Visual Communication – Background Stories

Pollinator-Friendly Solar at the Fair

Posted on August 14, 2018 | by admin

For this year's Minnesota State Fair, we've teamed up with Fresh Energy and Connexus Energy to create a three-dimensional display to draw attention to a new way of thinking about renewable energy: Pollinator-friendly solar.

Our display, part of "The Common Table: Minnesota Eats" exhibit in the Agriculture Horticulture Building, highlights how our region is leading the way in policymaking and on-farm efforts to bring more pollinator habitat to otherwise underutilized land. You can see the exhibit in-person from August 23 through September 3, along with nearly two million other fair-goers (who famously flock to the event for all kinds of foods and creations "on a stick"). Of course, our sticks — a series of cutout landscape elements and hide-and-seek pollinators for you to find — will be glued down, but you're sure to learn a lot about the powerful partnership of pollinators and solar energy!

Selecting the Right Graph

Posted on May 23, 2018 | by admin

We're often asked, "What type of graph should I use for this data?" We also see a lot of variety in how similar data sets are visualized (some working better than others). There's plenty of debate out there, so how do you decide?

We've created this visual guide to recommend best practices, which starts with a clear understanding of your content — what are you trying to show? There are options within each category based on the type of data in your set (and ironically, many of the standard graph types tend to share food-based titles... by the time you decide between Pies, Bars, and Donuts, you might be tempted to hit the bakery!). Which graph will you apply to your next datavis project?

Planning for Growth

Posted on November 22, 2017 | by admin

Online engagement tool shapes the City’s future

The latest phase of our work with the City of Minneapolis launched this week: A new online, interactive engagement tool designed to involve residents in shaping the next 20 years of City development.

This visual story utilizes a scrolling technique called “parallax,” which creates a deeper, more immersive online experience. Visitors to the page will be introduced to City planning information in a new & fun way, and have the opportunity to leave feedback on the action items presented. Their comments will inform Minneapolis planners’ decision-making on future City policies.

Feedback collected during this phase of development will go into the City’s Comprehensive Plan, titled Minneapolis 2040. The plan will cover topics such as housing, job access, the design of new buildings, as well as how we use our streets — all in the name of smart, sustainable development.

Check out the live site at growth.minneapolis2040.com

‘Emotional’ Sustainability for a Post-Truth World

Posted on January 17, 2017 | by admin

Visual storytelling reveals context and appeals to our individual beliefs

Riding the tails of Brexit and the U.S. presidential election, Oxford Dictionaries has selected “post-truth” as 2016’s international word of the year.

It’s not hard to believe, given the events of the past year, to see how people do not make decisions based purely on fact. Appeals to our personal beliefs and emotional centers are important. Data alone does not influence decisions. To a large portion of society, facts simply do not matter.

Feelings matter. Connection matters.
I can spout off statistics and information, but unless you — my audience — feel connected to it, it won’t make a difference. The author of ‘How to Convince Someone When Facts Fail’ also describes the mental stress that we endure when we hold two conflicting beliefs at the same time (a.k.aCognitive Dissonance). He acknowledges the need for a calm discussion when presenting new information — and new facts — to an individual with a strong pre-determined worldview. So what are some ways visual communication can help make sustainability information appeal to our emotions, and allow us to gradually open our minds to new information?

Here are a few key points and resources:

Show & Tell Data as a Story
Numbers, by themselves, are not generally very welcoming. Deciphering numbers and comparisons requires a lot of effort and time — particularly given that 65% of the population are visual learners (Mind Tools, 1998). Icons and illustrations can provide context for the numbers. Diagrams can show how a set of data flows over time.

Use Visuals that Connect to Individuals
This research shows how people interpret visual images of climate change. The report finds, for example, that protest images do not resonate, however images of real people taking action in a local context do resonate.

Communicate the Context of your Social or Environmental Goal
Show individuals how bigger picture climate consequences will impact their personal lives. This can mean mapping out the narrative in a visual infographic or developing a diagram to walk audiences through how a larger goal is connected to individuals and their families.

The [Unequal] Power of Images

Posted on March 21, 2016 | by admin

When to use a photo vs. an icon

There are many style options available when it comes to communicating information visually. Photos excel at evoking emotion in individual scenarios, when the photograph literally represents what is being communicated.

Icon-focused infographics tend to group information on a more broad level: reflecting general patterns and information rather than specific, individual – and quite often emotional – experiences.

Consider this example: This tree photo points to a very specific situation and can evoke memories. Maybe it reminds you of one that you played under growing up. Alternatively, perhaps the species of tree on this rolling, green landscape looks nothing like where you live. That makes it harder to relate to.

An icon, on the other hand, is more versatile. The icon evokes the idea of ‘tree’ regardless of your own memories. It is perceived more generally as ‘tree’ rather than ‘deciduous tree’ or ‘kinda-like-our-climbing-tree’.

In short:

Use a photo for specific circumstances, details, case studies and people
Use an icon for general concepts, broad mapping, global systems and universal ideas.

Case studies are a great place to use photographs because they need to communicate details of a specific story. When the desire is to communicate a more global, standardized concept or structure, icons are generally a better choice. The 2 approaches can certainly be combined in a well-thought-out visual.

Motivating Sustainable Behavior

Posted on July 22, 2015 | by admin

How can we help people act more sustainably?

According to a series of studies from the Harvard Business Review, ‘seeing’ ourselves in the future helps us make decisions that prioritize long-term benefits to our future selves (over short-term gains).

One study had half of participants interview digitally-aged avatars of themselves. Then participants did a seemingly-unrelated exercise to divide a budget. Those who had interacted with their future selves allocated twice as much of the hypothetical budget to retirement.

There’s already a lot of literature showing that response is stronger when you people are given vivid examples -those that touch them emotionally. So these studies seem to suggest that long-term thinking can be accessed through establishing emotional connection with the future.

In sustainability, ’the future’ is already plastered throughout tag lines and campaigns: “for our children” or “without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” are common examples. However, these phrases often aren’t positioned in a way that helps the ‘future self’ of individuals become visible. Maybe instead of talking about the future in vague, society-oriented terms, we should spend more time helping people see themselves in their own future. This could involve helping people understand the ways in which data or information parallels with their own, individual future. Or how trends over time align with their children’s existence.

So let’s help people first envision their own futures; in order to prepare individuals to understand the important role that sustainability plays in life.

Artist Residency to Visualize Impacts in Malmö, Sweden

Posted on October 11, 2010 | by admin

Arlene has begun an artist residency at interactive center for new media MEDEA, where she will develop work to visualize the impacts/benefits of bicycling for the Västra Hamnen area of Malmö in order to encourage and celebrate a culture of bicycling.

More on the progress of the project, which will run Oct-Dec 2010, is posted on the MEDEA site.

WORK-IN-PROGRESS

Cell Size Comparison

Posted on November 2, 2009 | by admin | 3 Comments

This nifty flash tool from the University of Utah’s Genetic’s lab lets viewers zoom into an image to experience the size of increasingly small cells relative to each other. Such an interactive and immersive experience helps people understand more about the world around them – the very, very small world.

Zooming into increasingly small size comparison of cells.

A useful application based on some of the same principles behind the Eames’ Powers of 10.

Sourcemap for product ingredients

Posted on October 5, 2009 | by admin | 1 Comment

Sourcemap, developed by an MIT-based team, uses Google Earth to map the origins of materials in products. A view inside the open-source application also showcases each ingredient’s carbon footprint – which I hope is an indication that it is only a matter of time until tools like this will expand to highlight other Life-Cycle Analysis data.

Computer components as mapped by a Sourcemap user.

This tool does a great job communicating that ‘ingredients’ in our products are connected to the world around us. As a next step, it would be great to show the carbon impacts in terms that are relevant to consumers – ‘showing’ what the quantity means rather than just stating the number. And to tell more of a story to help consumers frame these big-picture ideas within their everyday experience.

Communication Design Recognized in Back-Story-Telling Project

Posted on September 2, 2009 | by admin

For the first time, the prestigious INDEX Design Awar d has a winner from the field of communication design. ‘PIG 05049’ is a primarily-visual book, designed and conceived by Christien Meindertsma, that traces all the products made from one pig.

Visual spread from the book 'Pig 05049' — Visual spread from the book

Meindertsma’s intent for the project:

Help people in a highly mechanized and “packaged” world understand how things are made and where they come from so that the resources involved can be cared for by enlightened, informed people.

It’s nice to see the role of communication design to build awareness being recognized within the design community.

Read a previous entry on Meindertsma’s project here.

Tag: Visual Communication