Critic #1: Isabelle
Emulation feedback: Isabelle liked the way I emulated my Color Model for the first Location Element I've created. The dark-blue background really enhances the layers that are above it and it still maintains its space themed feel to it. Coloring the states light-blue creates a nice contrast but its not too overwhelming while the division lines between the states are still visible. Her critique here was to modify the border of the legend since it feels too blocky while everything around my infographic is curved. For the second Location Element Isabelle recommended to use a different shade of green for the land since that color is not emphasized much in my Color Model and I should be focusing on highlighting the most frequently used green for such a large amount of land. It also seems that some of the fonts are irregular throughout the element, I should make it consistent for each of the descriptions.
I followed through with Isabelle's critique by creating an entirely different spin to show my legend. This spin features a new "borderless" design to represent each of the legend icons individually instead of being in a shared enclosed space. By removing this encapsulation which in the first place was not an accurate representation of my Visual Language Model it allowed me to transform it into a dashed pattern orange line among the pins to also fit with my Color Model since the gray border did not suit the first element. I also made slight modification to the color of the land for my second element by increasing the contrast of the dark-shade of green.
revisions:
Critic #2: Aisha
Emulation feedback: Aisha complimented both my Typography, and Visual Language Model. Using Pragmatic gives it a professional yet calming effect that can be read fluently while all of the letters are pronounced with curving types. The first Location Element represents my Visual Language by incorporating minimalistic white-outlined icons in an orange-outlined pin that quickly describes the purpose of the location. Here Aisha recommended to include the name of the location next to the pin because right not there is no label of where the pins are supposed to point at other than the States. She also pointed out that its not clear what the white line that goes horizontally across the U.S. supposed to illustrate (Transportation of the Falcon 9). I should either remove this feature or label it in a way that would still work with my Visual Language Model.
Based on Aisha's critique I've went back to my Typography Model to fix up any irregular and inconsistent Font Sizes/Weight and Font Style. To further incorporate Aisha's critique I created descriptions for the cities of where the pins are pointing at in order to give an accurate perspective for the individuals who will navigate through the infographic. Also in order to clear the confusion of the horizontal line I placed two text box over the "highway" which I labeled "Falcon 9 Transportation Route" similar to what can be seen in my Visual Language Model.
revisions:
Critic #3: Bryce
Emulation feedback: Overall Bryce approved of the directions I was going with my Location Elements but they different from each other too much and both of them could be quite useful to show on my final infographic, especially If I could combine the two into one. That might end up being too clustered but it's worth a try. Other than joining the two elements, his critiques were missing labeling the cities of where the pins are pointing at for the First Element. For the Second Element the title seems that it does not reflect the title sections that my Visual Language Model is using, especially the placement of it. Instead of encapsulating it in a gray box on the bottom left corner I should create a title section at the top like I did it for my First Element, this is another reason why incorporating the two would be beneficial since my Second Element does not have the dark-blue background that would help with the transition from the element to the layout.
By following Bryce's advice I did what I thought would be crazy of doing first by uniting both of the elements together. It was a difficult step but it was essential since the information that was presented within the elements was suited together into a horizontal component of the layout. I also made sure to add the information of the cities that the pins are representing and also modify the legend which I mentioned in my first revision. Finally the gray backgrounded text-box has been removed to make more space for the launching (orange-line) and landing (blue-line) illustrations which I connected to a dashed line to the trajectories.
revisions:
Critic #1: Esha
Esha's approved of the direction I was taking with my first revision and joining the two elements together makes it much more fitting to my Visual Language model. Changing the location of the Map Legend above the rocket silhouettes creates a good flow of information without clustering too much information together. Her recommendation on how I could improve my element for the second revision is by adjusting the murky green color I'm using to illustrate land (This shade of green doesn't suits it well enough and the contrast is also just too dark and blends in to my background color). Instead I should switch it to the lighter green that is present inside (fill) of the pin.
As per Esha's critique I went back to the drawing board to touch up the colors I'm using to represent land. I removed the dark and murky shade of green and replaced it with a much lighter green. I made sure that this type of green is present in my Color Model and that the area of frequency is about the same on both of the elements.This new type of illustration not only brightens the display but it helps highlighting the different launch/landing pads, buildings and roads.
revisions:
Critic #2: Sean
Sean liked the changes that have been made within my first revision, the Color Models gives it a clear representation of the colors that are being utilized throughout my element while the Visual Language Model matches the dashed-borders around the Map Legend. The transition between the solid blue line and the rocket illustration is quite fluent however it seems a bit odd to use one single line for both of the trajectories. Sean understands my intentions here but I should look into another way of how to enhance this visualization. His suggestion for the next revision is to modify all of my rocket illustrations into 3D models, including the maps as well. I could either apply shadows to show those dimensions or try it with different colors just like my Visual Language Model does with cars and batteries. Right now the rocket is barely seeable due to the size of the lines so if this element is removed the the lines would not cause any further problems and the rockets would stand out more as well.
Taking Sean's critique into consideration I removed all of the white-outlines of the rocket thus I re-desgined all of the models of the rockets and applied a solid white background to them and incorporated a shader that darkens both the left and right side to give it a 3-Dimensional feel of the shape. This change was applied to all of the versions/stages of the Falcon 9, the Falcon one and the fairings plus the Dragon capsule. The map of the United States has also been modified by creating a solid medium-dark blue right-tilt to it which gives it 3D characteristic thus it highlights the border between the separation of each of the states.
revisions:
Location Element & Critiques
The Location segment in the SpaceX Infographic focuses on presenting two concepts, one which shows the map of the United States and specific landmark locations marked on it illustrating key hub's for SpaceX such their Headquarters, Launch Sites, Satellite Offices and Development Facilities. Each of the elements are marked by a costumized pin. It also shows the cross-country route that some of the Falcon 9's are traveling on to get from the Headquarters to the Development Facility then all the way to the Launch Pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida or Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The second map concept focuses on a much more narrowed down field which illustrates a portion of the Cape Canaveral where the launch and landing of the Falcon 9 takes place. Each of the landmarks are labeled by pointed lines and the arrows illustrates the movement of the rocket.
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How this element exploits the visual potential of location: My initial thought was to illustrate a map that defines how SpaceX is a domestic company that spans its wings throughout the United States by labeling each of the landmarks that is critical to run the company. Each of the pins are placed in the locations where the actual real-life buildings can be found and these are labeled with icons. Satellite offices are labeled with a Satellite design inside of the pin, while the Launch Facilities are labeled with a rocket, Headquarters is labeled with a factory logo with different machineries, Development facility is shown by a rocket engine (since that's where they test it), and finally Government Facility is labeled by a scientific clipboard since that's where most of the approval takes place. For the second element instead of using a legend it is rather using direct links to key SpaceX locations throughout Cape Canaveral. The Cape is home to many launch pads, 20+ and most of them were built in the 1960's and 1970's but SpaceX is only using 2 of them, Space Launch Complex-40 (LC-40) and LC-39A which is a historical Launch Pad for Apollo Missions and Space Shuttle launches. SpaceX is also the owner of the first Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) where the First Stage of the Falcon 9 comes back for a landing. I illustrated each of these locations by marking with a line showing the launch and landing trajectory while I also designed designed demonstrations of how these events look like, for example, the Launch Trajectory shows the Falcon 9 launching while the Landing Trajectory shows the First Stage about to land.
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How this element emulates the models:
To emulate my color model I used a dark-blue background for all of my elements to keep it consistent with my overall elements throughout the infographic. For the first Location Element the United States is colored light-blue to give it a healthy amount of contrast while its using orange-filled, white-outlined pins to highlight specific locations throughout the map. The second Location Element is using a variety of colors that are present in my Color Model. First the land is filled green while its also shaded to the right to give a sensation to the shore that seeps into the Atlantic Ocean. Here the roads are colored black, the facilities around Cape Canaveral are filled with gray while the launch pads are filled with an egg-white color. To represent the Launch Trajectory I used the orange color due to the engines are going full power and there's flames involved while I colored the Landing Trajectory light blue since most of the trip is just gliding back to Earth.
To emulate my visual language model I used white-outlined minimalistic icons inside of the pins that represent different locations of SpaceX while the white-outlined road represents transition to one place to another. For the Second Element I used simplistic illustrations to visually represent each of the trajectories instead of just labeling the lines. The arrow shows the direction in which the rocket is heading while white dotted lines describing each of the key launch and landing pads that SpaceX is using.
To emulate my typography model these elements are using the Pragmatic font throughout and using the same text size and weight to match the descriptions of the locations and the legends. All of the texts are colored white while the title holds the largest font-size to magnify of what each of the elements are demonstrating.
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Sources/Credits:
http://www.spacex.com/about​
http://robohub.org/nasa-signs-agreement-with-spacex-for-use-of-historic-launch-pad/​
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Cape_Canaveral_and_Merritt_Island_launch_sites
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/c6/b0/ef/c6b0efa6c09b19deebd8f8c4476c2e3c.jpg
Critic #3: Benny
Overall Benny supported the First Revision describing that the dark-blue background color not only illustrates the elements in my Color Model but it also resembles the color of the Ocean which is what surrounds Cape Canaveral. Visual Language Model is well resembled too however I should revisit my Typography Model to make sure I'm using the right types of weights and sizes for my descriptions and titles. Benny also suggested to decrease the weight/borders on the pins since my Visual Language Model does not have that thick of a border that has icons within in it. Finally he also recommended to change the color of the road and the size of the "Falcon 9 Transportation Route" since its quite difficult to see on the map due to the high contrast of the light-blue states.
To reflect Benny's feedback I revisited my Typography Model and applied all of the necessary changes to my element which included changing text sizes, typefaces at certain areas that has not been changed to Pragmatic and the weight's for the title/sub-titles as well. I decided not to follow his advice by making the border of the pins thinner due that it will be quite difficult to see once I have to shrink it down to my final infographic layout. Finally I changed the color of the road from white to gold to give it an enhanced contrast while I also made the "Falcon 9 Transportation Route larger.