Type via tiny car

This is just cool.


iQ font - When driving becomes writing / Full making of from wireless on Vimeo.


I got this from ilovetypography.com. The full post is here: http://ilovetypography.com/2009/07/18/iq-font/

Typography for low vision.

So here is a new a post relating to my idea about information design for the blind or low vision people.  AIGA has an article about typography guidelines for signage that is accessible to the aging eye.  It deals specifically with people with blurry vision and loss of peripheral vision.  It explains why some typefaces are better than others.

The font below is from the American Printing House for the Blind.  It was developed specifically to be read by people with vision problems. It has consistent spacing and stroke width.  It also has under-slug "j" and "q" and large punctuation marks.  They go on to say that it is not particularly pretty to look at but it is a start in the design field to start accommodating the aging eye and people with other visual obstructions.

The following fonts show the difference between a san serif font and a serif font when simulated with blurry vision.  (The top two are Bodoni and Times Roman.  The bottom two are Frutiger Bold and Syntax Bold)  

For the full article go here:  http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/typography-and-the-aging-eye

Design Policy Advocacy

These people are a team after my own goals.  They have a list of 10 design policy proposals for the government to increase understanding, legibility, accessibility, literacy, citizen participation and so so so much more.   It is basically exactly what I want to accomplish with my project, just maybe on a more broad scale.  I think for the time, budget, and knowledge constraints I will have a more specific and and smaller scale project will have to suffice.  (I'm referencing the redesigning of the immigration information and process material).

They published this booklet.  Here is a picture of the cover and the proposal list page.  Please Please Please go to the website and read the rest of it.  It is amazing.  http://www.designpolicy.org/files/redesigningamericasfuture.pdf

Dori Tunstal, the organizer for the advocacy, sent me an amazingly thoughtful email with advice and ideas for my project.  It really was an email that took sometime to write.  I am so so so excited about the prospects of this project.

Top 10 election design guidelines

There has been a major movement in the design world from the beginning of the 2008 election campaigns to make government policy, particularly elections, more legible, understood, and coherent.  AIGA (the professional association for design) posted these Top 10 election design guidelines.


1) Use lowercase letters


2) Avoid centered type
* Left-aligned type is more legible.  I didn't know this.  It is better for the reader to not have to search for the beginning of the type on each line.


3) Use big enough type
* This may seem obvious but the "fine print" seems to push people away.  It makes people feel like they are being taken advantage of or intimidate them.  The last thing we need are alienated and scared voters.


4) Pick one sans-serif font
* For those of you who are not designers and read this out of you're support for me, San-Serif means any type with out the little edges that come off of every edge of a letter.  Examples are:  Ariel, Helvetica, Myriad.  Serif font examples are:  Times New Roman, Garamond, and Badoni.  


5) Support process and navigation
*This simply means that if you are going to use a complicated process give substantial instructions.  Make sure all paper ballots have appropriate numbering and labels.  Make sure touchscreen voting booths have language options, and constant instructions on every screen page.  


6)  Use clear, simple language.


7)  Use accurate instructional illustrations.
*This goes back to Isotype and pictograms.  "Visual instructions help low-literacy and general-population voters".  


8) Use informational icons (only).
*i.e. avoid political party icons.


9) Use contrast and color functionally.
* for example to divide sections, alternate lines in long lists with colored backgrounds.


10) Decide what's most important.
*Heirarchy.


Good Example:

For their descriptions go here:  http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/election-design-top-ten

Healthy Credit

In May, the New York Times published an Op-Ed article comparing Credit Cards to Nutritional Facts.  I think this is a brilliant example of using something standard to explain something completely confusing, complicated, and not well understood (especially to young people).

I personally think personal finances and life in general should be a standard Undergraduate class.  I have no idea what mortgages, 401Ks, Health Insurance, Car Insurance, or Credit is all about.  But thats discussion is for another day.

Anyways, here is their "Credit Cards Facts".  For the full article go here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/opinion/24gibson.html

ISOtype and Pictograms

ISO- International Organization for Standardization
http://www.iso.org/iso/home.htm

ISOtype is a term that is used to describe a set of graphics or visual elements that do not need words.  Any street signs you see with those funny looking people with circular heads are ISOtype.  They are a standard system used to convey meaning without reading.  The real question is, are we conditioned to know that this means "pedestrians" because we are accustomed to seeing this visual or is it really a universal symbol?

The user does not want to think, only to understand.


A really great example of international communication design are the Olympic Pictograms.  Since nearly the beginning of the Modern Olympics pictograms have been used to signify the different athletic events.  I was lucky enough to go to the Olympics Museum in Laussanne, Switzerland, where the Olympic Headquarters is stationed.  I also did a project on the pictograms in a design class 2 years ago.

The pictograms are first, communicated to hundreds of language using strictly abstract human graphics.  And second, very unique to each olympics.  There are a team of designers who make the pictograms their own for that cities hosting of the olympics.

For more information go to:  http://en.beijing2008.cn/63/32/column212033263.shtml

In Transition

Because my travels in Europe brought me to the conclusion that I want to do my IP (Integrative Project) in Information Design, specifically focusing on Legibility, Literacy, and Accessibility, I have decided to make this space a collection of design elements that have inspired me, influenced me, or I just simply like.

As of right now my leading idea involves the immigration progress and the chaotic body that it is within the U.S. Government.  I do not wish to address any of the laws.  Just simply it's accessibility and understandability.  I wish to make a very complex and confusing process into an understandable body of design that can be read cohesively by the average person.  The term "average" I use lightly considering the fact that immigrants are the opposite of the "American Average Joe".  In fact, the likeliness that they even speak English is very low.

My second idea (idea also a loose term)  is Vision, Visual Impairment, and Visual Compensation.  I have done a variety of projects dealing with vision, particularly my own.  If I were to do this I would want it to be something communicative that does not involve reading.  Public information or public space or public signs for the blind.  How to handle that way in a politically and socially correct way.  This could involve sound, brail, or maybe smell?  To be quite honest most of my thoughts have been geared toward my first idea.

My final idea is Public Transportation design.  Making it more communicative and versatile as far as understandings go.  This would involve designing an ISOtype or set of simple graphic elements that could be understood by everyone without words.  After experiencing many cities in many languages as a tourist I can't imagine the undertaking this would be.  

This blog will from now on be my IP collection.  I think it fits perfectly with the my progression of thoughts and ideas from my time spent abroad.  Hopefully I will discover the method to my madness through the following posts.