Visual Communication Observations from Vacation
Britto Gallery - WIN
BO's Restaurant - WIN
And what can I say about the awesome handmade sign from BO's Restaurant in Key West? The attitude and design aesthetic completely mirror that sandwich shack's decor and approach. The food is amazing, but like The Burger Joint at The Parker Meridien, it won't be ranking high on Zagat's decor list.
Hotel Notepad - FAIL
Okay, this may be nitpicking, but there's really no reason why 50% of this small notepad need be taken up with hotel advertising. (And the all caps does't work.)
USA Today Pie Chart - FAIL
There's nothing like a vacation to reacquaint yourself with USA Today. There are ongoing disagreements about whether the "USA Today style" of data graphics actually helps or hinders the reader. I understand both arguments, but I often have issues with their charts. This one, for example, doesn't work for me on a number of levels:
- 5 slices for a pie chart is pushing the limits. See here for why.
- The category labels, while appropriately placed next to their slices, feel a little awkward (like "Waterways" which is outside the train, while it's slice is inside.)
- "Railroads" is clearly the most important slice—hence the entire train graphic—but it's not called out in any immediately easy way for the eye.
- The whole idea of putting the pie chart with all modes of freight within a single mode of freight is just visually odd.
Again, this style of graphics has its proponents, but after a week of looking at these, they never got any easier to read. In general, I find myself spending too many seconds looking at the whole chart before I completely understand the entire story. Graphs involving so few data points should be fairly instantaneous to understand.
