(1). FORENSIC DESIGN ASSESSMENTS

This task relates to a sequence of assessments that will be repeated across Chapters 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. Select any example of a visualisation or infographic, maybe your own work or that of others. The task is to undertake a deep, detailed ‘forensic’ like assessment of the design choices made across each of the five layers of the chosen visualisation’s anatomy. In each case your assessment is only concerned with one design layer at a time.

For this task, take a close look at the colour choices:

Start by identifying all the applications of colour deployed, listing them under the headers of 1) data legibility, 2) editorial salience, and 3) functional harmony.
How suitable are the choices and deployment of these colours? If they are not, what do you think they should have been?
Go through the set of ‘Influencing factors’ from the latter section of the book’s chapter to help shape your assessment and to possibly inform how you might tackle this design layer differently
Also, considering the range of potential applications of colour, what would you do differently or additionally?

(2). ARTIFICIAL CIRCUMSTANCES

Select a sample visualisation or infographic project and identify all the ingredients of colour usage on display. Pretend you are now the designer working up some new colour choices in the face of having to accommodate new contextual factors, how might you colour this project if…

You had to demonstrate the worst possible data visualisation colour practices
You had to force yourself to use as few different colours as possible?
You had to make it work for non-colour printing?
(if you began with a colour property of red or green) you now have to make it red-green colourblind friendly?
(if your chosen project was related, in any way, to a specific organisation) you now have to use only their corporate colours