Final Project

So, was my final assignment and possibly my final blog, and for the final assignment, I wanted to something to do with statistics and sports. Being from England, I wanted to focus on football, as Americans call is “Soccer”. However, it turns out that there really isn’t much information to do with football and statistic. The area I was trying to look at was the statistics of the number of fans who watch football around the world. For example, comparing the number of people who watch football in America, compared to the number of people in Brazil. However, even if I got the number, I realize to make the statistics comparable, I would have to find the ratio to make it comparable. Anyway, as I said, the statistics weren’t there.

So then I started thinking of other sports, which I was, and other statistics I could use. One of the ones I thought was the demographics of NFL viewers over time. Turns out, that there are actually some statistics I could use. However, the only two time periods I could use was from 2006 and 2009. I tried looking at the statistics for 2010, but I couldn’t find any.

I found a lot of different demographic options, which I could use. Some like, Food sponsors, ethnics, education level, household income and gender. However, the only one which I could really compare between these 2 year groups, was the gender and household income. This is because the other sets of data didn’t correspond with the data groups from the other year. For example, 2006 had “Other” in the ethnic group, and 2009 had “Hispanic”, so I couldn’t compare them with different data groups. It would be mathematically wrong for me to assume the by other they mean Hispanic.

After finding my data, I decided the best place to start was with the table and 2 graphs, because then I can draw see how much more space I have to draw for the Explanation graphic, Process Graphic and Mind Map.

I decided to do a bar graph of all the data. This was because I can then visually compare everything that the table has to offer. And then I thought, what would other people want to know more about, the gender or the income. With today’s money problems, I thought the income and percentage of viewers. Also there was a lot more data groups to compare other than just Male and Female.

After getting the graphs out of the way, I had already decided to do my process map on the process of buying a ticket and if you can’t by a ticket. My explanation graphic is a timeline of events which had happened between 2006 and 2009. Finally my mind map was mind mapping ways to view the NFL and some things about the NFL which makes it watchable to some people.

Because you can’t see the whole picture, I took pictures of each section aswell

Story Board

I found this assignment very easy, this is because my mind wonders a lot and I have a very good imagination. However, my drawing skills are not the best but hopefully with my drawing skills aside, you can see what I am trying to show. So I looked at all 4 of the photos and I thought about which one I should use for part 1 of the assignment. I couldn’t decide between the first 2 photos; the one of the little girl in the forest and the one of the man praying. I had a plan for both of these photos already.

I decided to draw the one of the little girl. However, my plan for the man praying, was for the second drawing in the story board to be of the mans hands where they are and his head looking down, showing his input into the prayer. Drawing 3 of the story board would be the same as picture 2, however, the man would be crying. Followed by that will be the beginning picture again.

However, that isn’t the photo I decide to draw the photo of. As you can see the first photo is of the girl looking into the dark forest like she is lost. So I started to draw from that aspect. The next 2 pictures is of the girl looking left and right because she isn’t to sure whether going through the forest is the best thing to do.

Then next part to the assignment was to draw a story board of 2 photos. The first photo was of the 4 boys about to jump during a free kick in a game of football (Soccer). During football, there are chances that a team gets which they can kick it from a spot, the opposing team can form a “wall” which will help block the ball in the direct that it is going, most likely the goal. So the story board went like this. The first photo was the picture of them beginning to jump to block the ball. The next picture was them jumping and the ball going over the 2 smaller boys heads, obviously looking like the ball is going to go over their heads. The next photo is of the ball with some lines behind it. I put the lines here to show that the ball is moving fast through the air and I closed in on the ball because that what happens in football, there are moments where the ball is just in the air. Finally the last picture and that is of the goalie been beaten and the ball flying right past him obviously going into the goal.

Finally the last photo, there is obviously something bad in the air, so I decided to expand on that and show that it is deadly. This storyboard is of a guy dying from inhaling the toxic fumes. They all are coving their mouths but realistically, is that going to do anything? So I decided to show that he was dying by the process of him collapsing to the floor

I personally find graphs very easy. This is because I enjoy mathematics, I have my whole life. I know why I like mathematics and that is because its all logic, and there is either a right or a wrong answer, and there is only one way to get to the right answers. Anyway, I was looking at figures to do with Roger Williams University. I actually found a lot of interesting figures about Roger Williams University. For example, that there was only 30 people to graduate with a marine biology degree in the class of 2010. Also that Roger Williams University is 252nd ranked for the average full-time faculty salary.

Anyway, I decided to make a table of the current demographics. Which I found to be very un-balanced. I made a table out of the figures that I have found and here it is.

You can see that the gender seems to be almost the same, if you look at the total of men and the total of women there is only a difference of 73. However, when you look at the difference between race, the numbers are great. I find it quite shocking that there are only 12 American Indian / Alaskan native.

I then started to look at what graphs I could do. Obviously my first graph was a graph with all this information, and then I thought that why put in the totals? Its only increasing the cognitive load. So then I took out the total from the bar graph. And then I also thought, that putting the women and men in separate bars would also increase to cognitive load, but its also should a clear representation of the population in Roger Williams university. So I decided this is a appropriate bar graph. However, to show the demographic population, the gender isn’t that important if they are almost identical.

So then my next question was what graph would be appropriate for showing the demographic population. The population can be considered as a whole, or 100%. So the races of the population can be separated into percentages of the whole population, therefore the appropriate graph for the demographic distribution would be a pie chart or a stacked bar chart. However for this, a pie chart would be better because there it would be clear and have a smaller cognitive load.

My next thought was thinking about showing the data labels so that one can get a more accrete idea of the distribution. However when adding the data labels, its decreases the size of the pie chart and it makes everything look and feel more clustered. So then I thought about just putting the percentages, and this the same problem. So I decided not to add any of the data labels. Another reasons for not adding these labels is that with a pie chart, you can pretty much estimate the percentage given by the area that it covers. For example, just by looking at it, I can see that the white non Hispanic population is around 75% of the total.

Iconic

For this assignment we had to look for a photograph that was iconic, and then talk about it. I wanted to get a photograph of something which I enjoy, so I got a photograph related to sports. I started thinking, what was a iconic moment in sports. Could it have been the Maradonna’s hand of God? Where Argentina beat England in a world cup game from a goal which shouldn’t have counted. Or could it have been the Munich Massacre? Where there was a terrorist attack occurred in the 1972 Munich Olympics. But I decided to do a different iconic photograph. Now, everyone knows Martin Luther King Jr and the rights which he fought for. However, my photograph was a photo taken in the 1968 Olympics where 2 black people Tommie smith (Gold medalist) and John Carlos (Bronze medalist). These 2 people both stood up on the stand to receive there medals and both raised their hand with a black glove. The reason for this, is because this was the first Olympic games where black people could compete for the United States, and they were making a statement, and that statement was “Black power”

My personal reaction to this is that these 2 people were fighting for a cause, which has decreased since then, but they both are making a statement, and it is working. Tommie and John won a 200M race, and they were doing it for this statement.

The historical behind this is pretty much what I said before. You can also tell that this is an old photograph by the quality of the photograph, which also shows that this is historical. Also this photo is related to “Black power” as I said before, and “Black power” is still currently used as a term today, along with the fist in the air.

The light in this photograph helps show hold old this photograph is, because the quality of the light is really poor, you can tell that one of the old fashioned flashes was used when taking the photograph.

The ethical aspect of this photo shows a lot, because this was just about the civil rights movement that had just taken place, and now these 2 people are making this statement, and really what they are also showing is equal rights, which is pretty much what moral is about.

The cultural aspect of this photograph, which also says a lot, because the culture of the United states has changed from this civil right movement, and equal rights, and this shows the equal rights, the change in culture.

The final thing, which is really obvious, and that is the golden triangle. However, this may not be part of the photo, if you look at every Olympic stands, the gold medalist is at the top, and silver to the left and then bronze to the right. However, when looking at this photo, you don’t think of it like that, you again think of the state that these 2 people are making

Explanation Graphic

I personally found it hard to find a explanation / information graphic. I looked for a while to see if I could find a very poorly made bar chart, because bar charts are pretty easy to complicate and easy to alter. However, there weren’t many bar charts that were understandable to me and most people for that matter. For example, one of the bar charts I found were about specific company sales.

So then I tried the simplest option and that was to type in “Explanation Graphic” in my search bar, I was going to look at every one and see if I can find a poorly drawn or designed explanation graphic. Let me say this, it was really hard to find a poorly drawn explanation graphic online. There were a lot of good explanation graphics, which were all colorful, clear and simple. They had no room for improvement, so I obviously couldn’t re-draw any of these.

So then I thought what could I do this drawing on, with items, which I hold in my room. So I looked around, and I saw my Xbox games, because they always have a diagram of the controller and what the buttons do for that specific game. I looked through the manual, and I had the same problem with the other ones, they had no room for improvement.

So I had to look around again, and I saw a manual on the floor. The manual was for a filter for my fish tank which I had recently bought. As I was looking through the manual, I noticed that all of the diagrams were in too much artistically detail, also there wasn’t a simple diagram showing where things go and what things are. So I looked, and then I decided to draw a side view of the filter that shows what things are and the process of the water movement.

I started to draw the outline of the filter and then started to draw the suction cup and hook and plug of the filter. I then started to think, there are 2 main parts into the filter, which is the actually filters. These filters go inside, so I needed to figure out a way in which I can show that they are inside. I then thought that a dotted line is a universal term for what I am trying to demonstrate. So I drew the replaceable filter and permanent filter. The final step was to label the parts and show the movement of the water.

This assignment wasn’t hard, it was just hard to find explanation graphics which are done poorly. I think this is because in this generation, people require everything to be done with perfection, and therefore there should not be any room for improvement. Also, explanation graphics are used as a marketing skill, so you really want to make these to the best that one can, because businesses rely on these type of graphics to bring costumers to the company and make investors to put there money into there company

How to make a pizza

Our next assignment was to create a map of how to make a pizza. Seems easy right? Well the trick is we have to create a map of how to make a pizza, WITHOUT using words. Now it seems a lot harder, doesn’t it? I started by thinking where should my pizza making process begin, should it begin with mixing the flour and the water to make the dough, or should it begin with the pizza base. Seeing as a lot of people start with the pizza base, and not as many people start with the dough, So I decided to start with the pizza base.

My next thought process, was how do I show that this is the beginning? How do I should t hat it is the first step. Well On the left side, I drew steps, and then a dot. I added an additional dot for each additional step. So for step one, I had a drawing of steps and a dot. Another example would be for step 5. I had a drawing of the steps, with it, 5 dots, to show it is the fifth step.

So as I said, my first step was just the pizza base. Showing that the first step is to acquire a pizza base. The next step was to put tomato sauce onto the pizza base. I showed this by coloring the base red, and showing that the red stuff is coming from a container which has drawing of tomato’s on it, to show that it is tomato’s.

The next step was to grate the cheese and place it on the pizza. I showed this by drawing a cheese grater, and on the right side drawing Swiss cheese and then on the left side drawing grated Swiss cheese. This shows that you have to grate the Swiss cheese. From the grated Swiss cheese, I drew an arrow pointing from the grated cheese to the pizza, to showing that you need to put this on top of the pizza.

I personally found the next step to be one of the hardest steps of them all, because you needed to show that it goes into an oven for about 15 minutes. Now, I don’t actually know if 15 minutes is the correct time for pizzas, I just put 15 minutes because I thought it was a good time to put down. The way I showed the pizza being put in the oven for 15 minutes was I drew an old brick oven pizza, like the traditional way that pizza is meant to be made. And then drew one of the cooking timers with the arrow pointing to 15. I didn’t want to draw a watch or a clock, because that would rely on you know the time of when you started, and it would get too confusing.

The final step, I drew the same brick oven, but with the arrow coming out of the brick oven to show that it was coming out of the oven. And then the last drawing was a pizza cut into 6 slices with the proper tool used to cut pizza’s. After I drew this, I thought that I should have made step 5 into 2 steps, instead of clustering it up into 1 step.