IA Summit 11: Visual Language for Designers

April 12, 2011 · by · in Conference

The last summit presentation I attended that really resonated with me was Your Brain On Graphics: Research-inspired Visual Design by Connie Malamed. It instantly took me back to my Human Factors Foundations class at Bentley talking about pre-attentive processing and cognitive efficiency, however her slides were much less academic, and much more practical. She bulleted the tips and tricks with examples to keep in mind in order to make the most of these human factors principles. 

Unfortunatly I couldn’t find her slides online, but her book “Visual Language for Designers: Principles for Creating Graphics that People Understand” is available on Amazon.com

My Notes

  • There are more brain resources devoted to vision than to any other sense.
  • Picture superiority effect: We have a better memory for pictures than for words
    • Information Processing Model
    • Information comes into our sensory memory both visually and through sound, then it is moved into our working memory, then eventually pieces of information move into our long term memory
    • Working memory has a limited capacity (4 to 5 things) and a short duration (about 10 seconds)
      • A very vulnerable cognitive load.
    • Long term memory – people can recognize hundreds of images as previously seen after seeing them for only a few seconds.
  • People give meaning to the visuals they process
  • Stephen M. Kosslyn – The mind is not a camera – images are processed with a context, and personal affect. We make our own interpretations.
  • Research –Inspired Design
    • Based on findings
    • Considers perceptions
    • Real world application
  • Processing fluency – the ease with which a person processes information
    • High is easy
    • Low is hard
  • Facts shown to people with a high contract of text on background are considered more true than those in low contrast – processing fluency affects credibility
    • If it’s easy to process, it must be true
  • Speed up your message by taking advantage of pre attentive processing
    • Pop-out features
    • Grouping
    • Etc.
    • By understanding these principles you can use them to your advantage and make sure it’s not happening inadvertently.
  • Primitive Processing Features
    • Color
    • Size
    • Shape
    • Direction
    • Opposites
    • Motion
    • Depth
  • Grouping
    • Perceptual conditions that force us to see parts as one unit
    • The unit’s take preference over any of the individual parts
    • Affected by
      • Proximity
      • Similarity
      • Common fate or direction
      • Connectedness
      • Boundaries
  • Make visuals cognitively efficient
    • Cognitive compatibility – make graphics consistent with their meaning and the information will be easier to process
      • The word blue written in blue is easier to process then if written in red.
      • Something pointing down that goes down instead of up.
    • Reduce realism
      • Make graphics more cognitively effective by using less detail, flatter colors, smother surfaces and minimal shadows
      • Makes understanding easier
      • Use of silhouettes so the focus moves to the shape
      • Can also use line art, iconic graphics and symbols
  • Connect through emotions
    • Emotions cause a visceral reaction in the body
    • Emotion and cognition are interdependent
    • Our own emotions
      • Capture attention
      • Increase brain activity
      • Improve retention
    • Emotions affect mental processing
    • We will follow someone’s gaze, even if the face is cartoonish
    • The perceived emotion of a face or applied character impacts us, and we empathize with it.
    • Surprises reach out to us as well as humor and novelty
  • Our brains are hard wired for visuals, graphics affect credibility, efficiency, and emotional connectedness