Excercise 4 - Kay Lee

Florida with Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands

The front page, continued to the back page of the map when unfolded, has an illustration of

various species of birds that represent Florida's rich birdlife.

Animal is a familiar subject that draws attention from the viewers/readers in a favorable sense.

Also, it's notable that the map was printed by National Geographic.

The back page of the map, divided into six columns, follows the Gutenberg diagram,

with its title in a stronger font at the primary optical area, and an image at the terminal area,

but it seems its strong/weak follow areas are not clearly proved. (100)

This map achieves aesthetic color combinations by using analogous colors,

such as green and blue, complementary colors, such as red and green,

and triadic and quadratic colors, such as orange and green.(38)

The symbolism of the colors used here is quite obvious and universal;

blue for sea and green for forest.

By employing example icons, it specifies the regions, infrastructure, territories, etc.

For example, National Wildlife Refuges uses a pictorial image of a bird on the wing,

and a simplified image of an airplane represents the airports.(110)

The consistency of the icons enables viewers/readers to efficiently

recognize and communicate with the map.(46)

Also, opaque layering is used in order to deliver information about important

locations or special events going on each place, probably on purpose of tourism.(122)

Highlighting of the fonts is used to differentiate the administrative districts,

usually the larger , bold, uppercase fonts means the larger district.(108)

"Florida" is the largest visible text as well as the names of the oceans.

I like this map since it's visually pleasing, but I always prefer using mapquest.com for any purpose.
Paper maps are, no matter how well the map is designed, it's always overloaded by too much information
on a limited size of the map. The folded edges start to rip or the areas on the edges become rubbed out.
This kind of map is good when I'm planning for a travel abroad or as a decoration of the walls in my room.

Excercise 4: David McInerney

Kimberley Ranges - Western Australia










This Road Map employs the use of "icons" to distinguish major and minor roads, cumulative distance, gas stations, trailer parks and points of interest - these icons are explained in a table at the centre bottom on the map. The map also has a "Map Index", much like a street directory that corresponds to the numeric and alphabetic grid that links to the margins. Highlighting is used to warn drivers of road conditions and even swimming conditions i.e "Crocodiles may be found in saltwater and freshwater!!" The Indian Ocean and Timor Sea are highlighted using a serif font, while most inland areas use a san serif font. Layering is used to highlight urban centres in greater detail by creating separate localised maps on the left hand side of the map (over the water). Blue and tones of green distinguish water from varying fertile and barren land mass, I feel that the green does not adequately represent drought stricken areas. The reserve side of the map provides in depth text, on topics such as; conditions of pavements, the best seasons to travel and two other localised maps of cities.

My visceral reaction to this map was that it made me homesick! I have never been to Western Australia (its a long way from Sydney), but the outline of the coast from Port Hedland to Darwin is recognisable on most maps of Australia. This map works for me, I feel that the alignment of the roads on the grid is successful. The map adequately represents the highway system. It has a high Signal-to-Noise ratio.

Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi

Field Trip-Katie

I am going to attend the monday session @ 1pm.

Exercise 4- Lena Hong

This map was containing the information of the whole world, and the title of this pap was "The world physical" map , which as seen in the picture, shows all the continents and cities. This map was easy to read because all the continets/countries were divided into separate colours, which highlights all the details. On the other side of the map there is another map that only shows the elevation of the countires/water bodies. This page was not easy to read because the colours used were yellow-ish colours, and green, which I didn't know what it meant. The readability of this map was average; the front page was easier than the elevation page. but it would have been better if main cities were labled only, because with small letter and arrows, it was kind of confusing me, and it was hard to read the country name itself. Overall, I think the map was a success of conveying information, especially the lables and different colour outlines of the countries, but I think the size of the map is too big for tourists or bikers to carry, because it was hard for me to take a picture of the whole map.

Exercise 4 - Joanne

One of the strategies used to convey information is highlighting. The map uses a different colour to highlight the water bodies from the landmasses. Another highlighting technique used in this map is with the use of bold and italics texts. In addition different fonts are used as well. Another strategy used is alignment. This map uses many complex forms of alignment, for example the names of the waters or water features are aligned in the same directions as the feature or along the ridge of the feature. Overall this map works for me because it is very similar to other maps about the analysis about land surfaces or landforms (like geomorphometry maps).

Exercise 4 - Gio Petrucci

Toronto Cycling Map 2006

Visually, the cycling map consists of Downtown Toronto as a whole. The paths are concise within the areas to which the cyclists would naturally correspond with when mapping out where they would be able to ride their bike’s within the city. All extra information helping decode the map (colour, patterns) are located framed, over where the water would be as to not interfere with any of the Toronto land areas which are pertinent to the map. The map has no problems helping the cyclist know where they are able to take their beloved rides. As long as a basic understanding of the city’s layout is there, getting lost is almost impossible. The main streets are mapped out efficiently so a general knowledge, like I said, is all that is needed to navigate one’s self.

Personally, if I still owned and used a bike, this map would be useful in the sense that I do know the downtown area and would have no problems taking this and venturing out around town by myself. The map is clear, coloured quite well for quick and easy legibility. Colouring corresponds to how the city works. Green for grass and vegetation, grey for roads and taupe for the rest of the city.

Excercise 4 - Kaylyn Frecker

Kowloon Street Plan Map


cover shot


















open map



















I think I would be able to decode this map a bit better if it was in English but I'll give it a shot anyways. I struggled to really find anything wrong with this map. Even though it is in a different language I figured out the coding into a very short time. I was able to learn that instead of placing any street names on the map they place numbers in place and expect you to flip the map to find the street. Which in result is a much clearer visual map.

Exercise 4 - Iliana Shabatova

Map of China

Even though I am unable to read this map written in Chinese characters, there are a few well used visual strategies of conveying information which are easy to read.

The uniform connectedness strategy (Gestalt principles of perception) is used in several places. Firstly, the destinations on the top left corner are shown as a group with the kilometers to their left sides, all at equal distance from the cities. All city names and kilometer numbers are typed in the same colour and font. Secondly, on the bottom right of the colorful large map there is a legend, where the black characters describing the symbols all start from the same place and have the same distance to the symbols, even though the symbols are completely different from one another, there is a sense of grouping. Also there is a second legend, below the second map, to the right. This one creates a whole union, by the same starting point of the letters and distance between them, however using different colours for the last five symbols makes them be recognized even better as belonging to one another due to the uniform colour of each line (creating separate little unions inside the bigger one). Lastly, the left flap of the map used uniform connectedness through the text’s alignment and separation into different paragraphs with different colour headings.

Another small yet extremely important strategy is highlighting. This map will not be of much use if the viewer was unable to find their starting point, to which all these kilometers and cities are related. The starting point is identified by a large red circle with another red circle inside it, being easy enough for someone unable to understand the language to recognize (me). It almost looks like a button, waiting to be pressed. Another highlighting is used through font characteristics. Even though italics or underlining is not an option used for Chinese characters, the map titles are well placed with a reasonable font size, even the cities on the maps are easy to locate. Looking at the very left flap, the main heading of the paragraphs is red, blond and even the second line has a glowing effect. Lastly, colour highlighting is well used showing the roadways in intense red and blue hues, easy to detect and differentiate from all the different light-colored regions (right map). On the more topographic map, the road colours once again stand out, due to the black hairlines with an off-white (blue) background.

Overall this map appeals to me. I really like the milky green of the general background, psychologically creating a sense of natural calmness. I think that even though Chinese characters can get really messy to understand due to their spaces from one another, this map reduces such confusions by the well used uniform connectedness and highlighting universal strategies of conveying information. This map further connects to the Universal Principles of Design. Looking at the third principle – simple and intuitive use, this map eliminates a lot of unnecessary confusion making it even readable for foreign tourists, who can only use their common knowledge to understand obvious symbols (there is no loss of translation). The sixth principle of low physical effort is also used due to the well grouped layout of the map, its simple folding and one side use only. In terms of being useful to people with disabilities, the only category it lacks to cover is blind people, but then again blind people would probably have someone to drive them and take this trip around China with them!

Trip - iLiaNa

I am coming to the Friday one at 2:30!

Exercise Four: Miriam

The map uses the element of highlighting, by making important locations (Information/Visitor Centres) stand out against the map by the use of a green background against the text. It makes it easy to find for the viewer, the information area is an important location that people want to find fast when they need help. Caps are used to show the main larger areas of land, in this case it is the national park areas. The confusing thing is, is that the colour the map uses to highlight these elements are very similar to each other. The map uses the element of closure as well. The trails are shown as a dashed line, but the mind automatically observes it as a connected line and leads the eye throughout the map. The third element that the map introduces is layering. There are several layers of land and glaciers, or text that form the three-dimensional layering effect. Here they are shown as transparent layers. This map provides general information about the area. If I was going to a National Park, I would want to receive a map with much more detail however, including path systems, elevations, distances. This map just gives an overview of the general key points. It would be hard for anyone to use this map to get anywhere. This map seems to be more of an informational pamphlet, just illustrating the locations and the activities that go on throughout the park. It is good to see that the icons showing bathrooms, telephones, campground are clearly shown because viewers need this fact. This can be based on iconic representation, these images can be easily figured out by anyone because of their simplicity, This map uses similar icons. They are highlighted with a black background with a white illustration making them easier to spot. It’s annoying to see maps with icons with no background, they are too small to identify and that pretty much sucks. The map also gets some bonus points for being done in a normal range of colours, the water is blue, land is green, nothing is done in crazy colours like purple for land instead. The map has many positive views to it but much more negatives however, I just don’t find it detailed enough.

Exercise 4- by Shona

A Fishing and Recreation Map of Manitoulin Island- Deconstructed

This map uses one of the “Five Hat Racks” systems of organizing information, that of Location. This is, “organization by geographical or spatial reference” and used, “when orientation and wayfinding are important or when information is meaningfully related to the geography of a place (e.g. a historic site).” Routes and their names, and icons representing points of interest such as marinas and campgrounds, are overlaid on a depiction of the space they cover.
Another way this map conveys information is Iconic Representation. Icons have been created for points of interest and are explained on the legend at the lower left side of the map. These icons allow one to easily spot destinations. Some of the icons are “Example” icons: “icons that use images of things that are commonly associated with an action, object or concept”, such as an image of a sailboat to represent a marina. Others are “arbitrary” icons that have to be learned: for example, the letter G indicates where to fish for Largemouth Bass.
Though this map works okay for conveying its information, I think its use of colour works against it, both aesthetically speaking, and for conveying information. The water, which is the “ground”, is in a much more saturated colour than the “figure”, the land mass of the island, and therefore “pops” out and draws the eye to it. The colour of land mass is also very bland. I think the purposes of this map would be better served if the island was done in richer greens and the body of water in a pale blue. And it might be more aesthetically pleasing, and thus more interesting to look at as well.

Project 1 - "Doorways" Video

OCAD Design Competition

Despite the snow, I encourage you all to participate in the OCAD Design Competition 2008. Please let me know if you are, and if you'd like to present your proposition to the class. We'll be having a conversation about The Universal Experience in a forthcoming class.

Exercise Five - Andrea

Object that you love, object that you hate
(better late than never)
Mug!
This mug is one of my favourite things that I don’t actually own. It’s my roommate’s and it’s really cute so I use it as much as I can. There is nothing wrong with this mug! The handle is so nicely mapped that you can grip it with either hand and avoid a burnt digit! (It’s perfectly sized so that three of my fingers can snuggle in like pigs in a blanket.)
Its affordances are pretty much a handle and an opening. It’s so simple to use – just pour tea or hot chocolate in the top and carry it with the handle. Everything’s very clearly laid out on this mug – and it even has an adorable monster on it.
Another plus is that the mug will tell you if it’s empty or full.
One thing that could be a constraint is the fact that there’s only one handle, and it might be heavy or awkward for some people to hold it in one hand. But not me, I’m a big girl and I love it. Plus, who’s seen a cup with two handles that’s not a baby drinky cup?

Stereo
I hate this stereo so much. It’s from the Brick and it is terrible because first of all, the wire that connects from the outlet to the actual machine doesn’t fit into the back of the stereo snugly so it sometimes falls out and you have to push it in really hard or jiggle it until you get the stereo’s ‘on’ light to glow. This can be a very frustrating and time-consuming process. It makes moving the stereo to different locations very annoying.

While the machine does have a nice plump yet compact appearance, and a volume control that is satisfyingly nice to twirl, this stereo has many more pitfalls, which constrain usability. The stop button often doesn’t work, so pause must be pushed instead. Also, when a cd is placed inside, the stereo sometimes spins it so hard that it makes a really loud noise and shakes violently – then when you open the lid the cd almost flies out! I don’t know why it does this.

The player itself isn’t even mapped out well. The controls for the cd player are close to the tape deck, and the tape’s play/stop/pause buttons are super close to where the cd lid is. I found that confusing at first. The number display is also pretty hard to read. If it were illuminated that would be nicer. I think the poor thing already has too many problems to fix!

One thing though, that’s good about it is that it plays music when it works! So that’s a good form of feedback.

Exercise 4: Read A Map

Discover Tibet
Exercise 4: Read A Map

There is highlighting used to make the legends stand out by having box’s around them in a darker colour. There is also highlighting used on main trails on the map. Layering is also used when roads overlap and the positioning of the legends as they cover parts of the map. When this map was first given to me, my reaction was that it would be impossible for me to do anything with the map. The map does not work for me. The big reason why is because its written in a language that I can not read, and there are barely any symbols that would even give me a hint of what’s on the map. Also another reason I don’t like it is because some of the stuff in the legend is located on the map in basically the same colour as the background which makes it very hard to see.

Project 1 - Julian, Diandra and Jennie

Project 1 - Shona, Joanne, Kay

Interactions with Parking Meters

* click on the image for a larger view

Project # 1

this is the iMovie of our research, observations and suggestions

by Derek, Che, Lena and Katie

Project 1 - Dave and Josh Preso

SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED, I’M YOURS!!!


Example of Ethnographic Observation

Girl 25, Bay and Bloor

• She had to put coffee on the ground, there was also no room for handbags
• Had to use two hands to open letter box
• Used the pull down handle when she only needed to use the slot
• It was a cold day and she wanted protection from the elements
• The movement of the lever handle made a loud industrial noise
• The box was located a busy street
• The girl did not like how the box looked

DESiGN iSSUES

Physical Constraints

• Large parcels cannot be processed
• Height of the box restricts children and people with limited mobility.
• Psychological constraints
• Unfriendly design of box
• Lack of personal interaction

Affordance

• Only items can be put in the box. The lever (like a candy vending machine) ensures that only a Canada Post employee can remove mail.
• Only items of medium size or smaller can fit in the box. If a large item were to be placed in the box, there may be not room left for other people’s letters.
• There is no shelf room to avoid trash building up.

Visibility

• Slot faces sidewalk so users are safe from traffic.
• Bright red colour
• Limited feedback, can include the sound of letter falling on a hard or soft surface.
• Can be hard to find due to lack of signage, especially at night in dark areas.

Mapping

• Slot is at the top of box, this is logical.
• The horizontal bar assumes the the pull out motion.

Solutions derived from Ethnographic Observation

• Add solar panels, much like parking meters, that will power the safety lighting, and other functions.
• An awning to protect people from the elements.
  

• A lower slot for children and people with less mobility
• A vending machine for stamps
• A button that opens the hatch, much like a wheelchair access door
• Scanner within the box that gives items a tracking number… a LED screen will give the user their tracking number and the option to print this number on a receipt.
• Built in scale for pricing items
• Shelf to place hand bags or coffee, writing letters and fill out forms.
• Audio feedback
• “Thank you for using Canada Post”
• “Your mail is being tracked by us, you can also track online. Your payment has been received"
• Visual feedback
• LED screen for pricing, date/time, expected delivery times. Printed receipts
  
• Red light to indicate that the box is full
• Flashing light to indicate the post man is about to arrive
• Visually appealing design, with rounded corners and clearer signage.
• Directional signs on street corners.

Project One: Iliana, Kristen and Miriam

Why is this interaction necessary?

- find store location

- minimize time searching for destination

-less confusion for customer

What are the items of interaction?

- person

-board :

- Plexiglas board (with back lighting)

- different colour categories

- alphabetical order with general headings of all stores

- levels of the mall

- legends and symbols

Where and when does the interaction start and finish?

START – The procedure begins with a shopper unable to find the location of a store. Then the shopper needs to find the map in order to proceed to their initial destination.

FINISH – Through observing the directions on the map, the shopper can then advance to store

PROS AND CONS

PROS

- Colour coordinated

- Lights up

- Large board

- Clean

- Grabs viewer’s attention

CONS

- Small print

- “You are Here” location is small making it difficult to notice

- Difficulty finding board locations

- No headings

- No labels on map diagram itself

- Escalator start and finish points hard to find

Improvements

- Larger font

- Directions/Arrows to locate maps faster

- Headings

- Touch screen the desired location and a track lights up from current location to the destination

- Bigger, horizontal shaped board

- Escalator locations emphasized

- Listing of stores on either side of the map, list alphabetical order and list of categorized order

Take-out Delivery

This is the iMovie version of our research and info for assignment #1

Exercise Six: Bring a Toy

Please bring, beg, borrow or steal (OK, don't steal) a toy from home or elsewhere to class next week (February 6) Our definition of a toy is as yet undetermined, so feel free to challenge our preconceived notions. We'll be playing with, discussing and deconstructing these objects next week. Try to avoid bringing electronic devices if possible.

Class Five (Field Trip)

Class Five: The Spatial Experience will be a field trip. Depending on your availability, the field trip will take place on either Saturday, February 9 or Monday, February 11.

It is preferable that you attend the Monday, February 11 field trip. This will be to the Ontario Science Centre, where we'll be exploring the exhibits and touring the design and production facilities. There will be two sessions: one beginning at 1:00PM, and one beginning at 3:00PM.
We will be meeting at the information desk in the Weston Family Innovation Centre. Allow at least 45 minutes to get to the OSC by TTC from OCAD, and at least 20 minutes to get from the entrance to the meeting spot.















If you can't make Monday, then the second field trip will be to interacess, on Saturday, February 9. Again, there will be two sessions, one beginining at 1:00PM, and one beginning at 3:00PM.

Please make a comment on this post indicating your availability - location (OSC or interaccess) and time (1:00PM or 3:00PM). This field trip is mandatory - you'll have to visit one of the destinations on your own time if you can't accomodate any of the scheduled times. Expect to spend a minimum of two hours at either location. Exercise Seven: A Psychogeographic Map is to be completed during and after the trip.

If you're planning on coming to the OSC and are going to be late for any reason on the day of the field trip, please call me at 647.201.4255.

Exercise 5 - LOVE . HATE

LOVE

Visibility, The macbook pro’s system is very easy to use; it’s similar to that of any laptop but almost simplified. Everything is mapped on the keypad, including each buttons’ action, and use. Also, the whole system runs mainly on the straightforward click and drag concept. At the bottom of the desktop, all my programs are stored, and as I roll my mouse over each program it enlarges therefore making it very visible to the user. Also, the system preferences icon allows you to go in and change your lighting, sizing, and overall preferences of the system. This is very useful because this way you can modify the visibility and options of your screen to best suit your needs. Affordance, The affordance of the macbook clearly fits with its function, its compact and light making it easy to transfer from place to place. It’s still fairly small, making it easy to hold and travel with. The buttons are all clearly labeled, and the keypad resembles any basic keypad making it easy to use for anyone. Mapping, the mapping of the keypad is similar to that of any keyboard, therefore the consistency makes it incredibly easy to use. The on/off button is a larger circular button just next to all the letters and numbers. It’s quite clear that it’s on/off because of its size and placement on the pad. Constraint, there may be various cultural and age constraints because you have to be able to read and write the English language to use the keypad, or to generally do anything on this system.

HATE

Visibility, I don’t like this alarm clock, because from far away the time tends to blur together, and its unreadable. Also, the buttons are all over the place and have no visible pattern. The most difficult issue is after I set my alarm, I have no idea if it’s actually set right or if it will even go off. There is no icon saying the alarm is set. So I just have to hope it goes off so I don’t miss class in the morning. Affordance, the actual design of the clock is quite basic, nothing special. However, the size of the buttons are tiny and the on/off button is a switch on the side, but if you push it the wrong way it will alarm so it’s quite difficult to turn off, especially when still sleepy early in the morning. Mapping, the mapping of this alarm clock is very poor because one may misinterpret what each button does, and since there are no labels it’s difficult to figure out. Constraint, the constraints of this alarm are basically just if you don’t know which button does what then it is very difficult to set the alarm, or turn it off. If the mapping were clearer, then there would be very few constraints.

Project 1 Kaylyn, Gio & Gill

Doorways

Key Points to Interaction

Necessity: To enter and exit establishments and various other facilities or attractions (venues). Also acts as a barrier to outside.

Items of Interaction: Human interaction to handle, human to signage, human to doors and human to technology.

Tasks:

-opening door, either push or pull

-the actual use of the door

-use of pay points and the added technology; metro pass, token

-holding the door open while passing through; with or without an object (s) in hand

-holding the door open for other individuals

Goals:

-to enter a building or room with the least amount of physical effort

-to enter a building and to pass through without interferences

-to not discriminate against any potential user; elderly, handicapped

-to create simplified and ordered push spots, and pull handles

Exercise 5 - Kay Lee

An object I love is LG FM30 portable multimedia player with Audio-Technica portable headphones. (click on the image to see the specs) The reason I put them together is because they function best with each other. Their goodness diminishes in the absence of any one of them.

FM30 is a compact sized mp3p that is also able to store videos, texts, and pictures. Its OLED display has a lower resolution than TFT-LCD yet it saves the power a lot. Yea, one of the greatest advantages of this tiny gadget is the battery life. I've never used the battery charger since I bought it. It's being charged while it's connected to the computer for transffering songs, and it does last a couple of weeks. Its simply designed display occupies the front view of the body, and the rest of the space is utilized smartly. The main control buttons are on the top of it with other buttons or devices arrayed on the sides. Its compact body is easy to grasp, convenient to carry, and clear to see how it works.




Here we go, everyone's beloved iPod.
However, it's on my dishonourable list.

Good Mapping, Defective Functionality
While a lot of minor enterprises were introducing numerous models of mp3p in local or national markets, Apple introduced this fresh looking iPod in global market. Thanks to its brand power in addition to the innovative design and intuitive interface, (and personal engraving too!) iPod heated up the American market quickly. When the iPod Mini first came out in 2004, I was one of the excited buyers until it disappointed me from the first day I received it. Its outer appearance was really cool.. the sensitive wheel was sexy too. On the first day I got it, it didn't turn on for some reason, and it never lasted 8 hrs. It randomly shut off after 2 hrs of playing, when I walked into subway, etc. Although I really liked the colour and the way it feels in my hand, it was comparatively bigger than other mp3ps and slippery too.