Final presentation

For our final project, we decided to display a tri-fold with all different aspects of our visual communications class this semester. We are trying to achieve a beginning understanding of what this course entitles, and to give students who are interested in a visual communications major or minor a preview of what is to come.

We first created three pie graphs, all displaying the same data. We did this purposely to show what a good pie graph looks like, a decent one, and a perfect one. The three graphs display how this course, can help communications students better visualize and display their thoughts more clearly.

Next we decided to display a mind map, because we thought this is one of the best brainstorming activities. For the holidays we decided to display a mind map with Christmas located in the middle cloud. For interested visual communications students, this is an activity that will get their brains to start flowing with ideas.

On the far right side of our poster, we displayed a flow chart that gives detailed instructions on how to change your major or minor to communications. Not only does this give a detailed, straightforward set of directions, it also appears to be the last piece to be looked at. We decided to place it at the end, so that if students have become interested in a major or minor in communications, they will know exactly how to switch their major.

On the top left side of our poster we decided to show different type of bar graphs to show our persona the statistics about the program but also something else they will learn in this class. The statistics provided will help the student with how many people are in the program, how many are men and women and how many stay in the program or drop out of it later in college.

For this final presentation we sat down and brainstormed the many ideas that we learned in this class through the semester and chose the main ideas that stood out to us the most from the semester. When choosing the ideas we placed them in a controlled collage and then put the most important if the student would want to transfer at the end. We decided to put a giant mind map in the middle of the poster because we all thought that this was the most important idea we absorbed from the course.

I personally felt that this was a very hard project at the beginning. It was very hard for me to think of any ideas to put down on a piece of paper for a presentation idea. But once we some ideas started to find their way onto the paper the project went pretty smoothly. While doing the project I was remembering things from earlier in the semester that helped in the construction of our presentation. I found after we completed the presentation that a lot more of what I learned this semester really stuck in my mind than I thought.

Multivariate Display

Multivariate Display

For my multivariate display I chose to take information from espn.com about the player Brett Favre. I chose key categories from his career and put them into a line graph to show trends over his 19 year career in the NFL. I chose to take some key categories, such as touchdowns, games play, completion percentage and quarterback rating. I chose to do a line graph for these multiple variables because it best shows his trends over his career and when his highs and lows were.
This image was very easy to do after do the graphs assignment once I was able to find a topic to do. Once I found the topic the most issue I had with the assignment was plugging in the data because of Favre's long career. After that it was smooth sailing.

Storyboard

Storyboard #2
For this storyboard I focused around the main idea of someone waiting in the orchard for her friends to meet her. The first picture is of the girl waiting for the group to meet with her and wondering where they are. The second is of the group lost in a sand storm trying to find the the girl back at the orchard. The next image is of a man walking through the orchard looking for the group because he is not able to find them. And the last image is of the group reunited in the orchard.
This storyboard was a little more difficult to do because I had to use two images instead of just one. It made me think a little more about what I wanted to do and in the end I settled on this idea.


Storyboard #1

For this storyboard I centered my main theme around the game of soccer. I started with a photo of a player lining up for a free kick and getting ready after a foul had been committed. I then went to the photo from the website of the boys covering there region because that is most players fear when they are lining up to block the free kick. The next photo was of the goalie and I just made up something funny about what the goalie is saying about what is about to occur and what is happening in front of him. The next photo is about the player actually getting hit because more times out of many the wall of players does get hit, in this case the player gets hit in the stomach area.
This storyboard was very easy for me to do because I only had to do one image and I made my main focus on that of soccer.

Simple tables to Graphs

Simple tables to Graphs


For my graphs and tables I decided to choose the Mens RWU Swimming and diving teams results over the past four seasons since I myself am on the swim team. I took the number of meets attended and wins and losses. For my first graph I put them into four categories, being the years and how many wins and losses compared to meets attended. After that I chose to make a pie graph to represent only wins amongst the years to see how the team has progressed over the years.
The most trouble I had with this assignment was dealing with excel. I feel like I am capable of dealing with all of the Microsoft office programs but I did have some issues with excel getting everything to just look right.

Visual Essay Design

Original Image



Rationale
This was a very difficult assignment for me to do. I had a lot of trouble finding a image to improve but it was funny when I actually decided on the image I was going to improve. It was something that I ate every day and thought the directions on the back were not what they should be. I felt the that original image did not provide what needed to be provided to make the dish and that it should be improved. I thought that there should be more images and less words and that the color of the original image should be changed. The original image also had to much color and was very annoying to look at it. That is why I went with the plain black and white design. I also wanted to do with away with the text box at the bottom of the image. That is why instead of words I substituted it for images instead.

Flow Charts

This was my second flow chart that I did. I felt this flow chart was a little easier to do based upon the first one. This chart also was easier based upon the subject and the website used. You didn't have to have an account or a log in to deal with like the first one so getting to the end was easier. You also didn't have to have a shipping or billing information so that was one less step to deal with.
The most difficult part of this flow chart was the end of the chart. Once you found your information you were not exactly done with the chart because you had to select what websites to choose based upon your subject. You also could have to repeat the whole process if you did not find suitable information after your first search.

My first flow chart was that of the steps of buying a book on amazon.com. I thought that it was pretty easy to buy a book on amazon. It was a little annoying once you got past the part of finding the book to explain how to purchase the book and do all the shipping information and credit card information but once you got that all squared away you were set.
The most difficult part of this flow chart was establishing all the processes and making sure that if there were any road bumps that I would be able to answer them in the flow chart.

How to make a Spaghetti Dinner

This sketch was a little difficult for me because of my terrible drawing skills. I tried to think of the bare minimum ways to describe how to make a spaghetti dinner. I first started with all the ingredients used in making the dinner and went from there. I then started drawing the base ingredients and went from there. I felt that someone that did not know the language would be able to understand the ingredients from me drawing them. I started with the boiling of the water, then adding the pasta, then straining it, and then putting the sauce on the pasta and putting it on a plate.

The most difficult issues I had with this sketch were basically trying not to make it to complex. I wanted to do the minimal steps for whoever was looking at this so they didn't become to overwhelmed. I also knew that if I put to many steps in with my terrible drawing skills that I would just confuse whoever was looking at the image and then they would be completely lost.

My Collage

For this collage I found some items in the magazines that I really enjoy. I found some pictures of sports and sports related themes such as espn. I also included some images such as beer and some cool images that had a quick word or two that really symbolized who I am. I found words such as "LOST" and "American" because during this assignment I was quite lost while searching for images and graphics that I could use.
Also while I was searching for the images I found some word graphics that really showed who I am as a person and that is why I posted some of them in the collage.

I found this collage to be a rather tense assignment because of the time constrictions that were enforced during the assignment. I had issues finding enough pictures also because I used the same magazines just different issues.

Concept Map

Concept Map
For this concept map the main idea I chose was that of sports. I am part of the swim team here on campus and the ultimate frisbee club in which I am a captain. These two things are great for me because of what they provide so I felt that a concept map over this topic would be a good choice.

When I first began the map it was very easy because I had my topic and I had what I wanted to map about. What became difficult is when I had to think of more words from my concept. The sports provide friends and exercise and then those two topics give a bunch of things.

I did find this to be a easier map to do compared to the mind map. It was more fun to do this map and I think this is a good way to map.

Mind Map 1 & 2

Mind Map #1

For my first mind map I tried to think of something that is important to me and something I like. I chose the New York Yankees and I was able to get some words from my central topic. I found this mind map to be very difficult. I had a lot of trouble first finding a central topic to choose and then after that deciding what other words to write was very difficult. Once I figured out some things I wanted to write down I kind of just went with it and wrote down everything that came to my mind. I may have not followed the exact way of a mind map but I feel it came out well.







Mind Map #2

My second mind map was a lot more difficult than the first one. I had a lot of trouble figuring out what from my first mind map to sketch. I had a couple ideas and tried but when I got them down on paper I couldn’t think of anything to go off the central topic. When I came back to the sketch the next day I still had trouble figuring out what exact words to choose, the words didn’t come to me like the words did in the first sketch.