Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Infographic For Magazine Spread



Text information that will reside in my Infographic in one way or another:

Wear loose and comfortable workout attire. Your shoes should be 1/2" longer than your feet to assure the most comfortable fit.

Great way to spike your heart-rate and body temperature, preparing you for your workout. Use a 9' rope if you are under 5'10" and use a 10' rope if you are 5'11" or taller.

Carry a water bottle with you while exercising to keep your body well hydrated. Drink at least 8-10 cups of water daily to avoid dehydration. Water helps shed fat and helps your muscles function more effectively. 

Running increases your heart-rate, causing you to burn calories and to lose weight. Running about 20 minutes (2-3 miles) is enough to spike your metabolism.

Weight lifting improves muscle flexibility, firmness, and tone. It also gives you strength, energy, and confidence. Complete at least 8-10 reps (or until you reach muscle failure) on each of your exercises. 

While working your core muscles, you can not only stretch your whole body, but increase your flexibility and balance. Use a ball with a height of 18" to 30" and focus on your form.

After your workout, weigh yourself to track your body's progress and development. In order to lose 1lb. of body fat, you must burn 3,500 calories.

To see better results from your hard work, take supplements to keep your muscles fueled. As an essential building block for muscle, taking about 40 grams of protein after each workout is recommended. 




Final Rough Draft of Infographic
More Progress
Progress
Horizontal Format Infographic Idea
Handmade Infographic Idea with Watch
Initial Rough Sketches


Research Notes

Possible Content






Research Information

Graphic Organizer for Initial Planning



Now that I have developed a strong, cohesive, and clean set of icons to work with, I am trying to figure out how to display them in an informational graphic that pertains to a series of 3 magazine spreads. The final infographic will be approximately 1 full spread. I want it to consist of graphic devices, important facts/tips, and a graphic that shows the breakdown of a 60 minute Body Sculpting Workout. I am going to incorporate several levels of information so that it is educational and interesting, but also very legible.  I have researched lots of magazines and internet articles to gather the text for my infographic.  

Some of the criteria for this project are: Clearly state the graphic's purpose. Use comparison. Provide context. Establish several levels of read (from fine detail to broad overview). Clear and thorough labeling that eliminates distortion and ambiguity. Closely integrate verbal description with the visual representation. Employ graphic devices to enhance information understanding and retention. Allow the information to yield the form (not force the info into arbitrary form). Viewers should think about the data displayed, not the display of the data. 


2 comments:

Laura Berglund said...

hey kyle!

I'm trying to give you some feedback on your infographic in its current state, but I can't click on your images on your main screen on your blog to make them bigger. So I can't really analyze what's going on right now.....

If you can't figure out how to get them to link to a larger version of your images, then you could just email me a copy of your infographic at my email and I'll post my response on here.

email
kitschygoodness@hotmail.com

Thanks!

Laura Berglund said...

For now, I'm just going to comment on the smaller image that I have available to me, and I'll add to it when I can see the larger version.

Aspects that can be improved:

-Right now, your icons are sitting on top of your pie chart, very awkwardly, I think because they are way too large for the space they are contained in right now. If you scaled all your icons down to the exact same size as the smallest one on there (it looks like the water bottle?) then they would look more cohesive, consistent, and fit comfortably within the shapes of the segments of your pie chart. If that doesn't work, then perhas the placement of the icons needs to be re-evaluated completely, maybe finding a spot for them outside the chart.

-It is also a little odd how your pie chart is being cut off at the bottom by that black band. The circle needs to be raised up, to fit within the space it's given, so the overlapping doesn't look like a mistake. I think seeing the entire circle is necessary at this point.

-As for the overall feel of your infographic, it feels too sterile and technical to be about exercising and staying fit. When I think about your subject matter, I think of action, movement, and repetition. These terms should be conceptually brought in to your infographic in a way that would compliment your pie chart aesthetic. Some ways that I thought of would be to use slanted bars to hold your information on the sides, or use a much more dynamic labeling system instead of simple horizontal rectangles holding subheads, linking to your chart with simple black angled lines. Think of how you can visually communicate movement in your infographic, and still be clear with your information. (Repeating elements would also be a way of suggesting movement).

-Some sort of minimal labeling should be brought in to the actual pie chart segments, because right now, your textual information and your graphic elements are two separate pieces on your graph. The lines you have linking are on their way to working now, but they just aren't working yet.

-Also going back to what you mentioned in crit last class, bringing your two sections of 'quick tips' together into one would help clarify, and maybe keeping all that information on one side of your pie chart would make your infographic seem off balance, but that asymmetry may actually be a good thing, keeping in mind your subject matter. You would have to test it out and see.

Anyways, sorry I couldn't proofread any spelling or grammer... just email me your file, and I'll do that part for you!