Take Home Exam #2 - Illustrator portion ..... due Wednesday, November 21, 5:00PM
This test is another opportunity for you to show me how well you understand the Information Visualization and Visual Design principles that you've learned and demonstrate your skill in applying that understanding to produce an effective visual.
3 files for you to download:
1. The first is an Illustrator file with screenshots of two professional visuals.
2. The second is an Illustrator file with outlines of the US states
3. The third is an Excel file with data about the price of gasoline. It includes 4 sheets, each has a graph for you to incorporate into your design (in Illustrator). There are notes about each graph in the Excel file and here are some videos which give you information about how to modify the graphs (referred to as a "charts" in Excel), and transfer them to Illustrator:
Modification instructions:
NOTE: Be sure to review the comments I gave you from the previous exam - they were intended to help you with this one.
1. Analyze the professional designs. Answer the following questions (in text inside your Illustrator file):
Initial impressions:
What do you like about the visual presentation? What do you dislike about it? If you saw this presentation on the web or in a newspaper, would it attract your attention and make you interested in reading it? Why/why not?
Visual strategies:
How does it create visual hierarchy? (How does it suggest what order view the information in?)
How does this help you get the message/hinder you from getting the message? (In order to answer this question and future questions stop for a minute and ask what overall message you think the creator is trying to covney)
How does it create layering? (Is it easy to scan and spot all similar elements or do they just seem randomly jumbled together?)How does this help you get the message/hinder you from getting the message?
How does it use color? (encode, evoke, highlight, set at tone)
How does this help you get the message/hinder you from getting the message?
How does it use text? (To label, to annotate, to add precision? How are type sizes/styles and fonts used?)
How does this help you get the message/hinder you from getting the message?
Is there unity? Is there variety? How are they created?
What do you think about the representation strategies? (e.g. the use of a map or bar chart or pie chart etc..)
How does this help you get the message/hinder you from getting the message?
How are things arranged on the page? Are elements aligned with each other?
How does this help you get the message/hinder you from getting the message?
2. Create a new presentation incorporating the map in the Illustrator file you downloaded plus the graphs from the excel file and using the visual strategies you've just described in your analysis (NOTE: You only need to produce ONE design - but you can use presentation strategies from both professional designs - they're similar enough that they shouldn't conflict with each other).
3. Analyze your completed design using the same questions you used to analyze the professional design - this is where you can explain what you've done and why.
Final product: ----Redesign.ai (the due date is November 21, 5:00PM)
Here is what I'll look for as I evaluate your visual and your comments:
How thoughtful, insightful and creative you were in applying what you learned from the analysis to this new visual to create an effective information presentation
Here are the guidelines I'll follow to assign grades:
If you do everything pretty much correctly, but your answers are brief and seemed rushed, that will get something like a 3.0
If you do a solid careful, thoughtful job, you'll earn something like a 3.5
If you go out of your way to be creative and insightful and produce a truly effective visual, you just might earn a 4.0 (but I encourage you not to do it for the grade, but because you want to learn to be an effective information visualizer).