Infographics gone bad.

Link to infographic:
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/radiation-dosage-chart/

The more time I spend looking at the infographic above, the more it does not make sense. This radiation dosage chart starts off by giving radiation levels and what people can do or eat to receive those levels of radiation. By the time you get to the bottom of the chart, however, the information on the right switches to how fast that specific dose of radiation will kill you. It doesn’t tell you what you could be doing or where you would have to be to receive that amount of radiation. The infographic is really not helpful in any way to providing people with useful information.

The infographic starts off using cool colors to represent the small amounts of radiation, and then moves to warm colors to emphasize the intensity of large amounts of radiation. I believe the designer did keep restraint and reduction in mind when designing this infographic, because it includes simple text, a simple shape and nothing is really over the top or unnecessary. I just think in general this infographic doesn’t make sense so overall it is very ineffective.  Once the information was corrected, I think this would have been better represented as a chart or graph.

I really like infographics when they are done correctly. I think they can be very interesting and sometimes it is neat to see information represented visually instead of just looking at a chart or graph. I believe with the right information, right visuals and a good design, infographics can be effective and useful.

"Good" Girl, "Bad" Design

I think a lot went wrong with the design of this poster. Although the movie wasn’t that great to begin with, I think they lost their opportunity to market it correctly by designing a poster that has so much copy on it.

Jennifer Aniston is very well known and liked by so many people – I feel that they should have picked one or two main photos of her and used them on a majority the poster. I don’t think the reviews at the top add a lot to the poster – I think they take up too much room and personally, I don’t know what a movie with “range and depth” and “winning delicacy” really means. If I were designing the poster, I would have kept the one review that says “Sly, comic and touching” and then used a photo of Jennifer as the focal point.

I believe the photos break up the text and readers’ eyes don’t know where to look first. I know that movie posters must have all of the credit information that is at the bottom of this poster, but overall I believe this poster would have been more effective with less text. I do like the sans serif font they chose because it gives the poster a soft look and is a good font to represent “a good girl.” Although the cool colors match Jennifer’s shirt in the photo, I am surprised they chose blues because usually warmer colors such as red or pink are associated with females. Maybe since because in the movie it is ironic that she is called “a good girl” they chose blue to play on that? I think a lot can be done with a movie poster to make the film look good, and I believe the designer was off the mark with this one.

Tiger Woods Accenture Print Ad

I have to say I really like this ad for Accenture that features Tiger Woods looking for his golf ball in very tall grass. I like how they relate the photo to economic “realities” and how they have the quote “It’s not a setback. It’s a test.” stand out amongst the other text. As suggested by Reynolds, text can set a tone for an ad and I think their choice of a sans serif font was a good one because it gives the ad a relaxed feel. “A large, bold version of a classic sans serif may suggest power, assertiveness, or confidence, whereas the same type in a smaller and lighter version will be more subtle and suggest a quieter confidence, humility, or calm” (Reynolds, 2010, p 48).

One thing Reynolds also suggests is adding a transparent box or screen between text and an image with little empty space to increase readability. I think that this is something that could have been done in this ad, but when printed, I am not sure how hard the text is to read. I think the colors in the photo used in this ad combine warm and cool colors to catch readers’ attention. “Artists use warm and cool colors to create depth and volume in paintings, and we can do the same by observing the relationship between warm and cool colors in a design” (Reynolds, 2010, p 81). I think the yellowish grass combined with the green grass in the background gives the ad a cool, yet dimensional look that helps readers understand that the company Accenture can help them with any business needs they have – Accenture has everything under control. I do think the ad is a little bit wordy and I wonder how many readers actually read all of the ad copy?

I believe this ad was run a few years ago, which was when Tiger Woods had everything in control in his life. Everything has been turned upside down for him now, and Accenture has ended their six-year sponsorship of him so it makes the ad that much more interesting!

References:

Reynolds, Gary . Presentation Zen Design: Simple Design Principles and Techniques to Enhance Your Presentations. Berkeley , CA : New Riders, 2010.

Ad:
http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/AOSqiYx2mtP/Accenture+Drops+Tiger+Woods+Advertising+Campaigns

Billboard Design

I think one of the most difficult advertising mediums to design for is billboards. You want to get an important message out to consumers, but your space is limited and people only see them for seconds at a time. The “less is more” rule definitely applies to billboards, and unfortunately in the Utica area, most designers don’t follow this rule.

The first example is my idea of a bad billboard design. There are almost 30 words, a phone number, website, etc. and viewers just don’t know where to look first. The colors, along with the capitalized font and the crying child really make for a stressful design, and it is not a billboard that I would even try to read or understand.

Our Communications and Marketing Department at the hospital works hard to try and make our billboards stand out from others in our area. We try to limit our billboards to seven words or less and below is an example of a billboard we did for our PET/CT scanner. After we ran a media campaign for the scanner, we have performed 30% more scans consistently each month. Although I don’t think this billboard is the best design in the world, I do think it sets our hospital apart from other advertisements that are out in the community. The colors are vibrant, the text is designed in a way that is easy to read and understand, and it is simple.

Following Your Passion

It is important we follow our passions in life if we want to find happiness. Think about how much time people spend at work – and if you don’t like what you are doing – it is very hard to be content with how you spend your time. This is where taking chances come in – following your passion may not be the easier route, but in the end it will be the most rewarding. So we should all really think about what our passions are – and I challenge you to incorporate this as much as possible into your life so you can wake up every day and be excited for the day ahead of you.

 

I often look back on moments like this and think – how did I do that? But I am just thankful that at these points in my life, I made these decisions and took the more difficult route. We all go through life facing our external limitations, but it is really the limitations we give ourselves that are most difficult to break free of. But once you do it, it is so much easier to face all that is put on your plate.

I believe Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios said it best when he gave his commencement speech to the graduates of Stanford University in 2005:

 

“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Life is Not a Dress Rehearsal

One thing I have learned through my experiences is that life is about choices.

As Marilyn Grey once said – “Why wait? Life is not a dress rehearsal. Quit practicing what you are going to do, and just do it.”

It is never too late in anyone’s life to “live on the edge” and take chances. Our lives really do come down to the choices we make. We can either sit back and take the easy route – or we can step up to the plate – and even if we aren’t put in challenging situations – we can seek out those challenges. No one sent me an invitation to study in England – but I went out of my way to walk to the International Studies building to get more information. I didn’t get an e-mail about the golf internship I was part of, but I went down to our career center and flipped through hundreds and hundreds of pages of internships and job openings. I had to pay for my plane ticket to fly down to Atlanta and spent my weekend going through rigorous interviews and tests – but I had the self confidence that I knew it was worth taking the chance and I succeeded.

So what do we need to do to be self-confident?

We all need to make the conscious effort to continually want to grow intellectually, morally, and professionally every day through our entire work and family lives. We need to always be asking ourselves in the back of our minds – Do I really know as much as I should? Am I still learning? Is there more I can be doing? And also, we should ask ourselves – Am I a good person? Do people want to be around me?

A few months ago I was reading Real Simple magazine and in it were people’s New Year resolutions and one woman’s resolution really stuck with me. She said – she tries so hard to be a good employee, co-worker and volunteer – that she goes home at the end of the day and is exhausted. The people that she loves the most are the people who get to spend time with her at this point in her day and her resolution was to give her loved ones the best of her – not was left over when all of her other life “duties” were done. To truly be successful – we need to succeed at work and at home – this is what will create the ultimate happiness that so many people strive for.

And even if you fail at any of these tasks – we are still building self confidence. By reaching out and looking for challenges that others may be too afraid to try – we are already a step ahead of the rest. We need to seek to find a purpose in life and we need to seek to make a difference.

Defining True Happiness

I wonder if this person asking me why I live in Utica ever had these opportunities?

So, after I asked this person all these questions, and tell them about all the things I have had over the past 28 years, I think my biggest question for them would be “Are you happy? Because I am.”

I have had so many wonderful opportunities in my life and I think I was able to do all of these because I took chances. We all know now it is not safe to sit on a killer whale, but I did it. Traveling around the world and leaving home can be a bit scary, but I took the chance and loved every minute of it. Moving to Saratoga where I knew no one and lived out of a hotel for a month while I found a place to live, is not something a lot of people would do, but I decided it was a chance of a lifetime so I left my comfort zone and moved away.

It is these life experiences that I have had that have allowed me to be happy and content and to be ready to settle down in Sauquoit. It also makes me smile when all these great memories flash through my mind when someone asks me why I chose to live in the Utica area. And I think next someone asks me this question – I am going to ask them how they have gotten so lucky to live in such a beautiful place like Utica, New York.