Time | infovis-2015

General Description: With this time display, I am trying to communicate to my audience that this section of infographic is about the important deadlines for Washington residents to vote or register to vote (for new voters). I wanted to make the process of voting and registering to vote as painless and easy to recognize.

Emulation Description: I started with a simple timeline with circles to emulate my visual language model, which is full of circles and connected lines. I retained the color scheme, utilizing the dark blue to connect the time points, black to emphasize the General Election Day, and white to indicate the important voting days or deadlines (party caucuses and presidential primary).

Displays that exploit the visual potential of time

Critique #1: Sanjay Sagar

Sanjay preferred the first version over the second version because it thought it better emulated the visual language model since the lines were crooked (not straight) and the year was included unlike the second version. He thought the timeline was clear in its meaning and purpose, and he liked how the dates were specified. He liked icons for Republican & Democract parties since they fit the flat design. He suggested that, though it was a small thing, that I could reduce the spacing between the first two lines (e.g., Washignton State / Republican Party Caucus). Overall he thought the first version was nice and solid.

Model Emulation Feedback

He suggested that I could focus on the first version if I wanted to emulate the model. However, he felt that the date could stand out more somehow, perhaps by highlighting or bolding the bottom text to make it pop out. He emphasized that I should be consistent! Either have the voter registration dates inside or outside.

Revisions based on this critique

Based on this critque, I kept the crooked line for my revised time display and I chose to retain the iconography. In light of the need for emphasis of the dates, I chose to make the font size for the dates bigger and moved them on top of the description of the event. I decided to keep the year 2016 to indicate that this time display was specific to 2016.

First Iteration

Final display:

Second Iteration

Sources: http://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/Dates-and-Deadlines.aspx

Critique #2: Yiqing Zhao

She preferred the second version for the dates on the circles. She liked the dates in the circles, but preferred the icons in the circles. She recognized that the dates were important but suggested that I could put the dates outside.

Model Emulation Feedback

Yiqing thought the first version was closer to the visual language model because it is crooked and she didn't like the straight line. She suggested that I should utilize an icon for the black circle at the top (General Election Day) and that I should find more icons for the rest of the dates.

Revisions based on this critique

Yiqing provided helpful feedback, such as retaining the crooked line of the first version to better emulate the visual language model. She made useful suggestions to add more icons to the time display, so I have added the Washington State icon to the circle connected to Presidential Primary. I have also incorporated a voting icon for the General Election Day circle. I chose to keep the dates outside instead of encircling them as they would be more clear.

Critique #3: Theo Chin

Theo wasn't sure what the curved line represented or if the angles represented anything, though he could tell that I was trying to emulate my visual language model. He enjoyed the iconography in the first version, especially the donkey and the elephant, as he could tell that this time display was about politics. Theo preferred the first version to the second version because it was more interesting and delivered more information than the second version did.

Model Emulation Feedback

He recommended that I should fill in the rest of the circles in the first version with more icons, such as for the Presidential Primary and the General Election Day. He liked that the second version had the arrow at the end.

Revisions based on this critique

Theo presented a good point about the importance of the angles of lines in my initial time display. I decided to re-evaluate my visual language model to determine where the time points were, and I decided to re-move the circles' positions according to the dates. For example, May 16 and May 24 are close together so the circles are closer compared to May 24 (Presidential Primary) and November 8 (General Election Day). I forgot to incorporate the arrow at the end but will definitely consider the arrow in my second revision.

Critique #3: Hamzah Aly

Hamzah complimented me on the strong graphics, particularly the icons in circles and the clear, minimalist use of text in this time display.

Model Emulation Feedback

Hamzah recommended that I should make the blue circle in the bottom left corner smaller because it didn't mean anything to him. He was confused by the white icon I used in the top right corner for General Election Day until I told him it represented a ballot. Then he suggested that I could invert the colors of the circle such that the ballot icon would be black and the background of the circle would be be white. Overall, the time display emulated the visual language and color models.

Revisions based on this critique

I thought that Hamzah's confusion was justified, so I decided to invert the colors of the General Election Day circle so that the icon was clearer to the viewer. I decided to make the blue circle in the bottom left corner smaller.

Critique #2: Randi Mendel

Randi noticed that it was a timeline of events happening during the Washington State election, so she reckoned that the time display was clear. She thought I did a great job with the icons filled in the circles. Overall, it was a strong graphic.

Model Emulation Feedback

Randi thought I did a good job matching the display to the visual language model. She suggested filling the open circles in with the color blue or something else. Randi wondered if it would be possible to make the spacing more accurate and proportional to time, but was concerned about clusters.

Revisions based on this critique

I decided to readjust the circles and lines, so that circles with closer dates are closer together and circles with farther dates are farther away from each other.

Critique #1: Memie Huang

Memie thought I did a really good job with this revision! She was initially confused, asking why not every single circle had its own icon but once that was explained to her, she understood right away.

Model Emulation Feedback

She thought that the time display emulated the color model and the visual language model really well. Her only feedback was that I could make the font sizes of the deadline (e.g., Washington State Republican Party Caucus) bigger because it was difficult for her to see.

Revisions based on this critique

I have taken Memie's suggestion to increase the font size into account and increased the font size of the smaller elements.