Final 6 Graphs!

Throughout this course I learned a lot about constructing graphs and how to go about them. I learned that color and images are usually an important element when making a visualization.

            I figured that this Disney topic would be fun to do instead of making graphs about different ethnicities with colleges around the Rhode Island area. With this topic I could easily enjoy my time finding images and incorporating bright colors to represent each movie.

            So with my explanation map, which happened to be my favorite one to create, I found a sell/picture frame with multiple characters and elements that I could point out and explain. I wanted to be very detailed when describing the picture, for instance, I even labeled the seaweed and shells. I did this because it describes the environment Ariel and her father are (the ocean). Since learning that red is a powerful color that catches the viewers attention, I decided to make the arrows that color so they would stick out and be easy to follow.

            Next I put together my two charts displaying the gross and budget of the films. These ones were probably the easiest considering that there is an application on Excel that pretty much does them their self. However, the point of these charts was to show information that was important to my multivariable subject. With the gross chart, you can certainly see how the money rises from one movie to another in order of money amount. I almost wish I could have incorporated more color into these charts, but unfortunately I didn’t know how to work that tool in Excel.

            With the timeline and table, these were interesting to put together, especially the timeline. I think that stars give the timeline character which could certainly apply to the type of audience that Disney pulls in. The stars and their color give them a youthful touch.

            Finally the hardest and most time consuming one was my concept map. I would have much rather drawn it instead of constructing it on Adobe Illustrator. I chose the yellow star for the main focal point because it draws the viewer’s attention as well as the color. When I did my other concept map a few weeks ago on my favorite critters, it was easier because I could connect topics together and make a long line of progress down the map, where as for this one, I couldn’t really connect another topic from the previously connected one. However, by doing it on the computer it really helps organize everything and gives it a cleaner viewing effect. Without making each of the lines a different color, it was a mess of confusion but once I put them in their own individual color, it was much simpler to follow.

            Furthermore, not only did I learn interesting facts about these six Disney movies, but I also learned how to incorporate a topic of multi-variables into several different types of visualizations. I would more definitely say that this was a good end to a very interesting winter session class.

Comic panels

For this assignment, we were to construct a comic based on Cott McCloud’s 6 transitions. We were also given four pictures and in our first narrative scene of four frames, we were to use one of Will Yurman’s photographs, and in the second narrative scene with four frames, we were to use just two of his photographs. I wasn’t sure how to incorporate two of his photographs to complete/tell a story, so I first thought I was going to use the four young boys playing soccer and them drinking water because it looked like they had to go to the bathroom, but then I found out that I was them preparing for a goalie kick. So, then I came to the conclusion from the look of the four middle aged men in a foggy background with masks on that I could use the theme of pollution and the man appearing as if he is praying to feel the loss of someone from pollution.

            Together I put my pictures together, but made sure I had gutter space, which is the white space between the comics (or pictures), which “plays a mystery and is the heart of the comics”. This strip of pictures also incorporated closure, which allows the viewer to connect these pictures and “mentally construct a continuous, unfired reality”. With pollution, I consider this a unified reality that the everyday population deals with. The transition I think my pollution comic portray represents is scene to scene. I could be wrong but from the presentation in class, I really understood that is was a transition that involves deductive reasoning “which transports us across significant distances of time and space”. For instance, there is much time and space between the pollution and how OVERTIME it gets into our body and effects us, then over time AGAIN, our bodies become ill and most people will die from this (for example in the strong polluted areas like China) and then once these people die, loved ones of their grieve and pray.

            Next comic layout I constructed was of a girl who goes through the forest while following a rabbit, comes to a secret garden door and enters, where she then finds herself at a tea party (from Alice in Wonderland). The transition that this one represents is more of a subject to subject. I say this because, from the definition, it’s “staying with in the scene or idea” and it involves the reader to translate certain messages or actions. Each picture presented is connected and is used to tell a story. For this one, I also can compare this one to the comic with the boy and his pants. We all assume he has pants on just from our experience but in fact he doesn’t. However, for my panel, I wanted the viewer to assume (from the pictures) that Alice was chasing the rabbit and entering the door to the tea party. You can’t exactly see her doing this, but that’s the point of some comics and their transition idea.

So, furthermore, due from our experiences it tells us what to think. Both these comic panels I constructed possess time and space which adds a “jagged staccato rhythm to the connected moments”. Hopefully from someone else’s perspective they can understand the transitions my comic panels had, as well as understanding the provided story line. 

Graphs and Charts!

The RWU statistic that I decided to work with was the ethnicity population. I wasn't alarmed either when I saw the numbers and how we as a student body did not have much of a diverse population. So, with this being the story I wanted to tell, I wanted to make sure I chose the best type of graph that could really show people how weak the diversity is at this school, but I knew it wasn’t going to be hard since the numbers are so radical.    Anyways, I was not looking forward to using Excel because I have never used it before and had no idea how to go about making a chart/graph. So, I watched a quick tutorial on how to go about this assignment. Once I succeeded in filling out the Y and X-axis, I found that I had multiple graphs and charts to choose from. In my personal opinion, I prefer using any sort of pie chart, because I feel it gives off a better visual effect rather than scatter plot or bar graphs. I also feel that pie charts are more effective with conveying helpful information because the way we look at a circle is a whole and when it is divided up into different colors, it really gives the viewer a realistic concept.
          With looking at the pie charts, you can also really see the different ethnicities due to the colors. The colors really help tell the story of the lack of diversity in this community. Without the colors, like the line and bar graphs, the information is rather confusing because since the colors are the same, the viewer might assume that the ethnicities being represented are the same. 

         However, I did explore using other various charts/graphs. Next one, after the pie example, I choose the bar graph but in two different looks, one with a horizontal appearance and one with a more vertical look. The vertical one, I felt, was rather confusing and you could only see the Caucasian percentage where as the pie chart showed every percentage even if some of the numbers where close together. The horizontal pie graph was a little more effective because it showed a slight difference in the various ethnicity populations.

         Even though I don't think scatter/line graphs are effective, I still experimented with using them. They appeared as if a mountain but to really see a difference in the different percentage of ethnicities, I feel as if you would really have to look at it up close because some of the points appeared as if they were at the same line, but I'm thinking that has to do with how dramatic the white population is at this school. 

         Unfortunately, I wish I could have had my graphs appear differently. While searching for statistics, I came across a graph just like mine, but each section was labeled with the appropriate percentage next to each color. Either excel didn’t give me the option of doing that or I just couldn’t figure it out.

         Furthermore, I found that using these programs and customizing my charts helped me portray a more efficient visual story to viewers rather than just showing them numbers. Also,  by using colors, it helped portray the information more clearer and helped the viewer better understand what the information/chart was trying to say. Even though I felt my graphs/charts could have shown more numbers next to the bars/pie divisions, I still think they did their job on representing a RWU ethnicity student body. 

flowwww chart

The process of making this flow chart seemed reasonably easy to understand. Symbols/shapes, colors, and arrows dominate my chart. My chart is about the process of buying a book online/ Amazon. Since I’ve done this before, I was very familiar with the process.

            First I started off with drawing a circle, which represented the beginning of the process titled “start”. I colored it green to symbolize go just like on a stoplight. If someone is looking at it, I feel like they would relate the color and the word start/go to the action of beginning. Then I drew arrows that would connect one action to another. The arrows represent a relationship between each box I drew that possessed the action needed to be done. These arrows I colored orange where they could stand out and be easily detected. I also made sure that there were questions to be asked with yes or no arrow connecting lines. All my questions had a feedback loop to an escape. These questions I put in blue diamond shapes to make them differ from the rest of the purple boxes. By using these simple symbols, it made my flow chart accessible and clear.

             Also, I decided to color the "add to cart" box yellow since many people can relate to the button on many sites which is colored yellow. So, in other words, I wanted the yellow to resemble what people usually see on websites when shopping for something. 

            At the end of my flow chart I ended with a red circle reading end. This again represents how people categorize the color red with end. Also the start and end words are both in circles with makes them different than any of the other information rectangles or question diamonds.

            Furthermore, the purpose of this flow chart was to deliver a process that anyone could understand and I feel I was able to accomplish this. By looking at the way the start and end circle finish the flow chart, it showed someone specifically how to buy a book on Amazon. 

redue-Kissing the War Goodbye; Iconic Images

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-J_Day_in_Times_Square

Kissing the war goodbye photographed by Alfred Eisenstaedt is a symbolic image of a young sailor kissing a woman in a white dress on August 14, 1945. It was taken on V-J day, which was near the date of when the formal signing of surrender was completed. This picture is represented as an iconic image because it represented as a symbol of love, peace, and happiness that has been recreated over and over.

            As for the golden rule or mean, some say it is just a number, just like they would say about a picture but there is more to a picture and more to just a number. Even if just a number or picture, to others it can mean much more, as quoted, “life is irrational and yet beautiful; complex yet apparently orderly. And some of the works of man can take my breath away”( http://www.thegoldenmean.com/why.html). What the golden rule is, is a mathematical concept that expresses “the relationship of two parts of a while with each other and with the whole”. Where this number comes across as an abstract and irrational number, many iconic pictures represent similar attributes. The golden mean relates to the world of photography because it is stating a “singularly pleasing visual balance.” Within this photograph Eisenstaedt took, some may see it just as two young people kissing but to others there is a story and a war behind it. In fact many people believe that the sailor didn’t even know the nurse he was kissing but the atmosphere and the current mood at that time didn’t matter because he was “kissing the war goodbye”, he was saying goodbye to pain, loss, battles, and hello to blissful happiness.

            Now by applying the 6 ethical perspectives to a photograph, such as the example I provided above, the image through personal, historical, technical, ethical, cultural, and critical, “these perspectives will encourage you to base conclusions about the images on rational rather than emotional responses” (http://www.comm165.ecommhawks.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/lester-6Perspectives.pdf). Each one of these perspectives looks at how we understand the image and how it represents more than what our eyes see. These perspectives involve our own personal reaction, the analysis of the symbols, the moral and ethical responsibilities “that the producer, the subject, and the viewer have of the work”, the relationship between colors in the images, elements based on the medium’s time line, and any “reaction to the work based on subjective opinions.

            One perspective I will further investigate is the ethical perspective and within this perspective there are elements that explain this perspective, almost as if a guideline. This perspective focuses on how we analyze a picture, while looking at the categorical imperative, utilitarianism, veil of ignorance, and hedonism. When Paul Martin Lester discusses categorical imperative, he describes it as “right is right and must be done even under the most extreme conditions”. When he states that, I quickly think back to when we were discussing the picture of the men holding the flag near the 9/11 wreckage because to get the same iconic feeling as the old one, the photographer ultimately had to get the same scene consisting of the same angle, light, position, and height. This is a sense of consistently and without it, the picture would be completely different and not possess any iconic qualities. Next guideline would be utilitarianism, which is the idea of portraying the truth in a photo to help others. Kissing the War Goodbye stated many hardships but the photographer wanted to capture the truth. Lastly, Veil of Ignorance can “become much more aware of meanings and motives that may lie hidden below the surface of any image.

            Furthermore, iconic pictures can be seen as one thing but mean another. They represent hardship, love, culture, and much more. From back in the day they have continued to be duplicated to symbolize similar qualities.  

Lester, Paul. Visual Communication; Images with Messages. http://www.comm165.ecommhawks.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/lester-6Perspectives.pdf

The Golden Mean. http://www.thegoldenmean.com/why.html

explanation graph

While searching online for either an explanation or information graphic, I remembered a specific one from back in the day. This one happened to be an explanation graphic of how to perform CPR. I came across a black and white one with tiny lettering, bad organization, and barely any open space. It was very busy and in my perspective I felt that if someone is in dire need of having CPR performed on them, they need to be looking at a map that can quickly tell them what to do without feeling confused. CPR is a serious matter and can often times save someone’s life, so why does this original poster have no color to direct attention on specific directions and little pictures were you can barely make out what is happening?
The first step I did to give this poster a makeover was to put the main, bold directions in a larger font with bright red and black outlined font. Red is a very bright color that catches our attention and possesses a hazardous/stop quality. With having this color, the person can tell that it’s important and should probably read it. Also by putting the directions in a larger font, the person has the ability to quickly glance and read what it says. Before I was squinting at the picture and trying to make out what each step was asking me to do. When you’re saving a life, you don’t have time to thoroughly read something or stare at for a great amount of time. Also, I put the direction font all in capital lettering besides were the first step was larger due to the importance of the step. I wanted the reader to know its important, and having capital lettering achieves this.
Next I focused on duplicating the same picture from the original poster but putting it in color. By giving a picture color, it makes something clearer and easier to understand. For instance, when it was black and white, you couldn’t tell if the woman’s shirt was connected to the boy or where her hands were directly placed. Pictures are important in an explanation graph because sometimes they can speak a million words and represent more than what the directions have to say.
My third approach to making this CPR poster more useful was eliminating the descriptive (tiny) directions from underneath the bold lettering. I removed this because I felt the bold directions were quick and to the point, where the descriptive paragraph was wordy and time consuming. However, I did not eliminate this from the entire poster, for I put it on the back side incase the person performing CPR was further confused.
After that, I focused on the organization of how it was read. On the original poster, the numbered steps were not placed in a clear and concise way. Step one was at the top right and step two was on the right. In my personal experience reading explanation graphs, one would expect to see the first step closer to the left hand side, just like reading a book, we always start from the left and work right.
Lastly by giving the final poster more space, it was more readable and easier to understand when the person might be in a hurry to perform CPR. Negative space can be good because when you don’t have proper space, the image becomes cluttered and busy and the reader might get lost in which step to perform first.

pizzzzzzzza

While thinking of ways I could put my map together of how to make a pizza, I first thought of images I would use to represent the different ingredients and images to represent directions, since no words could be used. I wanted to involve a little chef guy, an oven, and the typical pizza ingredients. I figured that who ever was reading it could assume the role of a chef and they could easily follow what the chef was doing. I feel my map flows easily and avoids confusion by my use of arrows, colors, and images.

            Besides figuring out images to use, colors were also an important element to consider. I kept colors the usual colors that you would see in real life or that someone would image when thinking of pizza. I thought of the usual three colors, red for sauce, yellow for cheese and tanish color for the pizza dough. I colored the arrows bright orangish red so that they would stick out and be the main focal points in the map, and also so the person could easily go from one picture to another in correct order. Just like I described earlier in my blog, pictures and colors can represent a lot more than words can. Plus colors with a white background make things appear more vividly and important, which is similar to the term visual search.

            The box I put around several of the steps are important because they keep the map clean, organized, and grouped so that the person reading the map will see each individual step and not clump them together. The arrows also help with making each step separate as well as showing action. Also, the pictures I chose to draw are ones that are very common in kitchens all over. I wouldn’t have chosen to draw a whisk, because maybe not everyone knows what one is.

            As well as figuring out what images and colors to use, I also wanted to make sure there was enough space between the pictures. I didn’t want to overload the page or have things too little that there is obvious negative space, but as we learned in class, some space is good to use, so therefore I left a good amount of space so everything could be evened out.

            Furthermore, I found that this map was fun to make. However, it was tricky at first thinking of how I would represent words through pictures and what colors I would use for certain images. I also enjoy making homemade pizza, so it wasn’t like I had to look up directions or products to make a pizza. I consider this map easier to put together than the other ones, because with this one we could put it together however we wanted where the other ones involved words, as well as images and a certain way to organize it. Out of everything that I observed while creating this map, I realized that space, color, specific images, and organization are most important. 

COLLAGE REFLECTION

The choice of magazine certainly was considered when I started searching for images to put into my collage. I first grabbed a magazine that dealt with design and homes life, and the other magazines were typical stop and shop stand ones (Cosmo, People, ect). I picked these sort of ones because I am interested in different designs, and I figured that the today magazines would have words and images that I could relate to my everyday life.
        Next I quickly went through the magazines and found shapes, words, designs, and people who I liked that really stuck out for me. I almost wanted my collage to represent me and tell a story. I enjoy color very much, and I love drawing so anything with swirls or fun colors I quickly was drawn to and ripped out. However, I think that I was more concentrated on finding words that represented me, rather than ripping out what FIRST stuck out to me. So much thinking goes on when you're looking at a million different words, images, and colors that sometimes you can be distracted or put too much time into LOOKING for that specific thing, rather than it finding you.
    From most of my comments, people saw that my collage had a feminine, wordy, feel/theme vibe to it. When I was going through these magazines, I was looking for pictures or words that I could rip out and ultimately place next to something I previously tore out. I wanted my piece to have a positive and upbeat feel to it but I think when I was going through the magazine, I just ripped out what I could in anyway relate to. So, words like, mistake or hurt, didn't really represent an happy tone.
      One of my comments stated that it dealt with sexual assault but I can't really see how that could be seen in my collage. I really enjoy warm and energetic colors, so I can't again, see how sexual assault was seen.

collage

Concept map

            The purpose of a concept map is to organize ideas in a hierarchical manner and represent my knowledge of a specific subject. While it took me a while to think of a topic to investigate and explore within, I came to the conclusion that I’d draw a map of my two favorite species; a manatee and sea turtle. I felt both had things in common where I could relate them to one another. This tool is called cross-linking which establishes a relationship between two different concepts within the same map. I also know a bit about the two species from previous encounters, and am well informed about their background information. Even though I did not use a focus question to help narrow down my categories, one could have easily been used. Furthermore, I will discuss the process in which I took with creating my concept map.

            One type of learning that took place was Iconic learning. By definition, it involves storage of images and sense we encounter and people we met. Back when I was 10, I ventured to Fort Lauderdale, Florida on my spring break. I can recall driving to a little active marine shop that offered swimming with the manatees. However, we were well informed that we would probably not see any due to their decreasing population. On our way to the dock, we over heard a man making some commotion down by the water. There we saw, for my first time, a giant gray floating cow, also known as a manatee. I was handed an apple to feed the little swimming cow and later preceded into the water to swim with it. I can easily recall the color of the water, the rough manatee skin, the way the manatee nibbled on the apple, and the temperature of Florida water.

            By thinking back to all this information I had stored away in my noggin, I could grab it to help me make my map. I would also connect the manatee to the Olive Ridley Sea turtle. I knew both were endangered, and I had also flown down to Costa Rica to volunteer my time saving hundreds of the critters.

            I ultimately made a parking lot –meaning a list of concepts and ideas waiting to be added- because I wanted to make sure I got all my idea down before I forgot them. After choosing a central word (My Favorite Critters) I began to branch off with the two and break off into more specific topics, or anything that I could relate to sea turtles or manatees. I found that many of my ideas were able to connect to one another, even for instance what sea turtles ate to what manatees were threatened by- fish which are a type of shark. It almost felt as if I was constructing a food chain or animal web that we used to draw in elementary days. Furthermore, by adding colors and shapes to my concept map, the main ideas were able to stand out more visible than something just in pencil. The little drawings represented my ideas that could easily be glanced at to trigger thoughts. So within this concept map, I have abstract and concrete elements!

mind map of cooking!

more detailed map (caution cooking one)

Mind Map

            I spent the first five minutes brainstorming what idea or problem I wanted to further investigate. Since I no longer have a meal plan and the concept of creating meals or even cooking, had been bugging me, I decided I’d focus my mind map on how to cook, especially for beginners.

            This past winter break began the real test of cooking endurance. It was my first time (alone) I ventured into a grocery story without the company of my mother. Usually I’d rely on her wallet along with her cooking, but with her sailing since September until probably June, I had to whip out my Christmas money and begin food shopping, on a budget and without an idea of what to buy. Luckily for me, I live with a chief (my brother) but unfortunately he’d rather watch me eat pasta five days in a row or attempt to work the oven. I’d like to think I have some cooking skills but after putting plastic into the oven, burning multiple meat products, having things turn out way to raw, and thinking I didn’t need chocolate chips in chocolate chip cookies, I hereby pronounced myself an amateur in the kitchen.

            So, not only did I want to prove to myself I could cook, but I also wanted to stay alive. First I set out asking my father for advice, then I raided my mother’s recipe jar. However, being home for such a short time and visiting friends, I was only able to stir up a pot of chili which required about ten phone calls back to my dad about instructions, like how to cut onions, what a garlic presser looked like, if you can put frozen meat into a pot of broth, and if tomato sauce was the same as tomato paste. Anyways, this mind-map is my way of furthering my experience and knowledge in the world of cooking.

            Step One: To start this project off, I first took time to think of a center piece for the map, in which subjects could work off of. I didn’t want anything too complicated so I decided a cooking pot would be just fine. After drawing a pot, ideas and memories were automatically triggered. I’m thinking this is due to the convergence zone, which is receiving connections from our hippocampus that helps waken our long-term memory and allows us to retrieve stored information. Pictures sometimes can say much more than words can, and by this one single cooking pot, I could easily remember the failed experiences I had and mistakes I knew never to do again. By remembering these, it enhanced my thinking where I could then think of many different categories to jot down.

            Step Two: Each branch I drew off of the pot was some sort of topic that I felt was important to know in order to be efficient in the kitchen. This step is called classification and it is very key when constructing a mind map because it helps us organize all ideas. This can also relate to linguistic interpretations, which is how we chose to label things according to our experience.

            Step Three: After drawing about 13 different branches, I took a break for twenty minutes. I found out that the reason for taking a break is because by relaxing, it helps generate more ideas, almost as if the brain is refueling.

            Step Four: After twenty minutes, I created little branches that where within the bigger branch, which symbolizes a relationship.

            Furthermore, after finishing my map and constructing a mini detailed one, I could see that by creating a mind map, it can really help uncover ideas that I would not have initially thought of.  I also found that by jotting down a few ideas and waiting, new ideas suddenly sprang from previous ideas. Hopefully, my cooking will benefit from this map.