Skewing Truth With Design

Dartmouth College Political Scientists recently released a report saying that infographics might be the best way to alter peoples beliefs about a particular subject. More specifically, they were looking at two items, 1. "people tend to resist unwelcome information", and 2. "whether graphical corrections may be more effective than text" at changing peoples minds. What they found: "Graphical corrections are also found to successfully reduce incorrect beliefs among potentially resistant subjects and to perform better than an equivalent textual correction."

Well, duh! Designers have known this for decades. This is how we get you to buy a coke, think Target clothes are cool and convince you to buy a product you don't need. Design is a visual solution to deliver information. However, when that information is handled poorly or in a misleading manner it becomes propaganda.

Bloomberg's Businessweek created a nice example of how easy it is to visually skew non-related data to mislead consumers into false conclusions. These are pretty funny but they do illustrate a real truth of how design could transform into propaganda.



One of my favorite books dealing with this issue is by Edward R Tufte. In The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Tufte deals extensively with the propensity of designers to unknowingly (or knowingly) skew data when compiling it visually. Trying to make data fun or decorative lends itself to creating propaganda if the information is not properly cared for and treated with great respect.





Tufte goes into great detail along with real world examples of how data should be treated and displayed to attain the most unbiased positions possible. An obvious must read for anyone creating infographics, but more importantly a must read for anyone who is interested in being able to recognize false information and disseminate the truth.

Obviously people look at graphics before digging into text. We are visual creatures. The old example was a newspaper - have you ever read the entire thing, or just flipped through to find something interesting? Now its, do you read all the text on all the websites you visit - or just look for something interesting and then dig in? Why does a book have a fancy cover and not simply the first page of text from the book?

A better study for Dartmouth might have been to calculate the percentage of false information that is communicated through misleading graphics instead of trying to decide if design works.

Everything is a Remix

An amazing history of "copying". Its what our world is made of - remixes. Part 1 focuses on the Music Industry, Part 2 on the Film Industry, and the third on General Creativity & Technology. Videos created, er remixed, by Kirby Ferguson at everythingisaremix.info.

Building Billion Dollar Brands

What does it take to make a logo for one of the richest companies on earth? What color is best? Sans or Serif font? Type only or a bug as well? Most importantly, how would you make it stand out among the other giants of industry?

Lets take a look at what top companies in the world are doing brand-wise. Unfortunately Forbes hasn't put out a simple 500 list since 2002, so we will use their new list Global 2000. This listing of 2,000 companies from across the globe is based on sales, profits, assets and market value.

We will only look at the top 100 and see what similarities and difference we can find in a simple logo analysis. This won't exactly be apples to apples, as many on the list are not designed exclusively in english, several are larger companies that own multiple sub-brands and I am not using their official brand standards documentation - but a fun research exercise regardless.





Takeaway 1
The list was put out in March of 2011. The funny thing about a list like this is that so much hype is made surrounding it and who is on it, when technically it could (and should?) be constantly updated in realtime. There is no relevance or real purpose now for outdated business information, especially when it concerns financials. This type of information is being calculated across thousands of businesses daily and in real time. Forbes has an opportunity to make a real-time list, one that could be much more robust as well as market integrated.

Takeaway 2
So what? It seems the only real reason this analysis would actually be usable is if you wanted to create a generic looking umbrella brand. However, I would suspect, after hearing Paula Scher give a lecture on creating the Citibank brand which ranks in at #10 on the list of top companies in the world, that a considerable amount of time has gone into the research and somewhat sociological experiments to formulate a logo that they believe will be acceptable to their consumers. Then taking that a step further you could make the argument that if all of these companies did at the very least a minimal amount of research surrounding their logo creation you could derive from it common thematic principles that for the the most part would be true - as far as what world-wide consumers might expect to see in a logo that means success (or domination).

Takeaway 3
At the end of the day, branding and logos are complete and utter garbage if the products and companies they sell are not living up to expectations. Branding really began during the Industrial Revolution, as an attempt by companies to inform users of where their "out of town" product came from, and why they should buy into their product guarantee or promise. As companies grew and grew and outsourced more and more, product quality changed. Leaving many brands hanging onto the only thing they thought they knew which was marketing, and eventually grouping together, being acquired or merged into massive corporations to lower production costs even more. But now as more consumers have wised up, and with the ability to share product experiences on a personal level across the web - what counts more now is the personal story surrounding a product. A brand has almost become more of a quality check box. One, does this company have a realistic identity that I think I could even consider trusting, and two, do I know anyone or can I find someone who has experience with it?

Final Analysis:
Just make a blue and black, san-serif logo with a box, and you are one step closer to world domination. And mediocrity.

The Basics

In my years in college, one professor stood out among the rest, Gresham. An odd little balding man who had a profound impact on every student who was able to successfully pass his courses - and there were MANY who did not. With around 300 new students entering each semester and around a dozen or less graduating from the course of study, he was the first and primary screener. And he did an amazing job of it. Here are a few lessons that have stuck with me through many years of design.

1. You are not a genius.
Prof. Gresham was obsessed with the mind and our perception of reality, which was apparent in every quirky lesson. It seemed his primary goal through one of his courses was to simply inform every student that they are not and never will be a genius - despite what their parents and grandparents had imbedded in their minds for the prior two decades. Too many designers, developers and business people believe they are truly geniuses. This, however, is a great fallacy, which will prevent growth. If a person were truly a genius, on par with Beethoven or Einstein, they would have been whisked away at a very young age to work on theoretical math or complex metaphysical calculations. They most definitely would not be coming up with ideas for websites, architecting, designing or developing them. They might at times be very clever and very talented. But true genius? Never.

Thankfully, however, this fundamental understanding when fully realized allows anyone to disassociate himself and his feelings from his work. This can be exceptionally difficult to accept but also extremely freeing. Also consider that you most certainly are not working with or for other geniuses. If I am knowingly not a genius, then whatever I create is susceptible to having flaws, and as those flaws are pointed out I no longer become personally offended. Instead I grow. I learn what design really is, and how it is supposed to be in some regard and I move forward.

This is not to say that all feedback you do receive is inherently perfect either. It is given to you by a non-genius, and often given by someone who knows much less about design than you do. Sadly they believe their grandmother was right and that they are truly genius and perfect. Learning to not be personally offended by those comments is key. Remember, you are most assuredly not a genius, but take deep comfort in that freedom.

2. Design is merely a solution.
A fundamental lesson I took away from Prof. Gresham, was the true understanding of what design really was. Over the years his explanation has made more and more sense. Design is not art. Design is not something that should be for design's sake. Design is merely a solution to a problem. At its core it is simply the means by which information or action is transferred. A good design makes that transfer effortless. A bad design makes that cumbersome. Design performs a job, it does not exist own its own and if it does it is no longer design but art, decoration, trend, or fashion. Good design is figuring out the best solution.

Dieter Rams 10 principles of good design would add that good design is innovative & honest, makes a product useful & understandable, is aesthetic & long-lasting, is unobtrusive, thorough and environmentally-friendly. Good design is as little design as possible.

3. Good design is timeless.
A third take-away was the timelessness of good design. Truly great design will not be dependent on what is currently in style. How is this accomplished? By truly viewing design as a solution to a real problem. If there exists a real problem, then there should be a real design solution. This is not to say that many times, especially now in the age of mobile apps, that a solution will not have to exist within the context of a particular framework and behave a certain way or adapt, but that the core design solution can exist beyond any confine.

4. Be content with negative space.
While still in school this concept was so easy to digest. Sadly it was because the vast majority of all new designers work was merely for design sake and this is also where many designers get stuck. It was very easy to say, "yes this large area of whitespace really helps.." However, once a non-designer, non-genius client begins to look at almost any design, they immediately want to fill up every inch (or pixel) of whitespace. In a age where those pixels are sold at high prices for advertising we must continue to eliminate unnecessary clutter and continue to refocus on the best design solution. Keeping the primary problem and solution the priority will free you up to use negative space as a positive.

5. Break the rules.
A final lesson Prof. Gresham taught was that he was not a genius either. We (as an industry) made up these types of design rules and if it makes the most sense to break one, then that is what should take place. It goes back to focusing on the solution and removing anything that could become an obstacle from that bit of information or action transferring.

In 2001, I witnessed a life changing keynote presentation from one of the most famous designers and typographers alive, Erik Spiekermann. Next to perhaps Paula Scher, it was one of the most inspirational lectures about design that I have ever witnessed. I was able to meet him briefly following the presentation via a creative director that I had at the time. In the following video he was interviewed by Gestalten TV. He speaks extensively about graphic design and how it influences our lives, in addition to how no one is a genius. Very inspiring in insightful.

Graphic design can change your life from Edenspiekermann on Vimeo.