Visible Language

This investigation proposes the need for a paradigmatic shift in the production of formal and behavioral online information to accommodate the differing learning preferences of its audiences. Developments in the presentation of information itself and the management of its complexity have not progressed at the same rate as the technology that produces it. Psychologist David Kolb (1974) found that the combinations created by an individual’s perception and processing techniques form a unique learning style, which becomes the most preferred and comfortable way to process information for that individual. This project poses the question: In what ways can the redesign of online information presentations, formal and behavioral, support the different learning preferences of complex audiences? As a response I share my work-in-progress research into audience/online information interactions. It emphasizes the need to acknowledge that information must be flexible and customized to enhance meaningful experience for different learners.

This experiment investigated how two factors that relate to icon representations affected Taiwanese computer users. These were: alphabetic or non- alphabetic representations and cultural or standard imagery. Alphabetic representations are representations that show Chinese characters or English words/letters. Non-alphabetic representations are representations that show either concrete or abstract objects. Cultural imagery is imagery that uses ethnic depictions, often shown in a traditional manner. Standard imagery is imagery used in icons found in present software packages used internationally. Fifty-two Taiwanese citizens with a similar ability in English were shown a series of twenty-six icons on a computer screen along with a list of labels, and asked to match the labels with the icons. The results indicated that cultural elements, especially alphabetical cultural elements aided the recognition of icons by participants not familiar with computers.

A Balance of Ergonomics and Style, Regulation and Power

This paper explains the historical development of analogue and digital speedometer dial designs using the linguistics theory base of pragmatics, which asks researchers to explain a visual design by describing its purpose as well as how its various visual features meet people’s needs, how people read dials and how people use dials to coordinate with one another or machines. The paper is useful for researchers interested in methodologies for studying the development of language-like visual communication, and for those interested in the history of information graphics, machine interfaces or speedometer dials in particular. A range of dial designs from the early 1900s to the current day are described and analyzed. In this paper, results show that drivers read speedometers to avoid fines, keep safe, change gears, set cruise control or record high speeds. Designs also, however, serve marketing and aesthetic purposes. Features of analogue displays are described with the paper concluding with a taxonomy of dial features. The entire system of speed containment could be improved since even with easy-to-read dials, drivers continue to speed. Dials that work with satellite systems to continually display the current speed limit may be the way of the future.

Little historic context is generally provided regarding design phenomena; ideas, names, events and relationships are disregarded in design’s typical superficial coverage; it is as though design exists in a vacuum. This paper seeks to put Helvetica, the face, the font and the movie into context by exploring its relationship to Swiss Design philosophically and practically. The infiltration of Helvetica, the font, into American design practices is also explored, along with some variation on typographic education from both a formal and informal perspective.