Final Visual

We wanted to make a semester encompassing visual that demonstrated the majority of topics we learned about this semester, such that it could be understood by someone who did not take the class. We created a persona of a typical Roger Williams student entering the Communications major. Our choice of visual was a flow chart because of its easy read and it was the easiest way to show the majority of information without having a convoluted graphic. We used different colors matching with the different shapes within the chart so that questions, terminators and actions were easily distinguished.

The chart started with the choice of graphic, moving on to the decisions of color, shape and size, finally ending with the breakdown of Schriver’s Model. The front side of our visual represents the thoughts of our persona, Axel. When creating our flow chart we broke up the sections between us to gain a greater insight on what we were graphing. Shean dealt with determining the graphical visualization, Marybeth covered colors, shapes and sizes, and Brittany mapped out Schriver’s Model. We decided on these three subjects because they were key in our own processes in making our other visualizations throughout the semester. As opposed to trying to market a broad audience, we decided to make our target audience more succinct by creating the persona, Axel. The front side of the flow chart represents the thoughts of our persona in the form of a mind map. This was in the hopes of giving our classmates an exact idea of who we are targeting in our graphic. We all felt that the flow chart was the best way to get the information across concisely. We also agreed on the mind map because it was a great contrast to the rigid structure of the flow chart.

I thought the most difficult part of the project was figuring out the best way to organize all the information we wanted to. When working on my section I started to stray away from the flow chart idea. Schriver's Model could be broken down several ways, and within my attempts I tried concept mapping it, and creating a decision tree. Finally, after many trials and errors I was able to create a flow chart that paralleled that of my partners. Once all of our information was compiled together I was very excited about how easy it was to design one flow chart incorporating three important aspects of visual design.

Storyboard

As little Molly was frolicking through the grassy meadow behind her home she saw what appeared to be a gleam of light stream down from the sky. She moved closer to the light and couldn't believe what she saw...A strange creature was standing in front of Molly as another one came form the silver flying saucer that landed. Both creatures were just as shocked to see Molly as she was to see them!

Molly's mother always taught her 'sharing is caring', and just because someone is different isn't a bad thing. So Molly took the flower in her hand and gave it to one of the aliens as a sign of friendship.

What Molly didn't know was that on the planet where the aliens were from, passing a flower to someone was a universal sign that a dance party will commence. So Molly and the aliens began to dance in the field and created a party that caught on like wildfire. Soon all of Molly's neighbors came out and joined in the dancing fun!

For my Social Stratification class I was recently working on my final research paper on the topic of disability. During my research I discovered quantitative information on the employment rate of disabled people, in 1994. The information included the amount of men and women working with no disabilities, mild disabilities and severe disabilities. I created a bar graph with this information. The other set of information is the median monthly incomes for each section of men and women, and it created my second bar graph. The multivariate graph took both those information and compared it. The monthly median income information is in a bar graph (or column graph on excel), and the percent of people working shadows the bar graph. The X axis labels the identity of the people.

After I entered the information into excel I created the two separate column graphs. My initial plan for displaying the information was in a double bar graph with each set of information (monthly income & percent working) its own bar color. After what felt like years of researching how to do that, I discovered an even better way of displaying the secondary information. The most difficult part of creating the graph on excel was my own stupidity. I was capable of compiling the information into one graph, but I needed to have two different Y axes because the numbers did not correspond (income and percent). The simple solution was selecting the secondary information (percent working) and formatting the data series onto a secondary axis. By creating the graph I was able to see how closely the information coincided. The amount of women working fluctuate the same as their monthly rate. One thing the graph clearly shows is men consistently make more money than women, regardless of disability.

Table & Chart

Table and graph representing EXPENSES and FINANCIAL AID of Roger Williams University 2010-2011

Flow Charts

(not my finished version, just first take. the end product was on excel which I am working on adding to my blog) The first flow chart was designed to demonstrate the steps of ordering a book off Amazon.com. The steps go from entering the website, selecting the book, purchasing and reading it. Rectangle boxes represent a process, diamond represent decisions and the chart is terminated with an oval. I intended on being simple, yet thorough enough for the viewer to understand. Ideally, the amount of cognitive load should be as little as possible, to create the easiest amazon purchase.

I began the process by actually going to amazon.com, searching for a book and following all the necessary steps that need to be followed. By actually doing the act i was creating a chart for confirmed steps I would have never thought of. I already have an amazon account but I realized that others may not. The steps leading up to the question of having an account or not are the same, as are the steps after. The biggest problem I had was on excel creating the chart. It's just been awhile since i've used it and was a bit rusty. I learned easier ways to create a flow chart on excel and how many steps are actually necessary before the creation of the chart.

The second chart's purpose is to map out how to search online for credible information pertaining to cognitive load. The best way to do so (i think) is through google.com. The most important part is before the search, refining it to scholarly sources only. I really felt like this chart was a lot simpler. The steps are very straight forward, with little decision making. The biggest decision to be made is on choosing the right sources.

Marketing: Supply Chain

This was take one on my supply chain chart. The processes begins at the company headquarters, who purchase raw materials from the suppliers, who transport the materials to a manufacturing facility, who manufacture the goods and transport them to be packaged. When they are packaged they get transported to retailers, who sell the product to consumers. The consumers demand the product depending on the amount of purchases. I started the chart by placing the company headquarters at the top creating an exact circle cycle.

Shortly after creating the first cycle I realized all the ways i could better it, and increase the readability. So I moved the Company Headquarters to the center of the page, but followed pretty much the same cycle. After adding the Inventory Planning between stops allowed the reader to understand how uniform and repetitive it is. Following the idea of repetition, I created the delivery trucks to be exactly the same, therefor registering in the brain that the process occurs over, and over again. As I started to add some color to this diagram I realized i was not using it correctly, and frankly my OCD started to kick in so I began working on (what I hoped to be) my last chain.

Adding and changing the colors from cycle 2 to 3 created an easily followed marketing supply chain. The colors faded and chained throughout each step, showing the process of changing the raw materials to goods and packaging them. (Started with light blue, to dark blue, to brown, etc) The uniformity of the Inventory Planning was added by having the whole process be orange, with light shading. By coloring the pictures in the cycle the way I did, it lowered cognitive load by allowing the viewer to identify them easier. For example, brown packaged, green money/retailers. Looking back the visual now there is one thing I feel would improve it even more. To bring more attention to the start of the diagram (company headquarters) I would have added some sort of bright color accent behind the image. Like a yellow star or shading giving the audience no reason to look anywhere else to begin following the cycle,

How To Make a Spaghetti Dinner

In class we did an activity where in groups of four we mapped out a visual way to teach "how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich". After we finished we analyzed all the visuals and discussed what we would remove from it, and what we thought was most important. Using what we discussed in class I created my visual. I intended on achieving a non-verbal, visual representation of a demonstration (hot to make a spaghetti dinner). Using images and directional arrows I expressed the sauce being heated on a burner, while the spaghetti is poured into boiling water. The arrows expressed what step came next, and in one case what to do (the sauce going into the pot). Looking at my image now I would not have used the arrow from the jar to the pot, but instead tilted the jar into the pot. After finishing cooking the spaghetti, the bowl of a spaghetti dinner was made. The final image of both ingredients in the bowl was represented by the successful finish, and its eating time (person with giant fork). From doing this demonstration map of cooking I learned how important transitions are. Making a spaghetti dinner may seem so mundane and simple to us, because it is. However, without the proper directions of steps the process may not have a successful finish. While mapping out this visual I wanted to do it in the simplest way possible, easy enough for a non-english speaking audience to understand and proceed with the process of making a spaghetti dinner.