Information Design: Print, Digital, and Graphic Challenges
Event Signage: Print Design
M.A.W.R.M. Components: Rhetorical Situation and Descriptive Components
Rhetorical Situation:
Exigency
This signage was created with Adobe InDesign for the “Perspectives in Information Design and Digital Media Rhetoric” course in the M.A. in Writing, Rhetoric, and Media program, offered at Clemson University, Fall 2018. This design challenge consisted of creating an informative poster for our end-of-semester course showcase.
All the graduate students in the course were preparing posters that showcased the works they completed during the semester, so I was prompted to create the signage. This idea simply originated from the need to inform the university’s community of the impending event.
Audience
The target audience was Clemson University’s staff, faculty, and students.
Constraints
I was unable to print this signage at one of the plot printers at Clemson University due being home, in Georgia, over the weekend when I created this work. Hence I had to pay a hefty fee to print it using FEDEX printing services because. This printed signage is 24in. by 36in.
Rhetorical Situation:
Design and Invention Processes
One of the first information design decisions I made in coming up with the layout for this signage was to avoid publishing a long list of all the students’ works that would be displayed at the event. Nonetheless, my design provides all the necessary information about the showcase event without being too heavy with text. Due to the variety of the works that were going to be displayed at the event, I create overarching subtitles that are broad but refer to most elements of information design and the skills explored in the course.
The background image alludes to the creativity of students in “filling blank pages” with their works displayed at the event. The color scheme includes a shade of orange with 80% opacity to reveal the shapes formed by the sheets of paper in the background image. Black, grey, white, and a subdued orange hue yields a serious tone to the poster which conveys the professional tone of the event.
Reflection
This project was by far one of the best experiences I had in the Information Design and Digital Rhetoric course.
I drafted 3 versions of this signage and settled on this one for simplicity and clarity of information.
The only part that was time consuming was watching tutorials to learn Adobe InDesign and printer settings. The technical aspects of printing, including having to provide an printer’s document was actually the most complicated task. I was thankful for the Fedex worker who patiently explained the process of colors, paper thickness, and finish choices.
Demonstrated M.A.W.R.M. Competencies
- Writing and publishing skills.
- Demonstrable digital literacy.
- Appling visual communication theories to design practices.
- The ability to apply rhetorical theory to contemporary professional communication practices.
Apps/Tools
- Adobe InDesign
- Canon ipf 8400 large format inkwell printer with an 8-color setting.
Infographic: Digital Communications
M.A.W.R.M. Components: Rhetorical Situation and Descriptive Components
Rhetorical Situation:
Exigency
This infographic was created using Adobe Spark, and it fulfilled a requirement for one of my graduate core courses –“Perspectives in Information Design and Digital Media Rhetorics”– as part of the M.A.W.R.M. offered at Clemson University.
I was challenged to communicate only three facts about a topic of my choosing and visualize data sets into a one-page infographic. I placed each set of data to achieve greater impact as Nancy Duarte suggests in Resonate by positing that the order of visual design elements have a strong impact and can alter the purpose of the message.
Audience
This type of infographic should reach people of all walks of life since there is an urgency in putting a stop to Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking all over the United States. Thus, anyone and everyone, with the exception of children, were taken in consideration as my target audience for this project because the topic was (and still is) current and relevant.
Constraints
The inherently delicate nature of the topic for this infographic was the main constraint. I was very aware of the choices being made so that I could strike a balance between having a strong impact on the audience but not use any fallacy such as scare tactics.
Descriptive Components:
Design and Invention Processes
Design choices were made intentionally to preserve the serious nature of the topic which is far from a fun and cheerful subject. Thus, brown, red, white and deep purple provide the tone. The layout yields four sections and each section points to one set of information: title, money, age, and Internet usage.
Each background photo ties the content with the information within the text. Font colors and filters offer visual contrast between the background photos and the text. Red was chosen to draw attention to the most relevant aspect of the data, and the red color also correlates with the iconic “STOP” sign; although, the one used in this infographic is a modified version – the red shape is slightly different than the one on a street sign – the color and the wording conveys the same message. The source from which data was acquired is listed at the bottom for further reference.
Reflection
Looking back at the time I created this infographic and knowing what I know now about this type of multimodal composition, I would have revised some of the choices I made. Because I started to guide my students in First Year Composition courses on making their own infographics, I have done a lot more research into how to create infographics that are effective visually and textually. I have realized that the red textual element was not the best choice, specifically in the middle section where the overlay color has a red hue and in the top section where the pattern on the bills interfere with clarity.
Demonstrated M.A.W.R.M. Competencies
- Demonstrable digital literacy.
- Appling visual communication theories to design practices.
- The ability to apply rhetorical theory to contemporary professional communication practices.
- Sufficient knowledge of scholarship, research, and design methods and the ability to apply them critically.
Apps/Tools
- Adobe Spark Post
- Adobe Illustrator
Book Cover: Graphic Design
M.A.W.R.M. Components: Rhetorical Situation and Descriptive Components
Rhetorical Situation:
Exigency
This book cover resulted from an individual in-class assignment as part of my M.A.W.R.M. program during my first semester at Clemson University. The main need for this work was to offer the author of the book a few book cover design choices, keeping in mind that one work from our class would actually get chosen published.
Audience
The main audience for this work was any reader interested in the field of language decoding. However, the author of the book and my professor were the immediate audience as they were going to pick one of the works produced by the students in this course.
Constraints
For this design challenge, I had only two (2) hours of class time to learn a few of the tools in Adobe InDesign and create the book cover. I was required to use Adobe InDesign and the template and set of information provided by my professor. Being required to use the template and position certain kinds of information in specific spots was also a big constraint.
Another constraint was the competition aspect of this challenge. I do not enjoying creating to compete. Plus, most of the M.A.W.R.M. students like me felt that we did not stand a chance in competing with the handful of PhD. candidates in our class.
Descriptive Components:
Design and Invention Processes
The design is straightforward and simple, and this project was a great opportunity to self-teach more aspects of InDesign within a couple of hours of class time.
This cover includes full title and authorship information as per the publishing house’s requisite.
The image of the mapa mundi represents “other people’s codes,” as a reference to languages spoken and the meshing of languages within our current global community. The greens and blues chosen seemed neutral and pleasing to the eye.
Reflection
Back in the Fall of 2018, I didn’t even know that the “T” tool was called a “type” tool and not a “text” tool much less did I know how to apply the template provided by the professor.This was a true case of learning by doing that Aristotle should feel proud of.
Demonstrated M.A.W.R.M. Competencies
- Writing and publishing skills.
- Demonstrable digital literacy.
- Appling visual communication theories to design practices.
- The ability to apply rhetorical theory to contemporary professional communication practices.
Apps/Tools
- Adobe InDesign