Exploiting the visual potential of time
Viewers should learn about how over time mass shootings in the US have become more frequent and larger in scale. Both displays visually show an inclined slope meaning that mass shootings are becoming more prevalent in the US. I am exploiting the visual potential of time by representing the information as a continuous string of events that happen in sequence. Both displays start around 1960 and go to around present day in order.
Display 1 is based on the "RURAL AREAS SEEING HIGHEST..." section of my visual language model. It features a grid with bars, solid x-axis and pointers with numbers. Display 2 is based on the "ONLINE VIDEO WATCHING OUTRANKS..." section of my visual language model. It features a grid with circles, pointers, and labels on the x-axis. Both displays follow the typography of my model with the title, pointers and labels.
Both displays follow my color model with having the blue as the main color, red as the next highlighted color, and lastly the light blue color as a feature. The background is also the same as my color model.
Critique
Chris
For the first display Chris sees a timeline with a bar graph. He then reads the title to figure out what it is about. He is unclear about which ones have labels and I direct him to the subtext on the right. For the second display Christ notices the alternating blue and red and associates it with the colors being grouped together. He notices that the center of the circle is the point on the y-axis but it is unclear without the label. He associates the design with more of a bar graph than a timeline.
Chris prefers the the first over the second in terms of layout. He can easily tell what the graph is about and the visual is much clearer with the bars rather than the circles.
Chris mentions that the font and weight of the font are the same as my typography model. The labels and title are heavier than the y/x-axis labels. The segmented bars on my second display are not featured in my visual language model and are unclear that they represent different mass shootings in the same year. The display is flat and not using many icons like my model. The colors are the same but he notices that the red is never used on its own in a bar chart.
Response to first critique
Since my second display matches my visual language display better I have decided to stick with it in the next iteration. Chris mentioned that the alternating blue and red makes the shootings seemed group by color so I changed to make them all red. In response to the design being more like a bar graph and less like a timeline, I decided to stick to the design because it still conveys an answer to when the shootings happened relative to each other.
Andre Magallanes
For the first display Andre reads the title first and notices that most of the bars are highlighted. I tell him that only ten are highlighted but he says why not highlight them all or only five. He is also confused with the segments. He notices the timeline on the x-axis and that the colors are legible.
For the second display Andre says "looks cool". He does not know what it means straight off the bat but after reading the x-axis labels and the title he starts to gather the information. He says the blue is easier to read over the red. He says the empty circles could be utilized more.
Andre prefers the second one. He says it is more aesthetically pleasing with the circles. He also says it is easier to see the trend and clearer with the grid.
Andre says that the columns are not as apparent in my display and they are different colors in my visual language model. He says the x-axis has boxes for each column and are more organized. He says that the numbers on the y-axis look bigger on my model. The color model is consistent with my display.
Response to second critique
I changed the writing to be mostly in the blue color in response to Andre's comment about the blue being easier to read than the red. I made the columns more apparent in the next iteration by adding a background color to alternating sections. I extended the colors to make boxes around the x-acis labels. The y-axis labels are the same size as my model.
Sunny Kang
For the first display Sunny reads the title first and initially sees a lot of red. He goes through the dates and the labels for the axis. He likes the grid lines and how simple they are. Sunny also mentions that the segments are confusing and I have to explain what they represent. He also likes that it is quantifying the data by the decade.
For the second display Sunny notices that it is just top ten. He likes that the design is unique but it does take some time to realize what the display means. He sees that there is more information including the specific date and location. He says the gridlines are subtle. He mentions that the x-axis labels are not formatted correctly.
Sunny prefers the second one because it is something new to look at.
Sunny says that my colors match my color model and the topic at hand. He says that the first display is different than anything on my visual language model and that the size of the bars is different and horizontal instead of vertical. For the second display, he says that my display does not have icons in the circles and that the columns are not different colors.
Response to third critique
I changed the formatting of the x-axis and made the spacing between the lines of font closer to match my typography model.I changed the colors of the columns on my second display. I did not add icons to the circles because the display is already sharing a lot of information and adding an icon for the state, for example, will distract from the time aspect.
Viewers should learn about how over time mass shootings in the US have become more frequent and larger in scale. The display visually show a gradual inclined slope meaning that mass shootings are becoming more prevalent in the US. I am exploiting the visual potential of time by representing the information as a continuous string of events that happen in sequence. It shows when the shootings happened relative to each other.
To make my design clearer I made all the circles the same color, changed most of the font to be dark blue, formatted the x-axis and added alternating colors for the columns. This is exploiting the visual potential more so that viewers can quickly grasp what the display is about and recognize the progression over time.
I revised the text on the x-axis to match the x-axis labels on the similar display in my visual language/typography model. I made the text smaller and the space between lines smaller to match my model. I added the alternating background colors for the columns.
I added the alternating columns and added the light gray which matches my color model. I also made most of the font blue so that it was easier to read and matched my color model better since most of the font is in blue.
Critique
Autumn Derr
First Autumn sees the circles and how they are plotted on a graph with a slight trend. She reads the y-axis and x-axis then sees the numbers above the circles. Since the circles are so large she finds it a bit weird.
She likes the revision and the color contrast of the columns. She thought the alternating colors in the last version would lead to mis-association and mis-grouping. However, she thought the bars of my first display were more intuitive.
The circles and pattern follows the visual language display. Even though there are not alternating colors, the differing colors match the display in my visual language model. She notices that the y-axis labels colors are not used for numbers in my color model very frequently.
Response to first critique
Autumn was confused with the large circles but liked the bars in my first display. Thus, I combined the displays by adding bars instead of the circles with nothing in it. In addition, she notices the y-axis labels as being the light blue color. I decided to change it to be dark blue because it is used more frequently in my color model. I also changed it from being every 20 count as opposed to every 10 count to match my visual language model better and make it cleaner.
Avery Wolf
Avery thought my revision was clear after she looked at it for about a minute. She said she enjoyed the variety of information since it was combining a numbers display and time display. She questioned why the circles were so big and suggested finding an icon that was not as aggressive as a gun to add.
She says she prefers my revision over both of my previous displays. She says the first display is hard to look at with the gaps in the bars and difficult to grasp right off the bat. She likes the alternating column colors of the revision since it is clearer.
She notices the color display matches with the blue and red being used the most frequently. She sees that the display is really similar to my visual language but does not include an icon in the circle. She recommends changing the display to match the "age" or "rural areas" because the circles are too large to make the information understandable.
Response to second critique
Avery recommends changing the display to match the "rural areas" display. I did this by changing the circles to the bars with a triangle on top like the "rural areas" display in my visual language model. I keep the rest of the chart the same to continue emulating my visual language model.
Chris Forbes
Chris notices the numbers above the circles and the background colors of the columns because he saw my last displays and directly notices the difference. He notices the x-axis as less cluttered and that since the circles are the same color it is clearer that they aren't grouped.
Chris definitely likes the revision more. Changing the colors made the circles look clearer and easier to read. He likes the red for the year and the city as blue to differentiate the two bits of information. He remembered that the alternating colors were confusing so this iteration makes much more sense.
Chris first notices that the display closely matches the visual language display at the bottom of my model. He says the only difference is the icons. He says my colors do not stray from my color model but the color of the grids being the light blue are way more prominent than the color of the grid in my visual language model.
Response to third critique
Since the only difference in my display was the icons I decided to change the display to combine two displays in my visual language model. I decided to keep the grid color the same because in my visual language model the colors of the grid and the columns are different colors. So to match my visual language model I will keep the colors the same.
Viewers should learn about how over time mass shootings in the US have become more frequent and larger in scale. The display visually show a gradual inclined slope meaning that mass shootings are becoming more prevalent in the US. I am exploiting the visual potential of time by representing the information as a continuous string of events that happen in sequence. It shows when the shootings happened relative to each other.
To make my design clearer I changed the y-axis, made the dates larger and changed the large circles to bars. Making the dates larger shows that they are a main focus. This will continue to exploit the visual potential because the bars with the point will make it clearer what the numbers specifically are. In addition, the size of the bars will make the trend clearer. The new y-axis draws less attention so that viewers are drawn to the bars and dates.
I am combining two displays on my visual language model. The last display for the chart set-up and the "rural" display for the bars with triangles on top. The y-axis goes in 20 number increments. The size of the dates are the same size as other dates on other parts of my visual language/typography model.
I changed the y-axis text color to be dark blue because it is used more frequently in my color model. In addition it is used more for numbers.