The Social in the Visual

Could colour be used as a human geographical tool? Stuart’s post raises some great questions about colour as information. I argue that the shift towards modernity has severed the link between colour and the natural material.The boom of the textile industry and of mass produced products has caused the public in developed parts of the world, to behave as an information design. Unique and bespoke items are reserved for the rich and elite.Large quantities of identical coloured shirts, indicates that groups of people are wearing the same colour at the same time. What can these patterns tell us? Certain patterns of colour can be attached to an occupation. Designers wear black t-shirts; blue scrubs and white for medical services; bright orange for road workers. Would particular patterns emerge if we examined one occupation, like education? (more…)

In recent posts we’ve been having a chat about, among other things, economic rationalism and creativity. And, as always, information design is the subject of this blog. Here’s a recent find which combines all of these topics in one succinct design. This ‘faceless watch’ was ffffound on the Geek & Hype site. Like a lot of very good design, this is ‘meta-design’: Design that refers to design, in this case, watch design. It acknowledges a typical bracelet design, yet asks a perverse question: do we need the watch part of the watch? Will the bracelet alone do the job? Superb concept. I wonder how well it works in bright daylight?

As the economic rationalist mantra goes: “time equals money”. I wonder how much designer, Hironau Tsuboi, got paid for this design. And how long did it take? It’s difficult, via fffound, and many websites for that matter, to get to the source of an image to find out, as for example in this case, who designed that? As Uriah said in a previous post, the Web definitely throws the issue of ownership up for debate. What do you think of sites like ffffound which, on the one hand, provide endless eye-candy or ‘inspiration’, and yet, on the other, pull so much creative work free of its cultural and personal, authorial anchors? Faceless indeed.

This image was taken from CSU Web Services.

How well does this graphic communicate the social, participatory advantages of online connectivity?

The name of our site privileges the role of the visual and how it relates to the social world – this in fact is one of the main reasons that we got together in the first place. So, we are asking what is the link between creativity and what is visually represented, and how does this relate to the social?

Is creativity to be understood in the sense of ascribing to the standardised Western language of art? If so, does this construct work that is about art itself, i.e., art framed by ideologies and institutions, or about the social world? Is it creativity in the design sense, which arguably also fits within a predetermined ideological framework? Should these differing visual languages be considered as distinct, or rather, what if the social was the central premise for creativity, how can art and design work together productively?

David Gauntlett asks what is the role of creativity and the social in his inaugural lecture, “Participation Culture, Creativity, and Social Change,” from November 2008.

Some of the findings he raises are worth considering as they arguably shift the user from being a passive recipient of information to having an active role in the dissemination of content:

69% of US adults and teens consume citizen media content.

54% of US adults and teens edit their music videos and photos.

32% of people see themselves as broadcasters.

So given these stats, and the amount of time we spend online, on google, wikipedia, social networking sites etc., how can the Figures site construct a space for participation through visual means? Can the visual participation that happens online be made manifest in the physical realm? Maybe the concerns raised in the “Virtual Maps” posting, regarding locative media is one such option.

We’ve decided to start some categories here at Figures. At the risk of being branded crack-pots, one of those categories needs to be ‘Crazy Notions’. This will be a place where strange whims (seldom indulged in the ‘rhetoric of neutrality’—as Robin Kinross has described it—the realm of information design) may be played out, to see what they might develop into. Good design process should never disregard crazy notions, at least not to begin with! And so, in that spirit of exploration, though it might lead us into dead ends, here is the first crazy notion post.

So, what if buildings were bar charts? What are city skylines showing us? The 20th century (economically rationalist) city is typified by the skyscraper, why? Generally speaking, the modern CBD rises towards the middle: The tallest buildings are to be found where the rental of floor space per metre is at its highest. Presumeably the rent is highest in the city at this position because its the most desireable position in the city from which to conduct business: Because it’s central (and/or it’s located near transport corridors or other influential, maybe geographical features). In this regard then, a skyline can be a bar chart measuring rental costs through altitude: The taller the building, the higher the rent at that point in the city. Of course this should mean that city skylines would be pyramidical in elevation, triangular in profile. Some are, but many aren’t. In the US, due to the more recent development of their cities compared with the old world, one is more likely to see this pattern. It occurs in Europe too, especially where cities were destroyed by bombing during WWII and were rebuilt from the middle of the century. Some German cities, Frankfurt and Köln for example, have a skyscraper skyline. Meanwhile, Rome insists that no buildings exceed the height of St Peter’s. Could one say that the ‘bar chart of buildings’ in Europe measures the degree to which your city was bombed during the war?

Could tall buildings also be a bar chart of the importance placed on economic rationalism in a city? Paris has its tall buildings tucked away in one quarter, La Defense, while it brands itself as a romantic city whose appearance precedes the 2oth century. London does something similar: Most of the skyscrapers exist at Canary Wharf to the south east of the CBD. Though in London, the tall ones do march more closely into the centre of the city. Is this an indication of a more economically rationalist nationalism? Or is it because much of London was also wiped out in WWII? We’d love your thoughts on this half-formed notion. Especially if you’re a town-planner or an architect!

Pics are borrowed from: Frankfurt; New York; Paris; Rome; Perth

Mapping using the Internet, like most applications on the web, seems to begin by using existing models of visualisation. It makes sense to use what we know and understand about paper maps from their long history. When maps are used as a tool to try and locate a place there is a relationship between that visualised place and the actual place. The main difference between a printed map and a virtual might be the passage of time. The Internet, with its ability to change and update quickly, gives us the ability to apply filters to the visualisations.

Google maps is a good example. These maps employ the aesthetic of a road map: A bird’s eye view; small icons; various line widths and colours to denote area. (more…)