The Chameleon
Designed by Andrew Before
Information Visualization and Aesthetics (INFO 424)
Displays that exploit the visual potential of numbers
Final display:
General Description: With these graphs i'm trying to convey the rapid growth of chameleons around 5 months of age. This graph can be supplemented with facts of how chameleons grow depending on how much they eat. They are very efficient at turning food into growth. I think the second version needs some work on the key. The key may need to be seperated from the graph.
Emulation Description: I used all of the colors from my theme. Male and Female chameleons are represented by different colors. Each of these lines, or icons, uses the other chameleons color as a secondary color.
First Iteration
version 1
version 2
Second Iteration
revision 1
revision 2
First Iteration
Critique #1: Sam Wahbeh
Sam thinks the graph labels were clear. Could put a title on the whole graph. He thinks the chameleon idea was really cool in the second graph however the key itself was kind of confusing. The 20 in the dfferent color threw him off. And its not imediately apparent that the 20 in the chameleons is 20 grams of weight. Sam liked how the graph backgrounds are different colors shows thought behind visual presentation and contrast of colors.
Model Emulation Feedback
Emulation looks good and the color scheme is well done. Sillouette of the animal looks like a chameleon as well!
Revisions based on this critique
From this review I took the idea of the title, and added that to my graph.
Critique #2: Andrew Boydston
Andrew Boydston liked the cleanliness of the graph (version 1) – a couple questions he had in mind were why I stopped at 9 months and whether or not the graph needed a title. He thought the other displays (version 2) were a cool idea, but he thought it could be executed better when it is not in the form of a line graph. He thought simply having a comparison between the two icons would be good. Finally, he mentioned the proportions also looked off.
Model Emulation Feedback
Andrew thought that the version 1 display better represented the model than the second display. In the first display he mentioned that the grey color should be used as the line color rather than the dark green similar to the charts on the model. In the second display, he mentioned that the background should be cream colored.
Revisions based on this critique
From this review I made a new distinction to show why the graph stops at 9 months.
Critique #3: Kaitlin Lockhart
Kaitlin thought that a title would make it faster to see what the graph was displaying, but defining both the x and y axis made it pretty easy to figure out. She didn’t know it was a graph for chameleons until she looked at the second version (and even then she thought it was an iguana). The second graph, while cute, is not as easy to read. It looks a little like a scatter plot and it isn’t as easy to see the smaller numbers. It isn’t clear that different placement on the y-axis represents differences in height. While more interesting to look at, version 1 is much clearer.
Model Emulation Feedback
Version 1 emulates the color model well. Version 2’s background should probably match version 1’s. Both graphs could even incorporate some white, if desired, as seen in the model
Revisions based on this critique
I added some white text and detailing to better represent the model. I also changed the dark green axis labels to be light green more like the model.
Second Iteration
Critique #1: Jennifer Choi
Jennifer can clearly see that this graph is talking about chameleon growth from the title.She said It is very clear and easy to read, The colors are very appropriate for your topic so I like that, also she really like how you added a design into your graph because it makes it more visually more appealing and interesting.
Model Emulation Feedback
She thinks I emulated the colors really well from the model. The background is the same color, and you used the same colors for the lines as the bars in the model. The proportion seems appropriate and works well with your graph.
Critique #2: Aakash Maniyar
He didn’t really understand the text in the bottom of “Potential to be fully grown”. Is that saying that in 9 months they are fully grown? Other than that, your graph is crisp, clean and very easy to understand which is good. He said to try to move the title more to the center instead of the left.
Model Emulation Feedback
Aakash said I follow the color model spot on and he likes the contrast I use for the two different lines. Maybe try to have some white in there like the original infographic but in all honesty there doesn’t seem to be a need for it at all.
Revisions based on this critique
From this review I removed the "potential to be fully grown" it was causing more confusion than it was helping.
Critique #3: Daniel Hoang
The first thing I noticed are that two sets of data are being measured; the weight of chameleon sexes broken down by month. It’s very apparent that females grow a lot quicker than the males, but something I didn’t understand was what happens after 8 months. My first initial thought was that potential to be fully grown could be interpreted as chameleon puberty, but looking closer in gives me more confusion about growth. I don’t know how to distinguish/define “fed to grow slowly/fast.”
Model Emulation Feedback
Color: I think the color is really well executed; the proportions add to the legibility of the data and I enjoy the use of alternating data points. I would challenge you however to reconsider the “potential to be fully grown area.” Whenever there is significant change in your model or different data being represented, the designer used gray. Consider using the gray, or try to avoid using the green to highlight that large area of data (mainly because green is not used as a highlight, it is the gray oddly enough). Otherwise, good work!
Revisions based on this critique
This review was very helpful, most of my changes came from this review. To make mine look more like my model I used more of the gray like he suggested. I also added some text to help explain the confusion he was having.
(Second) Displays that exploit the visual potential of numbers
Final display:
With these number displays i'm trying to put into perspective the lifespan of a chameleon. To do this I'm comparing the chameleon to other similar reptiles. I'm emulating the graphs shown at the bottom of my model. These graphs use sillhouetes to describe what they are talking about, and the sillhouettes will be the focus on my graphs.
Sources: The data/inspiration for this display came from the following sources...
First Iteration
version 1
version 2
Second Iteration
revision 1
revision 2
First Iteration
Critique #1: Sijin Chen(Amy)
Amy said that she liked the second version more. She thought however it is hard to figure out what it is saying. Her idea to fix it was to make all of the dark green portions of the circles start at the same spot. This way you will be able to tell how much larger one is than the other. I could also play with the proportions of the sizes, making the pythons wedge a full circle and everything else scaled up proportionally.
Model Emulation Feedback
She saw right away where these number displays would fit into my model.
Revisions based on this critique
From this review I took her idea of starting each graph from the same spot, and only having one wedge on each. I eventually ended up changing my design completely however, as it became even more abstract.
Critique #2: Meghan Stavig
Meghan was unable to tell what the wedges of the second display meant. Just from glancing at it she thought that they were all part of something’s entire lifespan. When instead they are meant to just be compared to each other in size. For the first display she suggested making the bars smaller, and placing the numbers inside the graph. Also noticed that the spacing on the 4 (years) is incorrect. She thought that I could play with the sizes of each animal’s silhouette to correlate it to their lifespan.
Revisions based on this critique
From this review I fixed the spacing on the 4(years). I redesigned my second display into one big graph. This way I feel it is easier to distinguish the meaning.
Second Iteration
Critique #1: Jackson Brown
Jackson thought that I should try balancing out the information a little bit. The snake takes up a lot of space and is the only one on the whole side of the display. He also mentioned I should take the title back out from the inside of the model and put it at the top. I could leave the infinity logo inside the graph to fill the space.
Model Emulation Feedback
For my model he said to check and make sure that i'm changing the font related to whether its data or a heading.
Critique #2: Diana Wang
Diana thought the new revision looked better, and was more interesting but it was less clear. One idea was to rotate the graph to space out the reptiles better. She also suggested trying to integrate the new iteration into the original bar graph. Another idea suggested was to use icons like she showed me in her graph. I could use icons to represent one or two years instead of the bar graph.
Critique #3: Andrew Boydston
Andrew liked the first version more. He said that I should check and make sure that my title is consistent in capitalization with my other titles. He also pointed out that some of the allignment of text and numbers can be centered on the bars. He thought that the numbers inside the circles were inconsistent, and suggested moving the snake so that they could stay consistent.
Revisions based on this critique
I made sure to look at my other displays and double check if I was being consistent. I found that I did capitalize my other titles. I also reworked the centering of the names and numbers.
Critique #3: Tj Gilbrough
Tj Thought that I could take the title out of the center and put it in the bottom left corner. However, after showing him my other design he was in favor of the bar graph. He said that it made more sense and was easier to get the message. He thought I should go back to the bar graph design.
Model Emulation Feedback
He mentioned that in my base model the bar graph would be a better fit than the pie graph. He was able to see exactly where the bar graph would go, but not where the pie graph would fit in.
Revisions based on these critiques
Collectively, from these critiques i've decided to go back to my first version of the numbers display. I found from the critiques that although people liked the design, it was not portraying the message that I wanted it to. When I asked people about the first one they instantly were able to tell me what it was about. While going back to my first version I made changes from these, and old critiques. I changed the allignment of the numbers, and the sillhouettes to be aligned correctly. I changed the spacing of the title, and the logo, and I fixed the "Anole" bar.