Creating Frames That Work, a cog-sci infographic experiment
Posted on 06. Mar, 2010 by Zachary Lym in Design, Psychology
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.
