Critique of a Public Space Open Forum

As I have said in the past that I like the more visual side of information design I thought it would be interesting to look at this in the real world. I thought about airports, bus stations and other public places like this but I decided that most of us are familiar with and don’t even think about out local retail stores.

 I chose Wal-Mart for this blog post.  The store is a great example of information design at work.

Wal-Mart has been using this design concept for a long time and it is still working well.

One of the first things people will notice about this design concept is that it uses mostly the same colors through- out the store both inside and out. The blue background behind the yellow logo is usually all we need to know we are looking at a Wal-Mart store.

These colors tend to clash allowing the viewer to instantly recognize the logo. However at the same time these colors also complement one another making it pleasant to look at. Because the colors are the way they are the store continues the use of the two colors all over their store both for you and for themselves.  Keeping the color pattern uniform through- out the store make finding your way around much simpler and easy and are coupled with the use of type and symbols such as arrows.

   Anywhere you see these colors together in the store you know that there is information for you to see, by making this information easy to see and find the store can easily tell you what it wants you to know and shows you what it wants you to see. So not only does this concept work for you as the viewer of information it also works for the store as a marketing tool. This is what is thought of as integrated design. Along with a splash of color (Usually red, white or black) it is easy to lure you toward what they need to show you. These are also the same colors used to help you find your way around in the store. For example all of the isles are numbered and particular products are listed that are included in that isle.  As I said I am a visual person and I am going to let the images do the rest of the talking here. As you look at them think about your own experiences in the store.

It is easy to see how these colors are used together to complete the overall design. 

References;

Walmart. 

https://www.Walmart.com

Bing Images

httpp://www.bingimages.com

Tools for the blind and deaf

  I found it surprising that as I looked though all of the settings and information on my “Blogger” blog for this class I was unable to find any setting that aid in the accessibility of disable people. I know that other sites offer some of these things and I think they should be offered everywhere.

Surely there is code that can be written to ease the burden of navigating a blog sight if you are hearing or visually impaired. In my research I did find that “Word” and “PDF”.  Do have built in tools and aid for the bind and hearing impaired. I am not sure exactly how it all works but I am thrilled that it is available.

 The National Federation for the Blind have a lot of helpful information for creators and users of web and Pc. Based materials. They have information and links to reader apps and technologies that are available.

 A guide to setting up web services for the blind is also available on their page for download via a provided link. It is a word document and it is very informative.  I really don’t know how it would work for someone who is blind and hearing impaired to use my blog. I would say that it would be a much easier thing to do for someone who is hearing impaired than it would for a person who is blind. The use of imagery and text could be used to help a deaf person navigate a web or blog page but these would not work for a blind individual.

 I think in order to accommodate the blind the only real way to do this is with the use of audio assuming that they are able to hear.  Also they would need to be able to navigate to your page and find the play button. This might be avoidable with the use of auto play features.

Here is a youtube video that explains these features.( I was unable to embed the video in this post) I am sharing the link below,

                                                                        link to video

Images such as the ones we have developed for design process are also good ways to communicate. although the information may be different the idea is still the same. Explaining your information using a visual design in order to help a hearing impaired person to understand what is happening on your blog page. 

These features should be available on all websites and blogs across the internet. I feel like these should be built in features. 

Joe,

References;

National Federation for the Blind

https://nfb.org/

Baer, Kim.  Information Design Workbook.  Rockport Publishing 2008

Noto, J. JNgraphics. Information Design Process 2018.

Creating  Accessible documents.  The National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute Access Technology Team. July 2014

 YouTube,  Chicago Lighthouse presents How to use a computer as a person who is blind or visually impaired. November 5, 2015

What does interactive bring to the table?

 Interactive

  “The graphic design community uses two terms for the visual displays of information: Info-graphics and Information design. In a nutshell, Info-graphics stand for visual displays in which graphics together with verbal language communicate information that would not be possible otherwise.

Information design on the other hand, is broadly used to describe communication design practices in which the main purpose is to inform, in contrast to persuasive approaches more commonly used in practices such as advertising.” Meirelles,(Pg. 11)

   When I think about these two different styles of design I think about things like drive thru menus (Info-graphic) as it is a visual description of a possible order and in contrast a street map (Information design) in which the information you need to find your way has been gathered, designed and put together in a way that is easy for you to read and understand.

“An interactive info-graphic can reduce otherwise heavy data sets into formats that present the information most relevant to the interests of your audience based on how they click or interact.” Snap App (2018)

  Snap App suggests that providing specific information geared toward only your target audience would be by definition as Interactive. By providing eye catching graphics simplified to meet the needs of your target audience.

An example of a interactive info-graphic taken from BBC News

Image Source: BBC News 2018

Another example would be this one I pulled from Bing Images.

 Image Source: Bing Images 2018

   In my opinion it is clear the effect of interactive has on graphics. Condensing material to reach your selected audience is the key to a good infographic. Custom graphics and interactive graphics account for a large amount of social media advertising. This is the future of advertising and it seems like a good fit for the interactive infographic.

Sourced:

Meirelles, Isabel. Design for Information. Rockport Publishing. 2013 (Ret. November, 2018)

Info graphic list (Ret. November, 2018)

https://infographiclist.com/2012/04/22/infographic-on-infographics-infographic/

Interaction Design Foundation (Ret. November, 2018)

https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/design-thinking-get-started-with-prototyping

Snap App (Ret. November, 2018)

https://www.snapapp.com/blog/how-to-make-an-interactive-infographic/

  

BBC News. Will a robot take your job? 11, September 2015.(Ret. November 2018)

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34066941