Blog Post 8: Infographic

Errors are and electronic Glasgow based band. Signed to Mogwai's Rock Action Label. I chose them over other independat labels as they (to me) where a little bit different and interesting compared to the usual bands.

Consisting of four members Simon Ward, Stephen Livingstone, Greg Paterson and James Hamilton. The four member play between them the keys, guitars, drums and programming. Most notable is that the music does not have lyrics.

Having researched and studied the band I uncovered that they have a very original sound.  Their music is not like typical dance music it is more subdued with bursts of life in sections. Often it could be said that certain sections are repeated. Also I explored the band visually through their album covers and noticed that the often repeat patters such as circles, squares, rectangles and triangles. They have a very mixed look varied from hand drawn typefaces to bold sans serif ones. And often use black and white mixed with one other colour.

This research informed my data allowing me to begin to design my info graphic. I wanted the overall design to have a bold and notable appeal. I used the font Helvetica throughout as it is a strong sans serif font with a variety of weight to which i could use to my advantage. I used Helvetica black for the headline - name of the band. This immediately is the main focus as it is much larger than the other type used. I then used regular and light in order to create structure and a strong hierarchy. I tried to enhance the hierarchy through left alignment of almost all the type. This leads the viewers eye continuously down the left hand side of the page. In order to create visual excitement and really show the feel of the band is shown in the key and the breakdown of the songs into the instruments used in different parts. I illustrated simple shapes from the album covers and used them to convey a specific instrument. This created patterns to visually describe the music. I aim to print this on an off white cartridge paper. This keeps it toned down highlighting the illustrations and allowing them to do all the talking.

Blog Post 7: Rip it up and start again.

The infographic we were assigned was the Anatomy of the librarian.

 We concluded that there was far too much information with a hierarchy which is not entirely clear. The same size of font is used throughout making it quite dull and a lot of information has been used in a small space making it sore to the eyes.
 The bulk of the learning came from the illustrated sections. These attracted us more as we were inclined to read some of the information around it. They were beautifully drawn and the glasses in particular were quite ironic as the were a pair that you would stereotypically associate with an old librarian.
  The designer engages its user through the use of the illustrations. The illustrations are successful as they create a variety of appeals and can be seen in different ways from the wider audience. The target audience for this poster is most likely library users and librarians. The information is very much targeted at someone who is interested in librarians as it very much explored there lives socially and professional life. The designer clearly wanted to portray as much information to the user as possible. There needs were not fully thought about as it is very full and would benefit from some white space.
  The format seems to be on a grid where two and three columns are used. It is very full and it appears as though the designer felt he needed to fill every inch of the page with information. 
  The type in the heading is used very well, mixed with illustration, it appears very beautiful and 'librarian' like it has and elegance and age about it which is very librarian. Type is not used that well throughout the rest of the design. They seem to have used the same size font throughout and not varied the weights where it would have created a better feel and communicated to the audience better.
  Symbolic imagery is used in certain aspects. Particularly in the graph with the shoes and the graph with the glasses. It has a very fluid and organic appeal. The shoe graph makes it a bit more exciting showing the difference in male and female. The red heel looks very fancy and has associations with a young female librarian whereas the male shoe looks old and associations of an old man. The information then explains what percentage work as male or female librarians.
  The colour used are very dulled pastel The colours of blue red and browns are used in the books and create an old presence to the design. The red used stands out very much and then is used to highlight specific areas of text in relation to the illustration. For example the red half of the head's information is red and the grey is grey.
  Type and imagery do not work too great mainly because a lot of the information is stupid. In the graph about hourly rate the comparison is to a nurse and then everything. How is this logical? Overall it is very confusing.  However the percentage of librarians wearing classes looks really good together with the large Bodoni like font.
  The style is very simple and we were not sure if it referenced a specific style that enhanced its appeal yet.
 
Design Process.

Firstly research infographics
Gather information about library's -visit-experience-interview-variety of different ones.
Identify areas in which could have illustration incorporated that add more and create excitement.
Have an understanding/research human anatomy to understand brain and information for librarians anatomy.
Think about stereotype's and how this could enhance the user experience.
Font choice
Colour choice
Layout.

Blog Post 6: How do I get there?