Tag: Deceptive

Reality, augmented. […sustainably?]

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Merging analog and digital, this new tool allows users to use their webcam to make a simple printed page come to life. In 3 dimensions!
Augmented Reality: a virtually 3-d landscape unfolds via your computer's webcam.
Augmented Reality: a virtually 3-d landscape unfolds via your computer

An incredible display of technology, it’s not hard to imagine the communication possibilities for sustainability, communicating the background stories of products…or anything for that matter. However it’s not immediately clear how this technique is as exclusive to the future of sustainable communications as it would have us believe (the tool is introduced from within GE’s micro site promoting sustainable technologies like the smart grid and smart power meters). Though a extremely promising tool, a slight scent of greenwash clouds the air.
Watch the video, as presented by Adobe CTO, then try it for yourself.

On the topic of eco-magination, there are some wonderfully communicative info-graphics throughout the micro site. However, overall the site is excessively flashy: lots of pretty pictures…but not much overall content.  It seems to have been created as a playground for cutting-edge graphics more than to support sustainability. (Though, one could argue that’s GE’s intent…) More easily accessible information to back up the claims that GE wants to communicate through such elaborate – and interactive- visuals would lend significantly more credibility to this site.
bar graphs bring information to life with visual virtual worlds
Bar graphs bring information to life with visual virtual worlds

Environmental and financial savings stack up in a bar graph.
Environmental and financial savings stack up in a bar graph.
GE infographic - Mapping CO2 Emissions
GE infographic - Mapping CO2 Emissions

Electricity Loses Its Way Home

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How Electricity Gets to Your Home

How Electricity Gets to Your Home. Context is everything. Without a direct connection with the interests of the intended audience, any information graphic – no matter how well-rendered – will fall flat.

This graphic came with a newsletter that my electric company sends out. But they missed the boat: What do I, as a consumer of electricity, care about “feeders” or “taps”? Though not a bad representation, this graphic feels more like it belongs in an introductory text book for engineers. If the graphic were to explain itself (such as why “taps” are important) and include interesting factoids, I would be glad for the mini education session.

Graphics like these, if splattered with relevant information, offer an interesting insight into the world of electric power. But it’s a fine line between providing superfluous information, and providing information that’s relevant an inspiring for a particular audience.

Timberland

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Timberland footprint label

This much-hailed label from Timberland was one of the first to label a product with details on the social and sustainability footprint of the product. It was a good start, but not nearly the level of detail that is possible – nor the level that consumers are clamoring for.

It’s a laudable first effort — in theory, at least. In real life, it’s not very helpful. Simply put: there’s less going on here than meets the eye. –Timberland Reveals Its “Nutritional” Footprint, Worldchanging

Though approachable because the label is created in the format of a nutrition label, beyond that, it’s not very visually satisfying. More depth and emotion could have been portrayed had they gone more into infographics.

Fritos don’t grow in fields

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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.