Information Hierarchy

One of my duties, when I worked as an editorial graphic artist, was researching, writing and designing information graphics. Infographics tend to be simple things like charts, graphs, tables etc., and this is true where space is an issue, editorially speaking. But occasionally, when given the opportunity, I was able to create infographics on a really large scale.

The easiest way to explain what they are is by showing some examples. This example below was uploaded onto the Herald website (since expired) and then quickly re-posted by a Brazilian Lord of the Rings fan (almost 11 years ago).

Follow the link above for a hi-res version. © copyright NZ Herald.

This is another example below, which shows the third in a series of Matariki infographics. The first two were eventually combined, licensed and sold as a poster through the Stardome Observatory store. This link seems like it might be an attempt to do something similar. I suppose it says something about the appeal of the work, that they’re still trying to leverage money off of it, long after I’ve left. 

Follow the link above for a hi-res version. © copyright NZ Herald.

Still, I’m proud of the work I got to produce during this period, especially as I began generating my own editorial projects rather than just being handed them by someone else. A small portfolio of my infographic examples can be viewed here. What I discovered through this process is that anything can be adapted into a infographic, given the right angle, and it helps if it happens to be topical. In addition a good infographic is more than just a visual artifact, it actually contains a written article inside it, constructed like any piece of journalism, requiring careful research and considered, pared back writing. Working on these kinds of projects helped me to develop good editing instincts, and I was always careful to reference my sources. 

All design and visual communication employs a principle known as the hierarchy of information. Put simply, the most important items are signposted (using size, location, colour, contrast) in such a way to make the eye look at this object first. In infographics this hierarchy is made more explicit, in that numbers, arrows, icons, and other items are employed to make it absolutely clear where to start – and the information is often broken down into easily understood steps. This technique is also shared by the language of comics - which uses sequential panels to break the story down into digestible parts, and uses composition (and artwork inside panels) to lead the eye around the page in the correct sequence. Infographic design also often uses comic storytelling as one of its communication tools (such as those found in airline safety instruction sheets). Furthermore infographics use a mix of words and pictures, just as comics do. 

For my Masters project, one of the purposes of employing transmedia will be the dissemination of specific knowledge, by way of storytelling. As well as using infographic elements in the game section, I plan to use the hierarchy principle in the e-comic portion of the project. The most obvious example will be hierarchical comic storytelling, that all comic artists employ (often unconsciously) to tell the story in the most interesting and/or logical way possible. The second use will be inspired by infographic design, which will play a small yet intrinsic part in this dissemination of information. So (even in only a small way) this project will explore comics using infographics, just as infographics sometimes employ comics.

The Persistence of Memory

The mind is a curious thing. In going through an old proposal for my final undergraduate year dated 8 March 2008, I re-discovered the following description for a possible second project:

Excerpt from an unused project proposal. © copyright Zak Waipara.

My first project (for third year) ended up being an animated music video, the second became a series of animated logo motion graphics in the style of corporate idents. Though I don’t recall writing the above excerpt, it is a very close (though not exact) description for my Honours project Recollect (which I began some four years later). The only thing missing was an intention to use remix. It was also during the course of my undergraduate studies, that I encountered these two ideas, remix and deep remixability, that especially resonated with me as a graphic designer retraining as a digital designer.

The central conceit of the story in Recollect was about diving into the imagination of an unseen protagonist. This takes place inside an industrial hangar that accesses ‘ideaspace’. Ideaspace as a term was conceptualised by writer Alan Moore as a hypothetical, mutually accessible, collective mindscape, where ideas have physical form. In this particular story, this notion has been adapted as a localised ideaspace for a specific person and the purpose of entering it is to gather up a set of image sequences that represent creative memories of the protagonist. There are nine motion graphic sequences, each representing a genre – and informed in their conception and style by conventions from influential films, stories, animations and music often recalled from my childhood and adolescent years. As each memory sequence is collected, a countdown begins starting from nine to zero, effectively kick-starting a creativity reboot. The rationale behind the whole story was that we go forward creatively by drawing from the past – a key tenet of the remix manifesto.

Screen grab from the Science-fiction styled motion graphic. © copyright Zak Waipara.

When I started putting together the Honours proposal at the end of 2011, I thought I was working with a completely new concept. The previously proposed multi-genre idea must have embedded itself in my sub-conscious, percolated away in the background, and re-emerged to be re-used as the ideal vehicle to apply remix and remixability. It seems utterly appropriate that a story about retrieving memories was the result of exactly that, albeit in an unconscious fashion.

From Remix to Transmedia via Self Sampling

So much of the discourse about remix relates to the sampling of other people’s material, that the idea of applying remix to your own work becomes lost. However within remix culture, there exists a sub-genre known as self sampling (also referred to as self-appropriation and self-copying). It is a methodology by which practitioners remix their own work, investigating in an iterative fashion material from any point in their career, and transmute it into new forms. By using self-sampling you can sidestep contentious issues of copyright infringement. 

Self-sampling is such a useful way of working, because it gives you a chance to improve on ideas that maybe didn’t work the first time around, and re-do them in new ways. You can apply it to a multitude of separate ideas, that individually wouldn’t be strong enough to stand alone; and by bringing them under the umbrella of one project via remix, create something where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It’s a way of realising the creative potential inherent in any idea, no matter how old or intially unworkable.

Still from remixed Travelogue-styled motion graphic. © copyright Zak Waipara.

So how could this work in my Masters project, when applying self-sampling to transmedia? As in my previous Honours project, self sampled material forms the jumping-off point from which to choose the various forms the story might take. Storytelling is then divided amongst those forms, with each form providing different strengths and avenues. Various iterations of my personal projects have already undergone this kind of treatment, when I was re-training in the field of digital design. Now I am applying this logic to a new comic project. For example, the following comic page came about through imagining how I would treat a particular scene, if it were an animation rather than a flat page of artwork.

A work-in-progress comic page. © copyright Zak Waipara.

Initially I had planned to open the scene on just the bird’s eye shot, looking down on the landscape. Thinking about it as an animation instead seemed to suggest a camera swooping low over the sea, toward an island growing steadily closer. The final layout is a combination of the two ideas and makes for a more interesting composition overall. If we enlarge on this idea across multiple platforms, it actually requires a different way of thinking, especially if you are planning a transmedia approach from the start rather than just adapting an existing work. Preparation is key... 

When working in the opposite direction, from static images to motion design, information inherent in the static picture will suggest what techniques and camera moves to use, and what changes to make in adapting one to the other. This may involve creating new artwork to supplement the existing art. Working in divergent media actually creates different perspectives, and that can result in art and story choices that you may not have intially considered, if you weren’t applying transmedia techniques.

Remix and the Art of Genre-blending

In the last post, I discussed how the remix process led to using an array of different genres side-by-side inside one single project. Genre is used as a shorthand term to define the theme of each piece, as genre theory suggests that audience familiarity with established genre conventions can be used to bypass long character and plot setups and concentrate on the style. This was important for my project given that most motion graphics are short in duration.

Some thought then had to be given to how a multi-genre approach might work. The first solution was to create an overarching spine to hold the whole thing together. This was achieved by having a beginning and end that takes place inside the same space – essentially finishing where it began. This left the larger middle section to deal with. I decided to position the nine motion graphic narratives in reverse chronological order, starting with the most futuristic descending toward the distant past, borrowing an idea (from Red Dwarf) that as the universe heads toward a second big bang, time begins to run backward. In my story, this big bang was re-imagined as a creativity reboot.

The nine genres. © copyright Zak Waipara

The timeline was simply a way to organise these motion graphic genres logically. I also developed a series of icongraphic motifs (in theme), one for each motion graphic. Furthermore these motifs were embedded within each scene and their recurrence was designed to help the audience segue seamlessly between genres.

Triptych from the Western styled motion graphic. © copyright Zak Waipara

In addition to situating different genres side by side, one or more were mashed together to form a kind of hybrid genre (in remix culture this is referred to as a mash-up). Genre-mashing seems to be a natural outgrowth of using remix with narrative. So not only can material forms be merged, but ideas and themes can be hybridised as well.

Screen grab from the Steampunk styled motion graphic. © copyright Zak Waipara

All in all, I was surprised at how successfully this worked, so much so that I hope to apply this multi-genre idea again to a new project in future, only one that will have to take place beyond the current Masters’ transmedia project!