Complex 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.

In creating this visual I found it interesting to combine the materials we
had learned while trying to teach it to an audience. I found it very useful
that we created a specific persona rather than a broad market. The use of
a mind map and flow chart made it easier to encompass more about the
visual aspects. I found that it was difficult at times to display all of the
information in question form for the flow chart. The project brought together
much of the information we covered in class and demonstrated it as well.
The use of the words along with the images incorporated the dual coding
theory as well. The complex visual created made me realize how much
detail has to be thought of before and while creating it to make it an efficient
visual.

Multivariate Display

 

In creating this multivariate display I was trying to determine which popular coffee shops around campus have the lowest pricing. I chose Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, and Sip n Dip because those seem to be most common among students on campus.  Since each shop has many different items for sale I decided to pick three of the same type and size to compare. By doing this I got more information about the overall companies than if I compared just one item as well as narrowed it down to items that are as close to each other as possible. In creating the visual I realized that the bar graph with each item and each company was useful because it broke down the information for the audience. The combining of the information into three columns of the companies was more useful in getting across the message of pricing per store. I realized in creating this visual that there could be many ways to display the same information, some getting across the same message and some focusing on something else. This was an “AHA” moment for me when I realized that the message sent to a viewer using a graph is heavily reliable on the visual representation of the data and not just the data alone. In looking at my data I also realized that people chose coffee beyond pricing. The three I chose are basically of equal accessibility to students meaning that taste, quality, or other factors play a role in purchasing coffee otherwise the majority of people would go to Sip n Dip. Using the same data people can display very different messages using graphs in a certain way. For example, with the data I collected I was comparing the companies’ pricing but with the same information someone else could use a graph to display the pricing of coffee and hot chocolate. There has to be planning and thought behind graphs to send the viewer the message you want them to receive.