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TIME SPENT IN LAFAYETTE
Infographic
My objective was to analyze and visually represent the frequency with which I spent time in a series of important locations in my hometown over time. My goal is to tell as story through data by synthesizing information accumulated through a lifetime and filtering it to its core.
Process
This process began with a map of my hometown. I began to circle and star locations that were important to the essence of the town as a whole, and then started picking out locations that were significant to me specifically. I drew over the roads that I thought were important enough to show the structure and layout of the town as well.
I then made a list of all the locations I had starred and listed why they were important to me. I noticed at this point that change over time was integral to my relationship with each location. My objective solidified at this stage, and my goal became to tell this story of time and change through maps and data. I identified three distinct periods of time (childhood, teenage years, adult summers) and the scope that I wanted to show the data at.
First Iteration & Major Changes
Because of how specific my data was, I originally decided on breaking my data up by the day and hour. This made for many, many design challenges that led to one of the LEAST SUCCESSFUL solutions I have ever produced. I couldn't figure out how to create a system at this scope, so instead I kept adding superfluous elements, such as color, trees, excess roads, to mask the fundamental design flaws.
RE-EVALUATE AND REITERATE
1. Simplify the map and unify the visual language to reintroduce hierarchy.
- Remove excess map colors that were creating false focal points.
- Restrict color to show distinction between the three different periods instead.
2. Re-evaluate the scope (and therefore the system) by which I was representing my data.
- Hyper-specific was not working, so I needed to go broader.
- Return to my core goal of representing the general frequency of my time spent in specific locations.
- Remember this doesn't mean cutting out IMPORTANT information, just showing it in a different way.
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After brainstorming, I decided on a much broader viewpoint for my data. Showing overall percentage of my time would allow me to communicate the frequency with which I spent time at each location and allow the viewer to compare differences. A bubble map made sense for this since it is capable of achieving these objectives. I also made a chart that broke down my percentage of time in each location so that I could translate this information visually in my new system.
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Final Design
The design changed drastically between my first and final solutions. By rethinking the consistency of the labeling/icons, the extraneous colors and map detail, and the fundamentally incorrect approach to data, I was able to find a design solution that elegantly and clearly communicated my objective.
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