Abstract:

As an innovation to teaching graphic design and typography, Internet mining (or surfing), an activity commonly embraced by today’s youth, is utilized to engage student learning. Data accrues and becomes content for creating information graphics.

The objective is to learn how to gather data and use information design as a structure for complex content and as a vehicle for implementing and enhancing readers’ understanding of content; how to interpret and present data in user-friendly applications; and how to use and analyze several different models for basic information design theory.

As a conceptual underpinning, an avant-garde text — regarding the arrangement of books in a personal library — is provided to students. Then, students are prompted to search the Internet for information concerning the books in their own library. The type of information that is sought is dependent upon the individual narrative that is being constructed, and the information can range anywhere from star-ratings, to written reviews, to number of times that profanity is used (as in JD Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye). Through the search, accumulation, sorting, sequencing, and presentation (or design) of information, a narrative emerges; personal biases and individual preferences regarding reading material become revealed. Data modules are strung together to form a story; a database becomes a narrative; design and typography set the pace and tone.

In completion of the project, students acquire the ability to collect, interpret and edit data; to conduct user tests and analyze and report the results; to make appropriate choices in displaying content; and they acquire a working knowledge of information design terms.

Visual examples of multiple student outcomes will be included in the presentation.

Keywords:

Typography, Graphic Design, Visual Communication, Information Design, Database Narrative, Library.