gmane.comp.infodesign.general

Typefaces for dyslexics?

Corinne Pritchard — 2011-07-27T13:52:33

I know you'll all enjoy this:

"Reading printed text is so fluid and transparent for most people that it's
hard to imagine it feeling any other way. Maybe that's why it took a
dyslexic designer to create a typeface that optimizes the reading experience
for people who suffer from that condition.Christian Boer's
"Dyslexie"<http://www.studiostudio.nl/project-dyslexie/> doesn't
exactly make the letterforms look conventionally beautiful, but since when
is that a prerequisite for well-designed? If it works, it works. And
according to an independent study by the University of
Twente<http://www.utwente.nl/en> in
Boer's native Netherlands, it does work."

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1664561/dyslexie-a-typeface-designed-to-help-dyslexics-read

Yours,

Corinne
www.simplyunderstand.com
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Re: Debt visualization

Rob Waller — 2011-07-26T13:34:22

While I'm pleased to see US measures alongside metric (i.e., US football vs soccer pitches), being English I actually need to see measurements in terms of double-decker buses. There's a nice website where you can calculate the exchange rate: http://chrico.mazca.com/ddbc.html

I actually find this non-graphic alternative, linked to from wtfnoway, more interesting: http://www.usdebtclock.org/

You can see the figures changing, and it is also far richer in data. For example, I learn that each US citizen averages around $51k personal debt, while their share of the national debt is around $47k. The most extraordinary figure is total debt per family: $668,639. I now want to know how many paper rounds their kids will need to do to pay it off.

Rob Waller 



On 26 Jul 2011, at 10:02, Jorge Frascara wrote:


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Re: Debt visualization

Jorge Frascara — 2011-07-26T09:02:02

Lovely the graphics, terrible the time bomb.

Let's keep on dancin' in the Titanic.

I like the fact that, at a certain point, information design becomes clearly
persuasive (about the severity of the situation).

Cheers

Jorge


On Tue, Jul 26, 2011 at 8:47 AM, Karel van der Waarde <waarde< at >glo.be> wrote:

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Debt visualization

Karel van der Waarde — 2011-07-26T06:47:15

Dear all,

Nice visualization of US-debt: http://www.wtfnoway.com/

[ Same topic as Nigel Holmes' visualization: http://www.nigelholmes.com/motion/tedex.htm ]

Unfortunately, these visualizations don't offer a solution or suggest a way to alleviate the circumstances.

Kind regards,
Karel.
waarde< at >glo.be
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Diagrams 2012 Call for Tutorial and Workshop Proposals

2011-07-14T17:54:57

Call for Tutorial and Workshop Proposals

===============================================================

Seventh International Conference on the Theory and Application of Diagrams

http://www.diagrams-conference.org/2012/
diagrams2012< at >diagrams-conference.org

2 â 6 July 2012
Canterbury, Kent, UK

==============================================================


We solicit proposals for tutorials and workshops to be held as part of
Diagrams 2012. 

========================    Tutorials    ============================

Tutorials allow conference attendees to expand their knowledge and could
introduce researchers to emerging topics, new technologies, or deliver an
overview of the state-of-the-art in an existing area. Prospective tutorial
instructors must submit a tutorial proposal for review, the details of which
can be found at: http://www.diagrams-conference.org/2012/content/tutorials. Of
note is that tutorials should be either 1 or 2 hours in length and they will
be incorporated in to the main conferen

Re: cigarette pack warnings

David Sless — 2011-06-27T08:01:20

There are good reasons to be very skeptical about the sort of research that is used in support of this type of decision making.

But, there is certainly grounds for suggesting that such material 'enriches' our visual culture and provides some kinds of space within which the discourse can develop.
 
David

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Re: cigarette pack warnings

Deborah Taylor-Pearce — 2011-06-27T02:07:29


I was going to respond by questioning whether or not the U.S. 
government can afford any more ineffective communications rituals of 
this sort (i.e., in this new era of fiscal austerity, when all sorts 
of life-saving medical services are being cut across the country, we 
no longer have money to throw away on more either/or public policy 
campaigns, and need to learn instead how to craft both/and medical 
communications that artfully combine affect + effect).

But then today's (Sunday, 26 June 2011) _Los Angeles Times_ ran a very 
interesting feature:

http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-smoking-barb-tarbox-20110626,0,7948435,full.story

which makes me think there may be some hope for this anti-smoking 
campaign yet.

Melissa Healy's _LA Times_ article provides new information about the 
research used for public-policy decision-making in the U.S., and 
includes reproductions of another picture from the original 36

http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-smoking-barb-tarbox-photos,0,7257673.photogallery
(image

Re: cigarette pack warnings

Gunnar Swanson — 2011-06-23T11:49:25

[snip]
[snip]

In Oz, they lock up cigarettes in their ceremonial display of disapproval. In America's similarly ceremonial War on Drugs, we lock up tens of thousands of people. We also make them wear ugly generic clothing but haven't included cautionary photographs on them yet.

Warmest regards from hot and steamy North Carolina.


Gunnar
----------
Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville NC 27858
USA

gunnar< at >gunnarswanson.com
+1 252 258 7006

http://www.gunnarswanson.com




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Re: cigarette pack warnings

Deborah Taylor-Pearce — 2011-06-23T03:58:26

I just now noticed that I forgot to include the main _PBS NewsHour_ 
link (to a 6/21/2011 _NewsHour_ interview with FDA commissioner, 
Margaret Hamburg) in my original post:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/jan-june11/cigarettewar_06-21.html

This is the more substantive _NewsHour_ analysis ("The Rundown" is 
their complementary website blog), and it should be of interest to 
Cafeistas because it describes the research behind the government's 
choice of images (they chose 9 images from a starting group of 36, 
based on their study of consumer responses to health warning labels).

Plus, the video (of the interview) shows the new design of the 
cigarette packages, with the brand repositioning (to which the tobacco 
companies are objecting).

It would appear that, once again, our designer (and rhetorical) 
intuitions are at odds with the research findings.... ;-)

Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp< at >she-philosopher.com
___________________________________________________________________

Use the foll

Re: cigarette pack warnings

David Sless — 2011-06-23T02:37:28

Hi All,

In oz the government has gone two steps further. The disease pictures have been with us for a few years. The most recent initiative is that tobacco products cannot be displayed on open shelves and have to be shelved behind closed cupboard doors with 'warnings' on them. Yet to come later this year is 'plain packaging' with no colour or branding, just the product name in small print, with the disease pictures and warnings covering most of the pack surface.

I have long since given up arguing about the 'effectiveness' of these messages, though I don't disagree with the comments that Rob, Deborah and others have made.

However, I think there is another more useful way of looking at this trend and the significance of the actions governments have been taking. 

In the first instance, we can see these moves as a progressive grab for control of real estate. Every additional square centimetre of space that is controlled by government rather than industry is a simple expression of increased power. What goes i

Re: cigarette pack warnings

Deborah Taylor-Pearce — 2011-06-23T01:01:56


Yup. My sentiments exactly. <bg>

Only a couple of the images are perhaps gruesome enough to stand out 
from the crowd for a sophisticated viewing audience raised on 
violence-ridden movies and (CSI-style) televised series featuring 
blood & guts & medical procedures almost as main characters.

The shock value just isn't there, especially for kids who live with 
real, immediate violence every day (domestic violence and abuse, gang 
shootings/stabbings/beatings, war, etc.).

I don't actually think there are any images capable of getting teens 
to project themselves into a diseased middle or old age, which is when 
cancer & heart disease usually strike.

And if they could, it's probably the ravages of aging more than 
smoking which would terrify. ;-)

Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp< at >she-philosopher.com

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Re: cigarette pack warnings

Tori Egherman — 2011-06-22T16:55:13

Those packages are destined to appeal to teens. What I wouldn't have
given for a gross-out t-shirt featuring sick and rotting lungs when I
was in my teens. I might have even taken up smoking to get one.

When are they going to learn?

Tori

On Wed, Jun 22, 2011 at 4:19 PM, Rob Waller
<rob.waller< at >simplificationcentre.org.uk> wrote:

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Re: cigarette pack warnings

Rob Waller — 2011-06-22T14:19:36

I imagine these days most smokers know cigarettes kill you... eventually. But when you're young 'eventually' is a long long way off, along with the need for a pension. 

There was a brand called 'Death Cigarettes' marketed in the UK in the 90s. I remember hearing about it but not actually seeing it. According to a Wikipedia entry on it, their slogan was 'The Grim Reaper Don't Come Cheaper'.

Rob Waller 



On 22 Jun 2011, at 09:58, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote:



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cigarette pack warnings

Deborah Taylor-Pearce — 2011-06-22T08:58:23

Cafe,

We've discussed anti-smoking information campaigns before, and now, 
right on the heels of our latest discussion of health information 
campaigns, come two more stories about another "nudge" campaign being 
launched in the U.S.:

"New Cigarette Warning Labels Pack More Visual Punch"
(originally aired Tuesday, 21 June 2011 on the _PBS NewsHour_)
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/06/new-cigarette-warnings-unveiled.html

and

"What's an ugly photo worth?"
(originally aired Tuesday, 21 June 2011 on _Marketplace_)
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/06/21/pm-whats-an-ugly-photo-worth/

Apparently,

"When the images appear next year, the U.S. will fall into
line with 41 other countries and World Health Organization
guidelines. Dr. Adriana Blanco of the WHO says images are
proven more likely than text to nudge people into quitting --
partly by grossing out your friends and family."

And: the new ugly packaging is supposed to turn off the youth market.

But enough to make them quit

Diagrams 2012 Call for Papers

2011-06-16T14:29:46

Diagrams 2012

Seventh International Conference on the Theory and Application of Diagrams

www.diagrams-conference.org/2012/
diagrams2012< at >diagrams-conference.org

2-6 July 2012
Canterbury, UK

===============================================================

CALL FOR PAPERS

===============================================================

Diagrams is an international interdisciplinary conference series, covering all aspects of research on the theory and application of diagrams.

Diagrams is the only conference series that provides a united forum for all areas that are concerned with the study of diagrams, including architecture, artificial intelligence, cartography, cognitive science, computer science, education, graphic design, history of science, human-computer interaction, linguistics, logic, mathematics, philosophy, psychology, and software modelling. The conference attracts a large number of researchers from virtually all these related fields, positioning Diagrams as a major international event in the ar

Re: design-centric business models

Deborah Taylor-Pearce — 2011-06-16T19:07:56

Gunnar,


I think this is a really important distinction ... at least for the 
political left in this country (I'm not sure that the hard-core 
libertarian right supports any regulatory role for government, 
including things like food safety, which is chronically under-funded).

But even this notion of the "collective good" is slippery, and must be 
continually re-negotiated.

Many who think abortion is murder would argue that it is in the 
"collective good" to outlaw it ... OTOH, those who think abortion is a 
profoundly private matter, argue that government should stay out of it.

But this (the debate over abortion in the U.S.) is an *overt* 
political argument of long standing, which makes all the difference.

As a student of rhetoric, my own personal issue here is with 
information asymmetries that distort the realm of responsible human 
choice and conduct (the "covert manipulation" part ;-).

There's already too much of this, as far as I'm concerned.

(My partner was recently in a car accident, and I'm

Re: design-centric business models

Gunnar Swanson — 2011-06-14T20:23:17

Deborah,

I'm pretty sure that "concerned shopper" was being sarcastic but I suspect that many others might agree un-ironically.  It's not unreasonable to find government intrusion into our lives more troublesome than non-govermental intrusion. (CBS News videotaping a political rally is one thing, the Feds doing it is another. A fashion magazine telling me that I'd be happier if I wore briefs instead of boxers is stupid, a state agency doing so would be weirdly Orwellian.)

When I go into a store, I'm quite aware that they are trying to sell me stuff. That's the reason they built the store. At least their agenda is clear. Government overtly regulating for the collective good (e.g., setting light bulb efficiency or toy safety standards) is one thing but I can understand someone being at very least a bit creeped out by government covertly manipulating individual decisions. And then you get into the fight about what we should be manipulated to do. I, for instance, am convinced that the low fat salad dressings t

design-centric business models

Deborah Taylor-Pearce — 2011-06-14T18:25:21

Cafe,

1.  Yesterday's U.S. public radio program, _Marketplace_, had an 
interesting interview with Bob Lutz about his new book, _Car Guys vs. 
Bean Counters_, wherein Lutz argues that the downfall of the U.S. car 
industry is attributable to "putting numbers before design".

the interview (originally aired 13 June 2011) is at:
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/06/13/pm-the-us-car-industrys-downfall-putting-numbers-before-design/

& an excerpt from Lutz's book is available via _Marketplace_'s The Big 
Book blog at:
http://www.publicradio.org/columns/marketplace/the-big-book/2011/06/car-guys-vs-bean-counters-the-battle-for-the-soul-of-american-business.html


2.  Yesterday's _Marketplace_ also had an interesting story on "How 
the art and science of selling food can be redirected to fight obesity":

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/06/13/pm-the-supermarket-solution/

For those of you outside the U.S. who might think such re-designs of 
supermarket shelves and floor space m

Re: Learning more from harder-to-read fonts?

Deborah Taylor-Pearce — 2011-06-11T00:38:39

All,

On 6/6/2011 6:32 PM, I wrote:



And today Roger answered my question, telling me off-list that he had 
only the one source for this:

http://web.princeton.edu/sites/opplab/papers/Diemand-Yauman_Oppenheimer_2010.pdf


I'm ashamed to say I missed Roger's astute observation about this 
finding the first time I read it, probably because it dovetails neatly 
with my own belief that false confidence undermines all good things in 
this world. ;-)

In other words, I interpreted the passage to mean that students tend 
to be overconfident about their mastery of material presented in 
easy-to-read type, and that hard-to-read type can serve as a needed 
corrective for this.

Now that I read the passage again, I note that this is NOT what the 
authors say. (The conflation of confidence with overconfidence is mine 
alone.)

Even more now, than when I first read through the Princeton study, I 
wish the authors had said a lot more about the role of type in 
boosting or decreasing confidence.

At the very least, I wis

Doctoral studentship: The Typeface Designs of Eric Gill

Karel van der Waarde — 2011-06-09T10:23:12

Dear all,

This might be of interest for a curious academic mind.

Kind regards,
Karel.
waarde< at >glo.be


AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award Studentship

The Typeface Designs of Eric Gill

University of Reading - Department of Typography & Graphic Communication

St Bride Library, London

STARTING OCTOBER 2011



An AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award studentship (fully funded fees and maintenance) between the University of Reading and St Bride Library,  London is available to a suitably qualified UK or EU student.

The period in which Eric Gill's typefaces were first manufactured was the golden age of hot metal typesetting and Gill himself is arguably the most important British typeface designer of the twentieth century. However, as an artist he did not have the necessary technical knowledge of type production and so craftsmen and engineers also played a role in manufacturing Gill's typefaces. This research will document the complete body of Gill's work as a typeface designer for the first time; explain the role

Re: Learning more from harder-to-read fonts?

Deborah Taylor-Pearce — 2011-06-07T20:11:10

Rob,


FWIW, I did get -- and thoroughly enjoy! -- the irony (here and 
elsewhere).

One of the problems with these kinds of discussions is that 
long-winded people like me want to reply to everything everybody's 
said, and it's just not possible (thankfully for the rest of you ;-).

In this case, after thinking about other responses and themes raised 
during the course of discussion, I fixed on your ironic paragraph as 
the quickest way in to what I wanted to say about motivation, and 
frustrated learning, and "disfluency" transferred beyond the classroom 
to more "naturalistic" settings (where we all become the test subjects 
of our own study).

I admit: my metonymic substitutions are not ideal, but it's the best I 
can do when in a hurry and responding on the fly.

That said, it's good that you question my assumptions (or at least 
"problematize" them, as we literary critics like to say ;-).


On a related note -- here thinking of how Charles just brought us back 
to the educational context with which Sue