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Communication Semantics

Think twice – is it important, is it attractive?

Halfway through my studies in media and communication science a technology called Macromedia Flash was evolving. I noticed that web designers used a significant amount of their time to make very nice-looking animations. The only problem was they did not transport any information. Something without any importance draws our attention. The designers forgot about the information design rule #1: form follows function. At the same time, there were designers who leveraged flash to animate information graphics which really made complex things easy to understand. One good example was an animation of biochemical processes in the human body. So something very important draws our attention. Animation made it possible plus attractive.

Around 2002 we were lucky that professor Christian Doelker from the University of Zurich held lessons at our university (Fribourg). He was teaching visual and audiovisual language. Plus he was an excellent teacher who motivated us to use theory as a tool for our daily business.

I wanted to write my master’s thesis about a topic which guarantees he would become my tutor. He wrote a book about the cultural technique of TV. So I wrote my thesis about the cultural technique of multimedia. A cultural technique means something like writing and reading, so authors learn how to compose their multimedia plus the audience learns how to read it.

Don’t make users zap

15 years later, I still ask the same question: How do I build dashboards so the users are not distracted by unimportant details? After all, it is the producer’s task to allow for easy understanding. If the producer fails, the user can’t focus on what’s important. In the best case, he will hit the inner replay button. But more likely the user zaps away.

Users need to learn to read data visualisations, how to focus on what’s important and in the best case, how to double-check if the content can be right. All this is part of the concept of data literacy.

The matrix of attraction versus importance

Multimedia and information dashboards combine different code systems. When you work with different codes like images, icons, text and charts consider how much attention they allocate. My professor provided a concept regarding the attraction of a code versus the information value it carries. Evolution conditioned our perception. Sabre-toothed tigers picked out anyone who did not respond fast enough to signals of movement. According to Christian Doelker the rank is

  1. Animated before static
  2. primary needs before secondary needs
  3. eye-catching before neutral
  4. visual before verbal

The matrix above is a way to check your information design. The size shows how attractive a dashboard element is. The big size on the left is ideal, but the big size on the right (low information value) is bad. If that means too much work, then just keep the blog post title in mind „Think twice – is it important, is it attractive?

If the information design is poor users work against their perception conditions. This is hard work. If you ever tried to read an article on a website with an animated banner on the side that follows you scrolling, you know what I am saying.

Luckily on information dashboards, there are no commercial banners. However, some stakeholders ask for logos. Most logos contain colour. If you opt for no colour at all and just work with the compositional weight (eye-catching before neutral) you have to compete already with a low important but highly attractive element on your dashboard. However if the logo gives you a clue about what customer data you are seeing, the semantical value is of a fair amount.

Just because it is simple doesn’t mean it is ugly

Here is another general rule I’ve learned: Every element may it be all so little needs to contribute to your message. If it does not, leave it away.

A few days ago I had a discussion about a very simple line chart. A colleague wanted to use an area chart instead. He thought it looks better. It does not. Just because your design is simple does not mean it is ugly or boring. The point is area charts are good if you want to show two or more things over time. For a single thing, they add no value.

By Matthias

Studied media & communication, specialised in visual communication a.k.a. design. Studied Business Administration, with Major in Information and Data Management. Since 2004 concerned with efficient visuals. 15+ years of experience in information professions. Worked as a print journalist, as an information and communication specialist for a library. Working as a consultant in Business Intelligence since 2018. IBCS Certified Consultant and Tableau Ambassador since 2022.

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