Exercise 3 - Strategies for Conveying Information

Exercise 3 - Strategies for Conveying Information

By Joe, Alan, Jay, Giustina


COMMON FATE

The principle of common fate is referred as Gestalt principles of perception. It asserts that elements that move together in a common direction are perceived as a single group, and interpreted as being more related that elements that move at different times or in different directions. If a certain element moves in one direction, and the other elements move in the opposite direction, both elements are grouped by common motion and direction.


INTERFERENCE EFFECTS

The interference effects occur when two or more understanding or the memory processes are in conflict. Human understanding and memory from the brain involved different mental systems to analyze and to process information. When the output is corresponding, the process of interpretation occur quickly, and the performance is at the best. If the output does not correspond, the interference effects occur and extra processing is require to resolve the problem. Additional time is also required to resolve the conflict that have the negative impact to the performance.


Stroop Interference: An irrelevant process aspect of information triggers a mental process that interfere with the processes involving a relevant aspect of the information.

Example: It takes more time to name the color when the meaning and the color words conflict.


ORIENTATION SENSITIVITY



An orientation sensitivity can be effective if the people can perceive and make judgments about the orientation of lines if it influenced by "oblique" effect and "pop-out" effect. The pop-out effect is the tendency of of the certain element in the display to pop out as the emphasis of the element, which resulted to be quickly and easily to be detected. The oblique effect is the ability to more accurately perceive and judge the line orientation that are close to vertical and horizontal, that line orientations are oblique.

Exercise Three: Desiree, Brad, Josh

Closure

People tend to identify a set of individual elements as a single recognizable pattern rather than multiple elements. This inclination makes people close gaps and fill in missing information. The tendency to perceive information in this fashion is a natural reaction and is a subconscious habit. Closure is strongest when elements are simple, recognizable patterns. Also, subtle visual cues can help direct the eye to find the pattern. This tendency helps designers to reduce complexity by using a smaller number of elements to organize and communicate information.

In this logo, some information is removed but our eye still follows the lines.

Good Continuation

Aligned elements are perceived as single groups or chunks. They are interpreted as more related than unaligned elements.The ability to accurately recognize objects depends on perceptibility of corners and sharp curves that make up their shape. If a designer chooses to have sections of a line or shape hidden from view, good continuation will still lead the eye to continue along visible segments. As the angle of disruption becomes more heightened, the elements will seem less related to each other.

This image of a ruler has good continuation, we can continue the patter the lines make beyond the picture frame.

Uniform Connectedness

Elements connected to one another by uniform visual properties are seen as a single group or chunk. They are interpreted as being more related than elements that are not connected. There are two basic strategies for applying uniform connectedness in a design:

• Common Regions- regions formed when edges come together and bound visual area grouping elements within the region
  
• Connecting lines- formed when explicit line joins elements, grouping connected elements

This technique will generally overpower the other principles. Elements that uniformly connect will appear more related.

The buttons on this controller are grouped together depending on their function.

By: Desiree, Brad and Josh.

Exercise 3- Gestault's Universal Principles of Design

Exercise 3

By: Cathy, Humyra, Tarz & Lindsay

1.) ALIGNMENT:

Alignment is defined as the arrangement/placement of an object in linear fashion (horizontally or vertically) or along a common center in relation to another object. Alignment is essential in a design to create a sense of unity and cohesion that contributes to the overall pleasing aesthetics of the design. It can be a very strong factor in understanding of the design. Generally alignment is discussed in linear fashion but there are also diagonal, spiral and circular alignments that depend on angles and central points.Even with all such principles, there also some exceptions; for example a chaotic design to create tension or a focal point to attract attention. However, these exceptions are occasional and should be avoided to keep alignment as a major principle of

design.

Spikes of a wheel are aligned in a circular manner to maintain the uniformity in the wheel's working.

2.) HIGHLIGHTING:

Highlighting is an effective technique for bringing attention to elements of design. However, if it is applied improperly, it can be ineffective and lose the performance in these areas. The guidelines address the benefits and liabilities of the common highlighting techniques. Techniques that are used in highlighting are the following: general, bold, italics and understanding, typeface, color, inversing and blinking. Example of using highlighting is to improve the face features of the model’s face.

3.)LAYERING:

Layering is a way of organizing information by putting them into related groups. It is used to ‘manage complexity, but can also be used to reinforce relationships in information.’

There are two kinds of layering

1) Two-dimensional:

divide information into layers so that only one layer of information can be viewed at a time. It can be presented in linear or nonlinear style.

2) Three-dimensional:

divides information in a way so that multiple layers of information can be viewed at one time. These layers are presented ‘in either opaque or transparent planes of information that sit atop one another.

EXAMPLES:

Three Dimensional Layering:(Opaque)

4.) SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO:

Signal-to-noise ratio is described as the ratio of relevant and irrelevant information in a piece of work. Signal is identified as the information that is being conveyed and noise is identified as the irrelevant information that distracts the viewer from the real meaning. In an ideal design the aim should be to achieve a high signal-to-noise ratio, suggesting that the information provided is efficient and is presented in a concise and simple manner. This can be achieved by maximizing signal and minimizing noise. Maximizing signal involves clearly communicating the idea with the minimal use of elaborative elements. Thorough research and careful decision-making is essential for that. Minimizing noise involves removing all the unnecessary elements. To maximize the signal-to-noise ratio consider simple design strategies and avoid unnecessary expression of elements.


In the example listed below, the two brochures are for the same campaign.

Low signal-to-noise ratio (graphics distracting)

High signal-to-noise ratio(simple and clear)