MEDIA USAGE

date Fall 2016
course Information Design Studio 1 | Northeastern University
professor Douglass Scott

THE PROJECT

For this project, I was tasked with tracking my media usage for one week and visualizing that collected data. I chose to show a macro view of my usage with bar charts and micro views with donut charts, one detailing each day. Created in Illustrator, my design is an accordion-fold print on tabloid-sized spreads. The resulting print is 76.5" x 11".

I segmented the data into categories which are labeled and color coded in the bar chart view. The color coding continues in the daily donut charts, breaking down the categories into subcategories for more detail. I included text the first time the subcategory was used; in later occurrences I only used the icon. Each donut is sized relative to one another, representing the day’s total media use.

For the full digital view, click here.

DATA COLLECTION AND THE DESIGN PROCESS

I tracked my usage in Excel and aggregated it into segments. I originally segmented my usage based on what device I used (phone, computer, etc.), and visualized it with sunburst charts to show more granular levels (see below). In the end, I re-segmented based on the type of use, as I found that information more meaningful, and I moved from sunburst charts to donut charts for simplicity and clarity. One issue I ran into was fitting icons in crammed areas of the donut charts. I resolved this with dotted lines that moved labels farther from their original distance to create more room.