Visual Resume

What were you trying to achieve? For this assignment our job was to tells a complex informational story about ourselves about our accomplishments and life paths at one view. This was designed to be focused towards an audience full of potential employers and internship mentors, so you wanted the information to convey in a positive manner that sold you in the job market.

What problems did you encountered and how did you solved them? The problems that I encountered was how I wanted to convey the different varieties of information. Some of the information on my actual resume would be better as a quantitate visual than a qualitative as well as the opposite situation for other sets of information on my resume. I had to make the decision, as well as look at Randy Krum’s website again to generate some great ideas on what type of graphs I should try out to enhance my resume and visuals.

 What was your AHA! moment? My AHA! moment was when I took a day off from making my resume to modify and make changes. I needed to step away from the assignment to generate some creative juices and I realized that the qualitative information drove my devisions on what to use for the quantitate information. I also realized that formatting and size is important to enhance a resume’s overall look. 

Finally, I realized that I am a creative individual and wanted to show that on my resume. In order to do this I also added one extra graph to my visual resume that showed all of my different skills that I have to offer in the form of a word cloud. I really liked this and was also able to use pretty colors I liked to help that section stand out a little more.

 What connections did you make to what you have learned in the readings and in class? The connections were combine with so many different assignments that we have done. In class we have talked immensely about how to use mind maps to reduce cognitive load and organize thoughts in a better way. I used this to separate my internship opportunities, awards and memberships. It was an awesome help and really helped show two different sides about me that I heavily identify with. Also, many of our past blogs involved how to make timelines, diagrams, and flow charts to keep information stored in an organized way that was easy to follow. Employers want to able to clearly understand someone they are interviewing so the thought to make different pie charts and line graphs where they could clearly see different splits in color, really would help reduce their cognitive load. I really wouldn’t know how to make these types of graphs very well to show this type of data, or even use excel opportunities in Google if past classes didn’t help provide information on this subject. 

 What would you do differently had you more time or resources? If I had more time I would fix my line graph talking about my GPA. On a positive note, my GPA has always been around 3.8-4.0. I am proud of this average but the way I made it on the line graph, I used a short scale variance so it made the results look more drastic. This was dangerous when I went from a  4.0 to 3.85 after my freshman year. The difference really isn’t that much but for an employee who is looking at it quickly, they might receive a negative perception instead of a positive. I would change the variance to a bigger scale so the results reflected it more accurately. 

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One Subject Info-graphic:

What were you trying to achieve? For this assignment I was trying to tell a complex informational story to people that were interested in a particular subject. I decided to hone in on the topic of the moon and specifically talk about facts about the moon and how it is able to circulate around earth. This story includes the moons diameter, how far it is from Earth, how many days it usually takes, and more. It also shows the picture of the different phases of the moon in rotation as well as the times, and angles it will be at during a specific hour.

• What problems did you encountered and how did you solved them? The Problems that I encountered during this blog post was trying to figure out the best way to convey the information without making it too cluttered. I figured putting the facts into the moon and titling the moon phase on the outside would be the most organized way of doing so. I also made the graphic on Google Presentation, and after i created the actual image I decided to fill in the circles with actual pictures of the moon and Earth so the graphic looked more realistic than just circular shapes.
• What was your AHA! moment? My AHA! moment was when I found a great website talking about space. I realized that I really enjoyed this topic and since we have been talking about the Challenger lately, that I wanted to learn more about space in general. I then did more research and decided I actually wanted to hone in on the moon because it is a truly interesting cycle when it circulates around the sun. From doing this assignment I now know the different phases of the moon by name, as well as by shape.
• What connections did you make to what you have learned in the readings and in class? The connections that I made in class were when we talk about how to organize qualitative data in general. We used the example of the pumpkin graphic that a past student drew as a “good example” because it showed the different parts that go into a pumpkin as a whole, while also offering statistical information to back it up. Similarly, the image that I created also showed the different parts (or phases) of the moon as it circulates around the sun. The facts helped to inform readers about the process so they now can have a different and more concrete understanding of light every time they walk outside.
• What would you do differently had you more time or resources? If I had more time and resources I would figure out how to split the circle diagram in half and quarters so I could completely show the audience what the quarter moon, and crescent moon looks like. It was very difficult and when I researched online it said I would need to buy another program to do so. Instead I just used the image of the moon as a symbolic representation, and then labeled the individual circle representations as what they should be when they reach each specific time.

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Simple Tables to Graphs

To create my graphs, I worked with the chart function in PowerPoint in order to create a good design. This allowed me the freedom to represent the data however I wanted and in a variety of ways, and also gave me a visual look at the data I was trying to represent. However, after I created the graphs, I had some difficulty changing the data when I realized that parts were incorrect. I also struggled a bit with trying to find the most concise wording for all three of the graphs I made.

What were you trying to achieve? For this assignment, we were creating graphs out of table information regarding how far away we are from graduating. We have just completed advising and planning for graduation, and it was important to see in different visuals how close we were from our big day.

What problems did you encounter and how did you solve them? I encountered a ton of problems during this assignment. First of all I hate anything to do with statistics and numbers. I am a creative and right side of the brain type of person and this assignment made me cringe trying to figure out how to make graphs using excel and Google Docs. I also only have 4 more classes total until I graduate so I was having a hard time planning how to create this graphic to show a lot of information so there was actually things to compare.

What was your AHA! moment? My AHA! moment occurred when I finally figured out how to organize my classes already taken opposed to classes I still needed to take. I broke it down by Major, Minor, Electives, and Skills, while used this set of data against what I still needed to take total. It was the most beneficial for me to understand. My second AHA! Moment appeared after we discussed this blog post in class. I realized it also really benefitted when all the graphs were organized together in four boxed next to each other with the metaphorical graphic is also better organized as one whole image that has parts to it instead of 6 images like I had in the beginning.

What connections did you make to what you have learned in the readings and in class? I made connections to what we learned in class about creating graphs during certain situations such as when we were speaking about the Challenger. Class has also taught me how well Pie and Bar graphs help to convey such statistics and that you can do so in a creative way, such as the cap example.

What would you do differently if you had more time or resources? If I had more time or resources, I probably re-design my whole chart. I would go to Professor O’Connell for extra help and be sure that I completely tackled what I was being asked of me.

Which format does the best job at conveying helpful information?The formats that did the best to help me with this assignment was using a bar and pie chart. I liked these visuals, especially the pie chart because you were able to see the information as a whole piece and it was easier on the cognitive load to understand and process.

Don’t forget to reflect on the experience of working with tools like Google Docs in getting a GOOD design together. What did it let you do? What did you have difficulty changing?

Google Docs was very confusing due to the fact that I barley ever use it. I liked professor O’Connells template to help organize all the data but it was a pretty big template so there was a lot of information to add which made it more difficult for me to figure out how to condense the information and concentrate on only one section.

Draft:

Explanation Graphic

Explain your design decisions in terms of how you managed the memory and cognitive load issues in the graphic.

I chose a cell phone that is used a lot by an adult demographic, yet is still not completely informed about all that their phone can offer. This graphic would help individuals that are not familiar with the Blackberry cell phone to understand how to use it, what benefits they can get from it, and even explain how to do simple things like put the phone on silent when they are in a meeting. I started off looking online at different blackberry’s to make sure I didn’t miss any key steps. Then for my first draft I tried sketching the graphic from different angles to show all the different parts on and help them get an idea of the shape and thickness of the phone. Next, I added shorted explanations of each function so they an quickly glance at the phone and make the comparison. Finally, I brought these sketches to life by using a real picture of a Blackberry online and adding the text and arrows next to the pictures to help be even more specific about what I was referring to. The arrows and words did a great job complimenting the pictures, just as explained in Shriver’s model.

This explanation graphic did a great job to help lower the cognitive load of another individual because some people are visual learners so the picture next to the context helped as another way of helping the user understand the information being conveyed. One research method that helps my design decision was the Dual Coding theory that explains how both verbal and visual codes can be used when recalling information, just as used in this explanation graphic of the Blackberry.

Indicate which of Schriver’s combinations applies to your graphic (Complementary or Supplementary).
For the Schriver’s Model my explanation graphic applies to the complementary combination. This is because I used both visual and verbal modes to complement each other and use to fully explain the product.

What were you trying to achieve?
In doing this assignment I was trying to use both visual and verbal modes to visualize the parts of an Blackberry phone for users. Also, this assignment helped me to reduce the cognitive load of the end users.

What problems did you encountered and how did you solved them?
One problem I encountered was trying to figure out how to place the arrows so it was neat and didn’t get the end user more confused in the long run.

What was your AHA! moment?
My AHA! moment was when I realized that it would be most beneficial if no arrows crossed so that someone in an older generation, or someone with bad eye sight in general would not get the buttons mistaken.

What connections did you make to what you have learned in the readings and in class?
This blog assignment directly relates to Schiver’s Model combinations and specifically my graphic relates to a complimentary combination.

What would you do differently had you more time or resources?
If I had more time and resources I would try to find a larger picture so people with bad eyes could see the arrows even better. I would also maybe try to change the color of the arrows so they wouldn’t blend in with the screen.

Rough Draft:

Second Draft:

Final Draft: