Information Design - Lectures & Practicals

11 January 2023 - 31 January 2023 / Week 1 - Week 4
Sim Jia Min 0349784
Information Design / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Lectures & Practicals

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INSTRUCTIONS (MIB)

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WEEK 1

Module briefing
Exercise 1: Quantify & visualize data
- Quantify chosen items and arrange the objects (exp: buttons, lego, etc.) into a presentable layout or chart

Exercise 2: LATCH

- Organize a group of information into a visual poster that combined and utilizes the LATCH principles

Project 1: Instructable infographic poster

- Study one video, breakdown and chunk the preparation and cooking process into an instructable poster

- Transmit a set of instructions and at the same time educate the audience

Project 2: 

- Exercise 3: Kinetic typography

- Exercise 4: Animation chart
- Exercise 5: Vector/character animation

Exercise & Assignment brief

FLIP 1: Different types of infographics & online tools

By now you must have realized that there are many types of infographic to cater all sorts of information. As a designer, it is crucial for you to find the right style to engage and communicate information quickly and clearly.

GROUP TASK

In your group, find out what are the different types of infographic + the kind of information they’re applicable for + an example for each identified type.

FLIP 1: My group's research outcomes on different infographics

INDIVIDUAL TASK

Pick one free online infographic tool and re-design one poorly constructed infographic poster through your own experimentation with the selected tool

Record the process into your blog and present the redesigned infographics with before and after comparison and their personal rating + review of the online tool for:

- Difficulty, intuitiveness

- Usefulness

- Design templates, choices

Online infographic tools:

https://developers.google.com/chart/interactive/docs/gallery

https://www.canva.com/templates/search/infographic/

https://create.piktochart.com/gallery

https://venngage.com/templates

https://www.visme.co/make-infographics/

https://snappa.com/create/infographics

https://infogram.com

Figure 1.1: Before re-design

Figure 1.2: After re-design

I chose canva as the infographic tool for this exercise, the type of original infographic template I have chosen is list infographic. I think the content columns should be in different colours to enhance the difference of each points since the original template was a little bit bland. I also added numbering to help the information flow.

Online tool (Canva) rating & review

Difficulty & intuitiveness: 

- The interface of Canva is simple, so there's not much difficulty in using it to build an infographic. If you have the basic skills of using Powerpoint, Words, Google Slides, using canva will be a piece of cake.

Usefulness: 

- Canva is useful for doing quick tasks since the interface is easy to understand and function. There are also many fonts, graphic elements can be applied, but the con is not every font and element are free to use, you will have to pay for certain premium fonts & elements. (You will need to buy Canva Pro to get rid of the annoying watermark on premium elements)

Design templates & choices: 

- A 10/10 for the number of available templates. Some templates are not free to use, but there are also many free choices available.

Practical tasks

Individual:

- Recommend professional motion Graphics on blog with Rationals & Inspirations.

- Share personal burnout experience on Blog.

Professional motion graphics:

BEACH HOUSE - THROUGH ME (LYRIC ANIMATION)

This lyric animation has always been my top favourite lyric video, I especially love the colour gradient changes with the dramatic motions of the texts, watching it feels like magic. The motion of the lyrics is also very on point working with the beat and flow of the music, it just feels like every movement actually makes sense and fits the music a lot. Starting from 2:00 to 2:22 is an absolutely magical moment, the intense colour transition makes me feel like I am dropping into an infinite space.

Burnout Experience:

My burnout experiences are usually about the pile of assignments. Since I am still a student, academic burnout is all I had experienced so far. Although it feels exhausting, this burnout energy is always the motivation for me to get everything done. I always heard grown adults talking about how burnout gets more intense when you start stepping into the working culture.

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WEEK 2

FLIP 2: L.A.T.C.H 

In your group, present an explanation on the topic and provide examples or scenarios of what information best utilized with each principle.You can use the given Exercise 2 as your examples as well.

My group's FLIP 2 exercise

Practical task: Kinetic typography

Exercise notes: all easy ease keyframe, parenting to null object, apply 3D, apply motion blur

Kinetic typography first attempt

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WEEK 3

FLIP 3: Chunking
Chunking is a term referring to the process of taking individual pieces of information (chunks) and grouping them into larger units.

In your group, present an explanation on the topic and provide an example of how to best utilize this technique in terms of visual delivery for each of these approach:
1- A well designed infographic
2- UX/UI, web, app, games (screen based basically!)
3- Processes (you can refer to Project 1 brief as an example or other topics)

My group's FLIP 3 exercise

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WEEK 4

FLIP 4: Manuel Lima’s 9 Directives Manifesto
In your group, present an explanation on this topic and find one example of how to best display and utilize design for each of the directives.
As conclusion, do also present one good designed infographic that best illustrate of the 9 directives for information visualizations and one poorly designed infographics that failed to address the directives.

My group's FLIP 4 exercise

Practical exercise: vector animation

Notes:

- Create graphics in AI, select layers that intend to animate, place them on separate layers, import to AE

- Illustrator artboard resolution: 1920 x 1080

- Bounce effect: Adjust scale & position, 3 keyframes 

- Apply motion blur

Vector animation - demo exercise