Color

For my inforgraphic, I decided to use a color scheme with a series of blues. Since this is more of a personal information graphic portraying where I spend most of my time, I decided to focus on making the colors more aesthetically pleasing. I also wanted to make sure the colors were all very close and go together because the subject  matter for each day is all very repetitive.

Readings

Color and Information:

There are so many colors and putting these colors in the right place is a hard and complex thing to do. The major uses of color in design are to label, measure, to represent reality, and to decorate. It discusses how Swiss maps show these so nicely. Next, it discusses how color can help give out information by looking at Eduard Imhof’s principles. These are to use strong and bright colors in smaller areas so they are not overbearing and unpleasant, that color against a light background highlights data, and that place bright colors next to white is not very appealing. It also talks about how the multiple dimensions of color can enliven what users see on a computer and color can improve the information resolution on the screen. People should use colors found in nature which the viewer would be more familiar with and using strong colors against the natural background make the information pop, Imhof’s third principle. The fourth principle is that you should not have two or more large area enclosed in large colors. It should be spread out throughout the background. Lastly, it discusses the interactions of color, using gradients of color, and how this does not usually benefit the design.

Narratives of Space and Time:

This article discuses how to create four variable narrations of space and time on a two dimensional design. It looks at schedules, route maps, and descriptions of dance moves to show how to illustrate space and time. It first looks at Galileo’s drawings and records of discovering that moons revolve round Jupiter. He create the “Jovilabes” which recounted the orbits of Jupiter’s moons. Later designers were able to use this data to create new designs showing more data. Next, it looks at timetables and route maps. These are difficult because they tend to contain a lot of data and the audience is so varied. Some may be for experts and others may be for someone who may not know a lot about the information. Depending on how tables are designed, how clear they are, the font size and type, coding, and how they utilize the space on the page make a design better than others. A good alternative to the traditional timetable is a graphical schedule. These are necessary particularly in railways or bus schedules because they can plan passings and movements of the vehicles. Lastly, the article discusses showing dance movements on paper. The examples help us see that the text and the graphic representation must go together.

-Both articles discuss how to not create the 1+1=3 effect, which creates a cluttering and confusing design.