Progress Report

Introduction

This report provides an overview of the process adopted by Team Y during the poster design for the map of Delft. We provide the rationale behind our design process as well as elaborating on why we chose specific design elements and how those design elements influenced the way viewers perceive the poster according to visual communication theory. In this report we intend to show how our design evolved through a series of iterative steps absorbing various forms of external feedback to achieve the final successful design. Although we had only two team members, we saw this as an opportunity to really focus and tackle the assignments.

Assignment 1

The first assignment provided a good opportunity to get to know the theory behind visual communication design. By analysing pieces of art and design and comparing the qualities of the pieces to the visual theory presented in Colin Ware’s book we really developed a good understanding of why the pieces had such powerful visual attraction. We found it very intriguing how the visual system works to rationalise the world around us and it really opened our eyes (pardon the pun) to just how important well designed visuals are in influencing the way people perceive them.
We particularly enjoyed learning how very finely designed subtleties can have such a large influence on human behaviour. We decided to read beyond the prescribed chapters and really learned a lot about the visual system and the tricks it uses to create a ‘whole’ picture of the world. By learning how the brain fills in the gaps and what sort of information the visual system prioritises (and, equally important, also what it omits) we began to understand that the design of a visual, for example a poster, can dramatically influence the way the viewer perceives it and what sort of feeling and information the user is left with.

Assignment 2

The second assignment provided an excellent opportunity to apply the theory we learned during assignment one. By designing two posters of Delft and using subtle changes to influence the way people used the information from the posters we could really use the theory from Colin Ware’s book.

Tackling the assignment

Our first step in tackling the assignment was to walk the tour around Delft and take note of the most important and significant points of interest for both shopping and culture along the route. We then decided to begin our first iterations. We then had a team brainstorming session, which as there was only two of us, could have provided more results. The main finding from the brainstorming was that we believed that it was important to integrate the map of Delft so that viewers could easily relate the information they obtained to a tourist map. Thus, we explored visual cues that would help most when plotting a route on a map.

Our initial concept was to use 2.5D cues such as perspective, cast shadows and size (large to small) to create the visual perception of depth leading the viewer on a path from ‘front’ to ‘back’. According to the theory we also employed use of colour, particularly the ‘red/green’ channel, and luminance contrast as these strongly grasp the eyes attention. However, although these concepts were successful, they clearly showed direction too obviously. We did learn that the cues used worked well and should be toned down in the future. Therefore, our main intention for the next iteration was to create a more subtle, perhaps subconscious, directional motivator. Therefore our specifications became:
• Making better use of the map of Delft
• Using more subtle visual cues
• Trying out different visual cues
• Keep the design simple
• Make both posters nearly identical at a quick glance


Concept Development

After numerous brainstorming sessions we then separately designed concepts and used the blog to present them to one another as we worked on them. One important development was the simplification of the map of Delft. Our preliminary research (asking peers and blog feedback) identified that the street map of Delft was too crowded and distracting. Thus we decided to build an abstraction layer. The intention was to strip out all the unnecessary information whilst keeping the most important information, such as the canals and main routes around Delft. Immediately we found that this helped to create a focus on the route, rather than the individual items along the route.

Using this abstracted map we then created a multitude of iterations using various elements of visual communication theory such as:
• Contrast
• Luminance
• Pattern finding
• Motion indicators

We found that the use of patterns and motion indicators were very quickly recognised as differences between the two posters. We were not happy with this, as we wanted the posters to be very subtle. However, we then used luminance contrast by applying a gradient to the map, which contrasted with the Delft circle, which we found helped to steer the eyes. Overall, our findings from these developments were that the use of contrast was a very powerful but extremely subtle indicator. We decided to refine the concept slightly by adding more contrast. We then used this concept for the interim concept presentations. Reflecting on this concept now, we can see where we made some mistakes, particularly in our misinterpretation of the assignment.

The Presentation

The presentation provided us with an opportunity to have many peoples criticisms given to our design. Unfortunately, as we were last, many people had lost motivation, so we did not receive much criticism. However, by watching the other presentations and listening to the feedback, we learned a lot about how we could develop our concept to better achieve the goals of the assignment. The main points we took from the presentations were:

• The map does not have to physically be a map – it could represent Delft
• The map should convey the richness of Delft’s cultural and shopping offerings
• Obvious directional indicators must be avoided
• Graphics should be more informative such as the London Tube map
• Our map was bland and lacked visual richness and a feeling of Delft
• We should make more subtle use of the visual theory
• The map must be a perfect circle
• Our use of contrast really worked

Post presentation reflection:

Although we felt like we had misunderstood the assignment, the presentations really helped us to get back on track and identified critical criteria we should use in the development of a final concept. We then had a brainstorming session on how we could improve the design. First and foremost, we replaced the accurate route with a symbolic circle of the route. In fact, we instantly found that this provided us with much more opportunities to use the theory of Visual Thinking for Design as viewers are less focused on following the map exactly and more on viewing the circle holistically.

As it was successful in our first concept, we decided that it was important that the luminance contrast was kept in our final design. However, we decided that the design must be more visually rich, thus we intended to:

• Integrate images that conveyed the nature of Delft
• Graphics that informed viewers of what they might find on the route
• Visually interesting background
• A logical starting point
• Delft blue!

We decided that the integration of graphics showing viewers key points along the route was important as the poster should be attractive and inviting for visitors to Delft and should show off the offerings of the city. We thought long and hard about the format of these graphics. We believed photographs would be too distracting and would be too informative, thus activating any bias visitors might have. For example, a photograph of a shopping centre is easily recognised.

Sketching

What we wanted to convey was the essence and richness, but not the details. Thus we decided to sketch the key points around Delft. This was very time consuming, but proved to be really fun and allowed us, the designers, to select what was in the image and what was omitted. We also thought that sketches paid homage to the artistic history of Delft. The sketches also abstracted the images slightly, and we put in subtle clues about what each image represented, such as people walking with shopping bags or maps. We also made use of perspective to create symmetry in the poster as we did not want the sketches to lead the viewer in a direction.
What we did want, however, was for the graphics to please the visitor’s eyes, whilst our visual tricks subconsciously provided them with a pre-designed bias for a certain direction. To do this, we applied a gradient over the central map of Delft, from left to right in one, and from right to left in the other. This gradient was used to attract the eye to the area of highest luminance contrast, as the eye seeks to find areas of large differences in contrast. Our hypothesis was that the eye would be lead to the area where the contrast between black and white (luminance) was greatest. This would be a subtle eye manoeuvre and the eye would then be lead to the intended direction and would read the sketches on that side of the map. The final concept can be seen in both the video and on the homepage.

Testing

Using the final concept we then staged a test in Den Haag outside the parliament building. We chose this location for the high footfall and also for the large amount of tourists who would have probably never been to Delft. Overall, we managed to interview 23 people, 11 regarding route P and 12 for route K. Our methodology was:
• Paste the images back to back, as the real poster would be shown on separate days and would require the viewer to remember rather than make a direction visual comparison. This proved to be very important in determining whether people identified the difference.
• Show the participants each side of the poster for 10 second and ask them if they saw any difference
• Ask half of the participants with route K, which direction they would go and half of the participant with route P, which direction they would choose from a starting point at Delft central station.
The results of the test were highly conclusive. Only 2 out of 23 people could identify the difference between the posters. Those that did said that the difference was not easily noticed and that they had to think very critically to identify the difference. Of the other 21 participants, many tried to guess differences saying that we had moved the sketches around or had changed the background pattern. Of course, we had not done this and they were merely compensating for not being able to spot the difference.

Importantly the second part of the test also went very well. 7 out of 11 participants chose our intended direction for route P and 7 out of 12 picked the right direction for route K. Thus, overall, a significant proportion picked the direction we intended them to. When asked to explain their direction choice, many could not explain why they chose that route, only that they felt the route was clearer, but could not explain why. Some participants did identify that their eyes were drawn to the specific regions we had intended them to, i.e. the areas of highest contrast. However, most participants focused mostly on the surrounding images and the subtle direction indicator affected them subconsciously.

Overall, we were very happy with the results of the user test and believe that by using the visual communication theory in a subtle manner, we managed to create an important subconscious preference for the particular routes. Thus, we believe our design could function as a tourist map for visitors to Delft as it also conveys the artistic richness of the city.

Making the video

Making the video was an interesting challenge for us. Neither of us had much experience, but we learned a lot from the guest lecture that we then tried to apply to the video. In particular we were aware that we had to present a lot of potentially textual information, such as statistics and the description of the assignment and our methodology. As a result, we used methods such as motion and blurring to keep the visuals rich and exciting. We made a lot of original footage of Delft as background material to provide a connection to the assignment. We also made sure to integrate the nature of the assignment, for example we used borders that represented ‘Polaroid’ pictures of Delft. To plan the video we created a storyboard of the main points we needed to integrate and created footage for each respective scene. We also attempted to learn new software, Adobe After Effects, to create non-standard transitions and effects to help our video stand out from the other 24 presentations on the day. Overall, we believe the video making process really helped us to also put the visual theory into video format. We had fun making the video and believed this showed with an energetic final result for our assignment.

Conclusions

Despite being handicapped from the first assignment as a team of two, we both learned a lot from VCD and also learned how to apply complex state of the art theory to real practical applications. Most importantly, we learned the importance of visual communication design in determining the type of responses a user may have to an image, interface or product. We also learned how to use visual theory to change people’s behaviour. Overall, we were satisfied with our final result, and believe that it really achieved the goals set in the assignment brief.