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Process Book for the self-portrait poster 'Nature from Nurture'
Citation preview
nature from nurture a process book
PRISCILLA MOK GRAD STUDIO I / FALL 2011CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY
in·flu·ence, nounthe capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on or produce effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, etc., of others
i
EXPLORE
Framing the Problem
01
Why Design Information?
Searching for Data
REFINE
Choosing the Topic
02
Methods of Visualization
DESIGN
Executing the Idea
03
REFLECT
Learning from Yourself
04
2
3
6
7
11
13
17
Table of Contents
ii
What is a self-portrait?
How do I see myself ?What do I want to tell others about me?
How do other people perceive me?Which facets of myself characterize me?
EXPLOREFraming the Problem
1
The last time I did a self-portrait was freshman year of high school for Drawing I. It
was a simple pencil sketch drawn from a photo of myself sitting on the stairs. Those
types of self-portraits were straightforward, mechanical, safe. An exercise in seeing
negative space, shadows, and lighting. Little to no introspection could still allow
you to complete it.
So it was a surprise when almost a decade later, I received a similar assignment in
our Graduate Studio class. Another self-portrait. But this time, a little different. We
had to create a self-portrait based on data from our own lives, scouring them for
rich data sources that we could represent in a poster so that ultimately, a passer-by
could learn a little bit more about us. It would be more reflective, more introspec-
tive, more remembering, perhaps. Did I want to reflect on places I’ve lived since
childhood? Or perhaps map out my social networks over time? The sky was the limit
on what we wanted to document about ourselves and share with others.
The question is: What do I want people to learn about me?
How do I see myself ?What do I want to tell others about me?
FRAMING the PROBLEM
EXPLORE Framing the Problem
2
To prepare for this assignment, we first learned to re-consider data. Data
in and of itself, we learned, was meaningless. Data could be “Blizzard”
“Speedy” and “Calico” —seemingly meaningless words. But then I would
tell you that they were the names of some pets I’ve owned. Suddenly,
data acquires significance, and it is only when you give it structure and
form does it become (useful) information.
Information is interesting and all, but it can be a lot to sift through.
Think about the last time you tried to absorb a huge amount of informa-
tion in a short amount of time, like from a textbook for an exam the
next day. Exhausting. However, if done properly, visualizing information
allows people to grasp quickly the messages and insights behind
information. It offers another mode of communication which may be
easier to understand, and gets everyone on the same page of what you’re
talking about. It enlightens the audience rather than confuses them.
WHY design INFORMATION?
DATA + STRUCTURE / FORM = INFORMATION
EXPLOREWhy Design Information?
3
The Five HatracksThough well-designed information may include visuals like images and diagrams, it also
includes organizing the information well. Information designer Richard Saul Wurman,
in his 1989 book Information Anxiety, described six ways that data could be organized:
By Location, Alphabetical, Time, Category and Hierarchy (LATCH), which are the “Five
Hatracks” for hanging data onto.
The Hatracks that you choose to hang your data onto, Wurman said, should be
intuitive. That’s why supermarkets are organized by category instead of
alphabetically. Imagine shopping in a supermarket where the beans were side-by-side
with the beef! Also, in organizing data, more than one Hatrack can be used to bring
more clarity to the information. Considering these Hatracks, we then set off gathering
information about our lives and experimenting with different ways of hanging our data
onto these Hatracks.
L Location - For data that comes from various sources, such as maps, floor plans, parts of the body, travel guides, even mental states like “relaxed” and “anxious”
A Alphabetical - For large bodies of data, such as phone books, dictionaries, and directories
T Time - For things that happen in a sequence or things that happen over a period of time, such as stories, timelines, scenarios, narratives, and schedules
C Category - For when you have distinct chunks of information grouped by similar importance with no distinct hierarchy, such as the departments in a department store, or the majors and minors one could pick in a university
H Hiearchy - For when you have information that vary in value and weight, such as things organized by most/least valuable, people organized by rank and reputation, Top 10 lists, and music charts
EXPLORE Why Design Information?
4
above: Initial data set generation, showing in particular video games played and countries traveled to.
EXPLORESearching for Data
5
Gathering data about yourself is fun in a very strange, ego-indulgent way. Starting
off, I tried to just think of various kinds of topics for which I could easily start listing
data out for. I wanted these categories to have lots of data points and still vaguely
describe me—for example, I enjoy trying new foods and playing video games, so I was
able to easily list out the memorable meals I’ve had and rattle off all the video games
I’ve played in my life. But I also wanted to take this as an opportunity to examine
aspects of my life that I otherwise would have never sat down and considered, such
as hairstyles I’ve had over the years or how my music tastes have evolved over time.
Afterwards, I practiced organizing these data based on Wurman’s LATCH principle:
some were sorted by location (such as places traveled to) and others by category (such
as the platform the video games I played were based on).
SEARCHING for DATA
above: Exploring various ways of representing life data (such as drawing hairstyles visually).
EXPLORE Searching for Data
6
We shared our ideas in class, and I felt like I learned a lot about aspects of my
classmates that I would’ve never been privy to were it not for this project. It soon
became apparent that we would have to start honing in on our topics. I continued
brainstorming, hoping to have an a-ha moment when I knew I had found a topic I
felt would be able to accurately portray me. It wasn’t an easy task, since I felt so
many things defined me, and yet I didn’t want to be defined by one single thing. For
example, I didn’t want to be known as the “gamer girl” or the “foodie”, even though
I knew it was perfectly fine to explore that one aspect of yourself.
“For Good”While brainstorming, I started thinking about how sometimes people can have a
real impact on your life. Though it may be inconsequential things with some people
and more profound with others, I kept thinking about how just because of that one
person, you’re a slightly different person than you were before you met them. And
perhaps it also had something to do with the fact that I’d just seen the musical
Wicked again recently, since the lyrics of one of the songs started playing in my
mind’s ear when I was mulling over this topic. The song was called “For Good” and
was essentially about two friends bidding farewell and reflecting on how each friend
had changed the other “for good” (used here for its double meaning to mean “for
the better” and “permanently”).
CHOOSING the TOPICI’ve heard it said
that people come into our lives for a reasonbringing something we must learn
and we are ledto those who help us most to grow
if we let themand we help them in return.
Well I don’t know if I believe that’s true but I know I’m who I am today
because I knew you
Like a comet pulled from orbitAs it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulderHalfway through the wood
Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better?
But because I knew youI have been changed for good
“For Good” from WickedStephen Schwartz
REFINEChoosing the Topic
7
above: Marking potentially viable topics with stars, including the final chosen topic.
REFINE Choosing the Topic
8
Creating the Data SetWith these thoughts swirling in my head, I began to think about ways in which
something that I do or believe now can be specifically attributed to one person. I
started listing examples that easily came to mind. I had initially chosen three of
Wurman’s Hatracks to organize my data with: Time, Category and Place. My data set
listed each person’s name, what their influence on me was, and the year and place
where it happened. I had planned to organize what their influence on me was based
on category, but I eventually found out that creating too many categories (such
as food, music, beliefs, activities, career, etc.) might be too confusing since each
category might only have 1-2 data points.
Taking a step back from my categories, I realized I could aggregate these narrow
categories into broader ones. For example, people who have influenced me in what
I like in terms of music, food or films could be combined into the category [people
who have influenced] “What I like”. By doing so, I ended up creating three broad
categories for my data: People who have influenced “What I Like”, “What I Do”, and
“What I Believe”.
above: Creating items for the data set by hand, listing people in my life, what they influenced me in, when and where.
WHAT I LIKETastes and preferences, such as in music and food
WHAT I DOHobbies, career, lifestyle and activities
WHAT I BELIEVEBeliefs in my purpose in life, world view and goals
REFINEChoosing the Topic
9
These broader categories would encompass the smaller ones I had
initially came up with. By doing so, I also created a hierarchy for my
data set based upon the profundity of what the influence was. I also
realized that “Place”, which was initially part of my data set, really
wasn’t all that necessary. Sure, it might have been interesting to see
some of the places in which I interacted with these people, but I
decided that people would be more interested in seeing how important
I considered these influences rather than where it happened.
By no means does categorization indicate that people who influenced
me in terms of “What I Like” had a less profound impact on my life as
a whole. The data set is just a small snapshot of the no doubt count-
less people who have influenced my life over the years, and this chart
just aims to illustrate a number of these influences, large and small.
above: My data set in Google Docs, after changing my categorization system to include hierarchy.
REFINE Choosing the Topic
10
METHODS of VISUALIZATIONWith a fairly robust data set, I started brainstorming ways of visually representing the
data. This proved quite difficult, since it was hard not to automatically put all of your
data points on a timeline and call it a day. I did succumb to the timeline approach in
my sketches once or twice, just to get it out on paper, but I spent a lot of time think-
ing of ways other than a timeline to show my data.
What is an influence? I began to consider what “influence” was in an attempt to come up with more
inspired ideas, but it actually complicated things as I realized “influence” could be de-
fined by seemingly countless antonyms. Is it someone leaving an impression on you? A
memory? Or must it involve concrete behavioral change? Based on the fuzzy, muddled
boundaries that seem to surround the idea of “influence”, I began to also think about
incorporating these ideas into the visualization, such as using watercolors to run into
each other to allude to these loose boundaries or the idea of “ripples” of influence
emanating from an individual in my data set. One motif seemed to be recurrent in a lot
of my ideas: the circle.
above: Exploring ideas about representing the nature of influence.
REFINEMethods of Visualization
11
METHODS of VISUALIZATION
CirclesThinking about these circles I kept drawing a bit more, I recalled hearing that some cultures don’t think of time
in a linear manner; rather, they consider time in a cyclical fashion, such as the Mayans. Putting the two ideas
together, I tried using circles as devices to show things radiating out from the center as well as to depict time.
Developing this idea further, I decided that I would create a polar grid. There would be one point of origin--the
top--to show my birth year and present time. Each line would represent the lapse of one year; and a darker
line would mark a decade. Within this polar grid, I envisioned three circular regions emanating from the center,
representing the three categories, with the center representing “me”. Data points would be placed on this polar
grid based on which category they were in and what year it happened. Each individual data point would have
the person’s name and a brief description of what they influenced me in. Lines would connect the data point
back to the center of the circle.
In class, I drew a rough version of this idea on the whiteboard (left) and received some helpful feedback. Some
thought that the lines weren’t necessary since they didn’t add anything to the data points. Others commented
on the hard delineations of the three regions in my chart; after all, aren’t the three categories technically in-
terrelated? It reinforced my initial instinct that “influence” was a fuzzy, amorphous concept, and I felt that I
needed to work that into my visualization somehow.
above: Fleshing out the initial idea of concentric circles to map out time and the three categories.
REFINE Methods of Visualization
12
Based on this idea and the feedback of the class, I began to develop the idea
in Illustrator. The polar grid, the timeline and the three regions of “What I Like”,
“What I Do” and “What I Believe” were quick to render; yet, after creating them,
I was stuck on what to do next. Here I was with this data set of people’s names
and how they influenced me. It seemed visually uninteresting to just transfer this
data onto my diagram. In my initial sketches I had thought about creating icons
representing what the person influenced me in. As I thought about it, I realized
icons for music and food might be easy, but what about more abstract concepts
like “drive” and “work ethic”?
About FacePerhaps I could make icons or small visual representations of something else? I
began to play around with first drawing a simple sketch of my father’s face and
placed it on my chart. I drew a few more faces and asked for feedback from my
classmates. I thought that they wouldn’t care for the faces, since they didn’t
know who it was, but I was surprised by their responses: Though they didn’t know
who the person was, it was still interesting to see who I was talking about. They
compared it to reading a magazine article about someone unfamiliar, but since
there was a picture of the person, you were able to connect a face to the story.
I should’ve known, really. My cognitive neuroscience background had taught me
all about faces. For example, humans have a dedicated area in their brains that is
specialized for processing faces (and if you injure that area your facial recognition
ability is impaired), and faces are some of the first things newborns respond to.
EXECUTING the IDEA
DESIGNExecuting the Idea
13
Initial VersionsAfter receiving some positive feedback about the faces, I decided to copy many
of them to simulate the effect of having lots of facing representing data points
on my chart. I was unsure of how to delineate the three categories on my chart,
however, so I thought I would try coloring the faces different colors to as a key
for each category (left, top). Light gradations of gray circles would remain in the
background to demarcate what area the data points belonged in. I wasn’t fully
satisfied with this first version, however, because I thought the overall chart was
very drab since the gray circles were so predominant in the image. Also, I didn’t
want the faces with the green backgrounds to all look like they were sick!
So, I decided to try adding more color to the chart. I took each of the circles and
gave them each their assigned color for the category. Since the faces would get
lost in the colored circles, I gave each a white background and kept them as line
art. I kept the hint of color on each face as a shadow and to reiterate the color
system used in the chart. Stepping back to look at these changes, I was beginning
to feel that the design was finally starting to come together.
Details, DetailsAs I moved closer to the version that would be the final product, I concentrated
on more of the details, recalling some of the initial feedback that I received from
my classmates. I softened up the hard boundaries between the circles with various
gradients, to convey that these categories are very loosely defined. I added a key
of sorts to the top of the chart (since I didn’t have any memories at the age of 3
anyway) to show what each category was. I also concentrated on the following
details in the run-up to producing the final design:
above: Initial version of the design, with the faces having the most color.
above: The design after a few more iterations (and a few coffees too).
DESIGN Executing the Idea
14
ColorsI tried to make sure the colors I was using were consistent and distinct enough from one
another. Most of the colors are muted to lend more prominence to the text and the faces. I
used dark blue for most intimate category, “What I Believe” because I’ve always considered
blue to be a deep, reflective color.
KEPLER ITALIC CAPTION
KEPLER STD DISPLAY kepler std italic Kepler Std
MONICA YUE /
friend
naturefrom nurture
TypefacesI used a combination of serif and sans-serif typefaces in this chart to convey a range of feel-
ings. The polar grid reminded me of vintage cartography, which was why I used the elegant
serif typeface Kepler. However, I didn’t want the chart’s “voice” to sound stuffy, so I used
Officina in the vignettes, which were the parts where I was telling the audience stories.
Macro/Micro StructureI considered the macro/micro structure of the chart, and how the experience would be for
viewers at various distances. I made the chart large enough to see from far away, particularly
the title. However, upon closer inspection, the viewers will notice another structure: the
name of the person, their relation to me, a sketch of their face and a brief vignette of how I
remember that person influencing me. The briefness of these stories allows the viewer to take
in the information in small chunks without having to commit to reading the entire piece.
TitleOne of the finishing touches before completing the final design was deciding on a title. Yet,
it was also something that I had thought up very early on. The title is a play on words from
the catchphrase “nature vs. nurture” that is often used to refer to characteristics or qualities
that either originate from genetics, the environment, or an interplay of both. By calling it
“Nature from Nurture”, I was referring to how the chart shows various characteristics I have
(my nature) are derived from the people I’ve known.
DESIGNExecuting the Idea
15
Final Design Solution:
above: Scaled-down final piece. Actual piece is 42 inches by 42 inches.
DESIGN Executing the Idea
16
For me, it’s a rarity to be able to reflect on a completed piece of work, since
most of the time you’re focused on the next thing you have to do. When I
do, though, I find it rewarding to be able to look back at the entire process
and the finished artifact and be able to see the distance that was traversed
from when the project first started. More valuable, though, are the insights
and lessons learned during the process.
The Process Though I felt the overall process went smoothly for me overall I think I
still learned a lot from this project. I felt like in the beginning stages of
generating ideas for the topics, I spent quite a bit of time thinking of con-
cepts, trying to look for one that would accurately represent me. I ended up
generating pages and pages of ideas. I feel that in the end, no artifact will
be able to fully capture the essence of an individual, since even this chart
only illustrates certain aspects of me. I also experienced how helpful it is
to get feedback from others early on in the concept stages. Before graduate
school, I often came up with ideas on my own and had such fully-realized
visions of the execution I wouldn’t feel like I needed feedback until I had
completed the entire thing. I feel this is definitely something to keep in
mind since I did end up incorporating a lot of ideas from my classmates in
the final design.
LEARNING from YOURSELF
REFLECTLearning from Yourself
17
I also learned the importance of printing out test pieces before sending a final design
off to be printed. Working with such a large format, it was very important to make
sure that the colors and size of the text were correct, so our class printed test strips
of our posters to verify how these would look in print. Although my colors came out
as predicted, I know that for others, some of the colors were unexpected and needed
adjusting.
The OutcomeOverall, I am quite happy with the finished piece, since I feel it represents many
things I consider to be quintessentially “me”. Initially, I had intended to use size as
another cue for hierarchy (with larger data points in the center, getting smaller as
along the periphery), but I don’t think that was very apparent in the final piece even
though I did do scaling adjustments to each data point. I wonder if a larger variety
of faces would have made it more interesting; yet, I suppose it also tells a story
about my life to see recurring faces for people who have had a consistent impact
throughout my life.
I enjoyed sketching out the faces, even though it was a somewhat tedious task. I
feel that because I chose to draw them, the faces became more “interpretative” and
less objective, i.e., this is how I see someone instead of this is how they actu-
ally look in a photograph. In the end, I think it makes it more personal. I found it
nostalgic to go through old photos to find ones that I could use as references for
my sketches, and I hope that I will be able to use this project as a good reason to
get back in touch with the people I’ve lost touch with, and to thank those who have
been a significant factor for where I am today and where I’m headed in the future.
REFLECT Learning from Yourself
18