Indolering.com » Design

Creating Frames That Work, a cog-sci infographic experiment

Zachary Lym — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 00:02:48 +0000

Inspired by the Left vs Right (world) info-graphic, I endeavored to create a visual workflow for creating framing. Usability tests showed that the concept fell short of enabling people to create do their own framing, but it did explain the idea of framing, metaphor, and their connection to policy issues quite well.

The big lesson I learned is that an infographic gets a viewer interested but does not try to explain all the details. My graphic attempted to provide an entire workflow, in addition to explaining the background psychology. Joe Brewer at Cognitive Psychology Works (a progressive think-tank) and I agreed that it is unlikely any workflow can enable non-professionals to create their own policy framing from scratch. However, the brochure was very good at explaining the taxation metaphors and we will likely recycle this effort into future, issue-centric, materials.

As to the information itself, my professor commented that, while accurate, she would have liked to see citations. Left/right has some incorrect information in their graphic and it would be nice to see if they are misinterpreting the information or if they are basing the graphic on a different set of theories. Citations also increase the perceived authority of the document.

During the usability test, the readers flipped right past the definitions on the gate-fold flaps (see below). I think this had to do with the inside panels being in color, however, the density of the text is probably the main reason.

Click to Enlarge

A zip with legal and tabloid sized PDFs, along with the original InDesign file, is here. With the exception of the logo’s, everything is CC-BY-CA, just like Wikipedia. If you need public domain, just ask.

To produce your own copies, print the PDF on 11×17, trim, and fold or print at ~95% to fit the image on legal-sized paper, trim, and fold. The screen-shot to the right is a sample print set-up.

When you see the file in PDF, it won’t make much sense. The final piece is a double gatefold brochure, see below.

Objectified- My Personal Anthem

Zachary Lym — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 22:26:26 +0000

I want this for my birthday. You really should just go watch the trailer on YouTube, and rate it 5-stars.

Kid Robot

Zachary Lym — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 18:55:51 +0000

I love good design

Zachary Lym — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 04:37:49 +0000

Clever & wonderful, I love designers

Via design-milk.com

Obama & Nazi Design

Zachary Lym — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:50:33 +0000

I did my term paper for art history on design elements used in the political campaigns of past and present figures, including Bush, Gore, Kerry, Obama, and McCain. All the talk of Obama and Nazi design similarities gave me the impetus to put it up here.

I had to cut out about 50% of the content, but anyone interested in the comparison should check out Iron Fists: Branding the 20th-Century Totalitarian State. It’s an excellent book and my main source.

Anyway, here is a highlight,

The McCain campaign tried to concurrently project the image of both a strong leader and a rebellious maverick. This strategy made McCain an unconvincing strong father, whom would protect the nation better than Bush as a conservative democrat prone to the nuclear-family view of foreign policy would want. Whereas a republican with nurturant-parent views of foreign policy would require someone able to work with others- not a maverick whom is unable to work with those in his own party. Of McCain’s choice for a campaign font Art Chantry opined in a New York Times piece,
“Everything about this logo says you can buy a car from this man.” -Barlow & Highsmith, Boston Globe. McCain’s logo juxtaposed with McCann Motors in Fife WA.
“Optima is the ultimate noncommittal typeface. It’s a sans-serif typeface with the suggestion of false serifs. It’s also a serif typeface without serifs. Either way, it’s a half-truth. Optima is the best typeface for appeal to all viewers and projecting sophistication without really having sophistication.”
How much of this statement was just subconscious reprocessing of the author’s political views in the form of a design critique is debatable. However, the parallels are striking: the McCain campaign chose a font trying to be both strong and sophisticated while McCain was rushing to embrace the evangelical right-wing while simultaneously trying to both co-opt Obama’s change message and adopt a feminist advocacy angle.

Oh, and the whole paper is BY-SA:

Unchanging PDF

Unchanging Zip

Enjoy : )