Information Design // Exercises
INFORMATION DESIGN // EXERCISES
05/01/21 - / Week 1 - Week 3
Ibrahim Fazal Ahmad / 0337423
Information Design / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylors University
INSTRUCTIONS
WEEK 1 (05/01/21)
During our first class of Information Design, we had gotten briefed on our exercises and assignments. We will have two exercises and three projects, with the final project last the entire duration of the 7 weeks.
We then began our first exercise, find anything around the house that could be organised. Whether it be buttons, paperclips or even skittles. We had to organise them into a digestible format while also keeping an aesthetic feeling towards it. I chose some coins, my roommates and I have a box of coins dubbed our "Travel the World Fund". Inside it was way too many coins, I chose a handful and began organising.
Figure 1: Coins organised
I organised them into their respective values, along with whether they were a new or old type of coin. After this, we had our tutorial session.
We had to form groups of 4-5 people and discuss any topic about disinformation. My group decided to focus on the topic of "Social Media Hoaxes". Particularly the Blue Whale Challenge, as it can be very dangerous for children. We have to have a presentation for our topic ready by our next class/
WEEK 1 (08/01/21)
For our lecture portion, Miss Anis just went over the assignments and tasks once more for any newcomers. After which we had a little progress check on our Exercise 1. Miss Anis said we are all in progress and gave us some ideas and suggestions on how we can improve ours further. I was still in the very beginning stages, as I don't have a solid idea for what to with it yet.
Figure 1.1: Layout test
Figure 1.2: Layout test
WEEK 2 (12/01/21)
During this weeks class, we had our first FLIP lecture done by our peers. Each week a different group will have to present a topic that they are given by Ms Anis. So we as the students will present, hence the name FLIP.
I had shown my progress to Ms Anis for our first exercise, I was heavily inspired by Vincent Van Goghs "Starry Night" as it is one of my favourite artworks and artists of all time. Along with the fact the coins reminded me of the stars in the night sky of the piece. I had done a really rough sketch of the idea without any colours first:
Figure 1.3: Sketch 1
Figure 1.4: Sketch 3
I had taken an early start as it seemed really interesting so I went ahead and read up on LATCH on my own. The LATCH principles are simple. Location, Alphabet, Time, Category, Hierarchy. For this exercise, we had to choose at least 4 of the principles and create our organisational chart. I chose Genshin Impact as my topic as it can be organised following the principles.
- Location: Mondstadt
- Alphabet: Character names
- Time: -
- Category: Elements
- Hierarchy: 4 stars and 5 stars
Figure 1.7: LATCH Exercise Sketch 1
We then did a simple exercise in Adobe After Effects with Mr Shamsul. We had to animate some text, just to learn the basics. After which we were given a text due on Tuesday in which we had to animate over an audio clip given to us by Mr Shamsul.
WEEK 2 (15/01/21)
Today we had to submit our first exercise. I have both a top view along with a more angled view, as the piece is 3D since the coins are stacked on top of each other. Here is the final outcome:
Figure 1.5: Exercise 1 FINAL
Figure 1.6: Exercise 1 FINAL
After which I also showed my progress on Exercise 2. I had added some more details to the design, such as the areas which showed the character is their visions. The visions being the elemental charm they carry around with them which give them their powers.
After this, we had to use audio given by Mr Shamsul and animate text over. Known as "Kinetic Typography" and it was due to our next class. Here are some of my references and inspirations I looked for online and found.
WEEK 3 (19/01/21)
After the FLIP lecture by our peers, we then showed Ms Anis the progress we have made for Exercise 2. Being the LATCH exercise, I chose Genshin Impact and this was my snapshot shown during class. I had since cleaned up the line art, render the "visions" along with adding all of the relevant characters rather than the placeholders. I also added some non-objective elements around the vision that pertain to the element of the character, such as the lightning bolts around the electro characters.
After which, we had learned about masking and trim paths in After Effects. Trim paths are very helpful when creating infographics. It allows you to make a line from one end to the other very easily, in the exercise we used circles and created a simple infographic on Covid-19 Daily Cases.
WEEK 3 (22/01/21)
After the FLIP lecture, we had to show our final works for Exercise 2. I had previously sent it to Ms Anis, but I had asked in class as well if there were any issues. She said all was good and I could submit it. Here is the finished product:
After which we had to begin on Project 1, we could choose a video from the Pasta Grannies YT Channel and chunk the information that we can get from the video. Try to stick to the general theme of the video we had chosen. Here is the video I chose:
FEEDBACK:
Week 1 // Exercise 1: Everything is looking fine, count the exact amount of items that are being used and write them down for easier understanding in the future.
Week 2 // Exercise 1: Use a more understandable way to organise the numbers in the chart on the paper. It was rather confusing to read, all draw lines to distinguish it from each other. Other than that it looks fine, just add colours into the final piece.
Week 2 // Exercise 2: Make sure there are at least 4 principles that are being followed. Think about possible ways I could include the different motifs from inside the game onto the diagram.
Week 3 // Exercise 2: Everything looks fine, rather than a plain background try using a picture from Mondstadt instead for more interest and depth. After which it can be submitted.
REFLECTIONS:
Week 1: Back to classes! For the experience, I can't say I'm the most excited considering every morning has been roughly the same for the last year since COVID but nonetheless, we're back into it. For our first class, we were briefed on our assignments, including our final project which we needed to form groups and create a short animated video. Our first exercise given was to organise some information using household items, such as coins or maybe even a pack of skittles. I have chosen some coins and it was definitely a difficult choice. An observation I made was that there are many principles and ideas when organising information. A finding I had made was that information is always organised when we view it, it's just second nature that we dont even notice it until there is an obvious error.
Week 2: Now that I've finished the first exercise, I could move onto the second one though I had already started a little earlier since I was quite excited to work on it. I chose my current addiction of the month: Genshin Impact, as my game of choice to organise. The experience is very fun, considering it is a game I adore with amazing character designs and story. An observation I had made was that you can always organise objects into some sort of category usually following the LATCH theory. A finding I had made was that LATCH is a very useful way of organising information and a lot of social media platforms implement the principles in their UI design.
Week 3: My experiences this week were quite a few, as someone who hasn't really used After Effects. Mr Shamsul really helped me in my understanding of the program, such as utilising trim paths which I had no idea about until this class. An observation I had made was the After Effects is much smoothing in terms of animation in comparison to Adobe Animate. A finding I had made was the After Effects has the ability to create automatic ease in or ease out.
Comments
Post a Comment