information that haven't arrange in the same platform.

Figure 1.1 Data

SORTED

For this stages, I sorted the M&N by the color of it, as visual differences are the first thing that I can look in my eye

Figure 1.2 Sorted

For this part I am thinking how to arrange the M&N, I got some idea on pizza, as the pizza cut to each slices differentiate the beans. 

Figure 1.3 pizza 1

Figure 1.4 Pizza 2

Figure 1.3 pizza 3

Arranged

I arranged the bean using pizza, as pie chart to arranged the propotion of these beans

showing the majority and minority potion of the beans

Figure 1.4 Pizza 4

Figure 1.5 Pizza 5

Figure 1.6 Pizza 6

Figure 1.7 Pizza 7 (final Pizza)

Other idea on using tower shape to arrange, by using rainbow color to sort the beans

Figure 1.8 M&N TOWER

Submission

DATA

Figure 1.9 DATA SD

SORTED

Figure 2.1 SORT SD

ARRANGED

FIGURE 2.3 ARRANGED SD

FINAL PRESENT

FIGURE 2.4 FINAL PRESENT

Exercise 2 L.A.T.C.H Infographic Poster

Description

1. Organize a group of information into a visual poster that combines and utilizes the LATCH principles (Minimum 4). 
2. You are required to use the digital photo editing/illustration software available to assemble the information into a LATCH infographic poster. 
3. You are allowed to reuse back the images, but you have to create the rest of visuals to complete the poster.

REQUIREMENTS:

1. Size resolution: 1240 × 1750 pixels or 2048 × 2048 pixels.
2. Progress and submission link on E-Portfolio.

Reference

For this exercise, our topic is free to choose whatever we want, just need to follow requirement on LATCH principles. I choose Harry Potter as my topic to do this exercise, First I found reference from Pinterest, how an infographic poster should look like, than I have an idea on doing the history timeline of harry potter to showcase the timeline to everyone.

Figure 2.5 Reference compilation

Figure 2.6 Main Reference 1

Figure 2.7 Main Reference 2

Figure 2.8 Main Reference 3

Sketch

I start on sketching the style, the composition on it and think of adapting LATCH into it.

Figure 2.9 sketch

Illustrator

than, I start on working on illustrator, illustrate all figure and icon to represent the important time in harry potter timeline.

LATCH

Figure 3.1 infographic poster

To Applied at least 4 principles of LATCH into the poster, I use color to represent each activity happen in what location, putting the year represent the time of latch principle as this is an timeline poster, Color and location are to be use together, color to represent location on each time, and finally I design it and give a feel of hierarchy to it.

Submission

Figure 3.2 LATCH poster submission

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Feedback

Week 1

Come with creative ideas first by using hand, as computer will restrict our creativity, using software will tell us how to do it, by sketching or do it using hand can let our brain make the decision what we want 

Week 2

Need to consider on applying LATCH to it to show information, Information be first priority before aesthetic.

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Reflection

These two exercises were incredibly insightful and allowed me to explore different aspects of design, from quantifiable data visualization to organizing complex information using the LATCH principles.  

For Exercise 1, I used M&M chocolate beans to visually represent quantifiable data based on color. This exercise taught me the importance of precision and creativity in presenting raw data. Sorting and counting each bean by color required attention to detail, while arranging them into a visually appealing layout challenged me to think about composition and clarity. Writing out indicators to highlight the quantity of each color helped me understand how to make data accessible and engaging for viewers. This exercise reinforced the idea that design is not just about aesthetics but also about effectively communicating information.  

In Exercise 2, I created a LATCH infographic poster on the Harry Potter timeline. This project pushed me to think critically about organizing information in a way that is both logical and visually compelling. Using the LATCH principles (Location, Alphabet, Time, Category, and Hierarchy), I structured the timeline to guide the viewer through the story's key events chronologically while incorporating visual elements like icons, illustrations, and typography to enhance understanding. This exercise highlighted the importance of balancing creativity with functionality, as I had to ensure the poster was not only visually appealing but also easy to follow.  

Both exercises deepened my appreciation for the role of design in simplifying and presenting information. They also improved my technical skills in photo editing and illustration software, as well as my ability to think critically about layout, hierarchy, and user experience. As a design student, I learned that good design is about solving problems and making information accessible, engaging, and meaningful. These projects have inspired me to continue exploring new ways to combine creativity with functionality in my future work.