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Patagonia’s Footprint Map

Posted on July 27, 2008 | by admin

Companies are increasingly able to track the life of their products through their supply chains and trace the origins of even the smallest notion.

Patagonia’s Footprint Chronicles outlines the potential for a company to unveil its transparency in the name of promoting sustainability (and hence, appearing as a sustainable company). From an information standpoint, Patagonia is open about “The Good” and “The Bad” – admitting that, like any human, they’re not yet perfect, but they know where they need to improve.

The online tool carries the viewer through design, materials, manufacture, distribution (among others) of a handful of the company’s products, allowing the user to explore info both sequentially or geographically. Based on google-esque maps, the tool is well-designed as both a piece of information design and as an interactive tool.

Though included are a handful of data and other numbers, I’d like to see these numbers presented in a more visual way – nice parallels are drawn to perceivable concepts to make abstract quantities real. For example: where they say the CO2 generated from a specific shirt is equal to 100x the weight of the shirt, it would be nice to have a more standard reference: such as how many miles average driving…or how many trees need to be planted to counteract this release of CO2. This reference could in-turn, be illustrated in a more graphic format that would enable more direct comparison between various products.

Fritos don’t grow in fields

Posted on July 20, 2008 | by admin

$Fritos grow in fields (or so they\'d like us to believe)$

This graphic from the back-side of a Fritos chip bag seems to say that the company is farming-focused. The visual of peaceful farm landscape framed within the outline of a traditional barn is in direct contradiction with the accompanying address. (It’s also common knowledge that the company’s chips are about as processed and far from the farm as they can get.)

This is a case of graphics gone deceptive. Though Plano sounds like a perfectly nice place, from it’s wikipedia entry, it doesn’t seem to agricultural as this graphic suggests.

“Plano (IPA: /ˈpleɪnoʊ/) is a city in Collin and Denton Counties in the U.S. state of Texas. Located mainly within Collin County, it is a wealthy northern suburb of Dallas. The population was 222,030 at the 2000 census, making it the ninth largest city in Texas.”

If Frito-Lay was trying to follow the criteria of corporate transparency by revealing their address in Plano, the company has also under-estimated the power of graphics. Their packaging’s contradictory stance will make any visually-aware consumer doubt their mixed messages.

Visual cues can add new dimension to text-based information, but when text and graphic are in direct contradiction to each other (and obviously wrong for the context of the product), the addition of visual information can do more harm to the image of the company than good.

Icy “ICE” sign

Posted on July 13, 2008 | by admin

The “ICE” on this sign gives visual cues to the effect of the product itself.

Where the viewer may have understand what “SNACKS” and “SODA’S” mean, they will feel the meaning of “ICE”. This technique can also aid in understanding for low-literacy audiences.

Strawberry Yogurt Sketch

Posted on July 6, 2008 | by admin

This pair of straight-forward graphics appear on separate pages of “Calculating food miles for a multiple ingredient food product” – a white paper from Iowa State University’s Leopold Center.

The graphics show where the ingredients of a specific Strawberry Yogurt have come from.

The first graphic is more visual, and thereby more enticing at first glance, but it does not convey the useful information of the 2nd graphic. The first graphic could be expanded to incorporate the detail of the second graphic: exactly how far each ingredient has traveled. And it could be further expanded to specify which method of travel (plane, train, truck, etc.), and with what carbon footprint.

A more detailed report (including stats on this yogurt’s Life-Cycle Assessment [LCA]) accompanies these graphic. Source: http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/pubs/staff/files/foodmiles_030305.pdf

Slow down for the children

Posted on June 30, 2008 | by admin

$30km/hour Thanks. It\'s for us.$

We came upon several of child-designed ‘slow down’ in a neighborhood area of this picturesque Southern Belgian village.

Not only do these signs get you to slow down to enjoy the art, they also are strong reminders of the reason one should reduce speed:as one sign distinctly puts it “for us”.

The circled ’30’ (the European symbol for speed limit) is consistent on sign. Painted on the white board surrounding this ‘slow down’ symbol are the happy indications of childhood in the area: sunshine, trees, swings, families, dogs, cats, and a myriad of other animals. Personalized, these tell the story of neighborhood life from kid-view.

Such a request for speed reduction is more effective and easier to obey when it comes direct from the pint-sized residents of the street than from the typical sterile government-issued signs. These factory-stamped signs only serve to remind a driver that there are staunch rules to conform to. Sure, the objective of each style of sign is the same, but by including an indication of the reason ‘why’ behind a request for conformity, drivers are more likely to adopt the concept as their own and ride the breaks.

Illustrated Story of Wine

Posted on June 2, 2008 | by admin

This accordion-fold brochure from a vineyard pulls the viewer through the story a bottle of wine from planting to enjoying – in 3 parallel formats: written storyline, photographs and a background illustration which ties the piece together. As a viewer, I’m right there walking with the grapes as they pass from farm to glass. Definitely more of a marketing piece than data-driven information design, but the brochure makes creative use of folding and visual design elements to evoke an emotional response.

Fruit and Juicy Quantities

Posted on May 25, 2008 | by admin

I don’t know if Albert Heijn grocery stores in the Netherlands still use this style of label for the juice, but I was instantly intrigued by the way they present the ingredients using cute little fruit icons on the back side of the labels. The front of the label also sports photographs of the main fruits. Without reading text, the icons on the back tell what quantity of which fruits are found in each juice. In addition to providing information, these graphics re-enforce marketing messages that the juice is 100% fruit. Lekker!

Building an Information Bridge

Posted on May 10, 2008 | by admin | 1 Comment

There’s a new bike/pedestrian bridge on the Midtown Greenway; and with it, a new sign that gives details about the bridge’s construction. (The mast of the cable bridge shown in background.) Specific data -angles of the cables- is highlighted in the graphic, as well as a map pin-pointing the location on the route across the city, and additional text about the construction. Just the kind of information a passer-by might be interested in for such a unique construction.

Such information gives meaning to our surroundings and encourages ownership.

Next step to further communicate? – include a visual tag so a passer-by can link directly to a website with more info via their camera phone.

Grocery Bag Life Cycle

Posted on May 3, 2008 | by admin

Lately, I’ve seen a few paper grocery bags that have a small graphic of the life cycle printed on the bottom. It’s not very descriptive, but it’s nice to see this small reminder about the larger impact of this simple, everyday item. It would even better to see more detailed information on distance traveled, where the wood chips come from, actual recycled content, etc.

The Beginning of the Blog

Posted on May 3, 2008 | by admin | 1 Comment

This catalog aims to feature existing designs and other forms of visual communication that inspire understanding about the big-picture impacts of the ordinary everyday. The examples posted are both found and self-generated.

Visual communication (often in the form of information graphics) can be a powerful tool to help people understand the big-picture impact of a product or service.

It’s my hope that this will serve as inspiration for visual display of product background stories.

Author: admin