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U101 Design Thinking… Design Space 1: Self Design Space 2: Groups Design Space 3: Society Design Space 4: Global UNIVERSAL COMMUNICATION UNIVERSAL COMMUNICATION U101 Design Thinking… Communicating with Graphics Design Space 4 2 UNIVERSAL COMMUNICATION U101 Design Thinking… Communicating with Graphics Aims: To stimulate your interest in, and increase your awareness of the use of graphics as universal communication devices; • 1. • 2. To develop your ability to appraise critically the use of graphics as a means of informing people; • 3. To develop your skills in creating appropriate and informative graphics for universal communication. Design Space 4 3 UNIVERSAL COMMUNICATION U101 Design Thinking… What do you think this is? What do you think it represents? Design Space 4 4 UNIVERSAL COMMUNICATION U101 Design Thinking… Here is some colour differentiation to help. It could perhaps be a tapestry – a woven wall hanging or carpet. Perhaps the most easily recognised part of it is what appears to be a simple representation of a human being about three-quarters of the way down it. But then what is the figure at the bottom? A monster? A dalek from outer space? And if these two parts of the overall pattern are indeed representations of a human being and some other being, what do all the other shapes represent? Design Space 4 5 UNIVERSAL COMMUNICATION U101 Design Thinking… The patterns of dark and light, or solid and void, or ones and zeros, are, in fact, not ‘just patterns’, but form a message. It was a message sent out as a set of radio pulses from Earth into space in 1974. The radio pulses were just a set of on/off pulses (or ones and zeros). The repeating pattern comprises 1679 such pulses. 1679 is the product of two prime numbers, 23 x 73. If the pulses are translated or reinterpreted into a 23 x 73 grid array and represented graphically as dark/light cells in the array, then the result is as shown. Contained within that graphic display is indeed a representation of a human being; but the ‘being’ at the bottom is a representation of the Arecibo radio telescope from which the message was sent. Design Space 4 6 UNIVERSAL COMMUNICATION QuickTime™ and a Graphics decompressor are needed to see this picture. U101 Design Thinking… Another example of a message sent from Earth – a metal plaque aboard the Pioneer 10 spacecraft, sent on its way out of the solar system towards possible capture by other beings. The plaque is engraved with graphic images, some of them with the same meaning as the Arecibo radio message. Do you recognise the two human beings? Do you think they represent typical human beings? Do you recognise their ‘peaceful’ body language? Do you think other beings, somewhere in outer space, would recognise the same things? Design Space 4 7 UNIVERSAL COMMUNICATION QuickTime™ and a Graphics decompressor are needed to see this picture. U101 Design Thinking… Despite the problem of shared meanings between Earthlings and Otherlings, graphic representations were used in both the Arecibo message and the Pioneer plaque in attempts to communicate with beings who could not be expected to share any other ‘language’ with us. Graphics therefore seem to have a potential for communicating across time and space and culture. Design Space 4 8 UNIVERSAL COMMUNICATION U101 Design Thinking… But there are obvious limitations to the complexity and subtlety of messages that can be conveyed by graphics; that is why we use verbal and written communication so much more extensively than graphics. Western forms of writing have apparently developed from graphic means of recording and communicating messages, such as hieroglyphics. Some other forms of writing, such as Chinese, are quite closely based on underlying graphical representations of meaning. Design Space 4 9 UNIVERSAL COMMUNICATION U101 Design Thinking… As international travel and cross-cultural communication increases, there is an increase in the use of graphics instead of, or as a supplement to, writing. This is particularly evident in places such as airports, where graphic devices are increasingly used on directional and other information displays, and are increasingly becoming internationally standardised. But cultural differences can still lead to misunderstandings, and the meaning of each symbol or image is still something that is learned; experienced travellers recognise the meaning of more of the graphic devices than do inexperienced travellers. Design Space 4 10 UNIVERSAL COMMUNICATION U101 Design Thinking… Where it is necessary to communicate to people who have different languages, graphics can be used as a ‘language-free’ medium. For example, the Swedish company IKEA uses only pictures (sometimes including numbers, but no words) to communicate the assembly instructions for its furniture, sold throughout the world. Design Space 4 11 UNIVERSAL COMMUNICATION U101 Design Thinking… Observation Activity Look around you for examples of everyday uses of graphic devices. Are their meanings obvious, or have you learned the meanings? Record some examples (draw, photo, scan). Share with other students. design library my design portfolio skills bank design forum design thinking game Design Space 4 12 UNIVERSAL COMMUNICATION U101 Design Thinking… Highlight on Resources: There are many - especially Tufte. Envisioning Information, Tufte Find it on Amazon Beautiful Evidence, Tufte Find it on Amazon Design Space 4 13 UNIVERSAL COMMUNICATION design library my design portfolio skills bank design forum design thinking game U101 Design Thinking… Design Task Students are asked to create graphics as substitutes for words (e.g. converting written instructions to graphical ones) and data (e.g. converting tables to graphs/charts). Possibles: Menu aids (starter/main course/dessert) Slow-food restaurant Signs for new international situations: internet cafe, electric car recharging point, recycling - separation of materials, child-safe area, lost baggage Design Space 4 14