improving visual information

A STEP-BY-STEP MODEL FOR A USER CENTERED DESIGN

A lot of ordinary visual information may look alright but fails in

actual use. Take the average train ticket: what are the departure

and arrival stations? What is the arrival time and what to do with

the other numbers that are shown? Is it possible to develop a train

ticket that really ‘enables people to act appropriately’ and takes

the needs of its users seriously? This step-by-step model shows you

how to do this. These seven steps are likely to yield a document

that is better understood by a specific user-group. Further testing is

necessary to establish this with certainty. The model was used for

the MAGO course ‘Financial Information Design’ in 2012-2013 by

Karel van der Waarde, professor of Visual Rhetoric.

IMPROVINGVISUALINFORMATION

MAGO AKV|St. Joost Breda. Expert Centre Art and Design, Research Group Visual Rhetoric, [email protected] Design: Mariette Twilt, conceptversion 1 dd March 2013.

STEP 1: Visual elements on the train ticketabove the boxes:1. Renfe (company logo).2. Billete + Reserva (title, description of type of document)3. CONSERVESE PARA LA VUELTA (instruction for passengers to keep the ticket during the journey).4. LOC.: U47WXVWJ (no idea what this means or why it is there.)5. VCX (no idea)6. AQBE4869 3974 (I think that they belong to-gether: no idea)7. 31OCT12 09:50 (Date and time of purchase)(Elements 6 and 7 also appear on top of the tear-off part).8. 7514300298197 (no idea)9. Four boxes (Grouping/separating information)

box 1:10. Fecha: (date)11. 31OCT12 (date of the journey)12. Salida: (exit, starting point of journey)13. PTA.ATOCHA (name of station)14. 10.20 (departure time)15. Llegada: (destination/arrival station)16. TOLEDO (name of arrival station)

17. 10.53 (arrival time)18. Producto: (product name)19. AVANT (name of the product: Avant is a fast train)20. 08302 (train number?)

box 2:21. Coche: (coach/coach number)22. 4 (number of the coach)23. TURISTA (probably ‘class’? to separate it from ‘business’?)24. Plaza: (seat)25. 17B (seat number)26. SENTADA (no idea, it means ‘sitting’? to sepa-rate it from ‘standing’?)

box 3:27. Fecha: (date)28. Salida: (departure station)29. Llegada: (arrival station)30. Producto: (type of product)31. Cierre del acceso al tren 2 minutos antes de la salida (This means something like: ‘The doors of the train will close two minutes before departure’)There does not seem to be a relation between 27-28-29-30 and 31?

box 4:32. Coche: (Coach)33. Plaza: (seat)34. El embarque en Pta. De Atocha es por la planta baja. (This means something like: ‘In Pta. De Atocha, you can board the train at the downstairs level.’)• There does not seem to be a relation between 32-33 and 34?• Box 3 and Box 4 could be used for another jour-ney, but that has been replaced by the warnings/instructions.

stamp

35. Over box 3 and 4, there is a stamp with the text: ‘Informado y conforme el cliente con los datos del billete’. (This means something like: ‘The client has been informed about the dates of the ticket’?)

under the boxes:36. 016 IDA Y VUELTA METALICO (no idea? Return journey?)37. Bright fluorescent background (to highlight something)38. 07102628617581 (no idea)39. Precio: (Price)

40. Gastos gestion (administration costs)41. Total: (total costs)42. IVA 10% (could be VAT, or it could be another reduction/addition?)43. ***12,10 (Price in euro)44. ****0,00 (administrative costs in euro)45. ***12,10 (total costs in euro)46. **1,10 (Percentage of tax?)(Something strange here: it looks as if the text IVA 10% is printed too far to the left because it overlaps with the number (element 37). However, the **1,10 ranges left with the other prices? This leaves two spaces at the end of the line: the location of the comma’s does create a vertical line.)THE TEAR OFF PART.47. AQBE4869 3974 (I think that they belong to-gether: no idea)48. 31OCT12 09:50 (Date and time of purchase)(Elements 47 and 48 also appear on top of the main part).49. Fecha (Date)50. 21OCT12 (Date of journey, same as item 11)51. Tren (train)52. 08302 (train number, same as item 20)53. PTA-TOL (Abbreviations of departure and arrival station)

54. Coche (Coach)55. 4 (coach number, same as item 22)56. Plaza: (seat)57. 17B (Seat number, same as item 25)58. barcode (to be read by scanner)59. Fecha (date)60. Tren (train)61. Coche (coach)62. Plaza (seat)63. Tarifa (tarifclass)64. 016 (no idea – but there is another 016 in ele-ment 36)65. Total (total costs?)66. ***12,10 (price in euros)67. @@ (no idea)• The tear-off part also indicates that the ticket could be used for a return journey.

background pattern

68. Triangular pattern of blue/cream shapes.69. c CIT1996. (reference to the manufacturer/printer.

STEP 2: Relations between the elementsa. proximity

There are some groups on the trainticket that seem

to indicate that the information in these groups belongs together. The four boxes, the tear-off strip, the information about costs with the *** in front. Some sort of ‘heading information’ that appears above the boxes. There are some hori-zontal relations between for example ‘Fecha’ (10) and ‘31OCT12’ (11), but this is not a pattern. For example the relation between ‘Precio’ (39) and ‘: ***12,10’ (43) is visually different (space, typesize).

b. prominence

There are some visually prominent elements on the ticket. The highlighted box (35), the stamp (37) and the barcode (58). These are not ‘the most important’. The consequence of this is that the ‘eye of the user’ is automatically drawn to information that is not useful.

c. sequence

The sequence of some of the elements is correctly indicated. For example, the departure station (13) is mentioned before the arrival station (16), and the coach number (22) is mentioned before the seat number (25).Other sequential relations are not that clear. Why is the first warning ‘keep the ticket during the jour-

ney’ (3) separated from the other warnings (31 and 34)? On the tear-off strip, why are the numbers (47, 48) put before the departure and arrival station (53)? And why is the 10% VAT/deduction/addition (46) mentioned after the total price (45)?

d. similarity

For the trainticket, the ‘similarity relation’ is par-ticularly problematic. The typography consists of 3 differentiations only: text in large capitals, text in small condensed upper and lowercase, text in expanded upper and lower case. There are many more elements that are not differentiated from eachother although they have clearly different functions. For example, the train number (52) is not different from the coach number (54).

STEP 3: Conclusionsa. conclusions about elements:• There is hardly any typographical structure (many elements look very similar but have different func-tions. The use of capitals/lower case is inconsistent)• There are no illustrations/images/visual cues apart from the boxes.• Repetition of same information• Spanish

• No layers, no differentiation for different users.• The boxes give the most important information, but this is hardly distinguished.• Highlighted information is probably important for people who check the ticket.• Inconsistent typography. Times are indicated as: 10.20 or 09:50.

b. conclusions about relations between elements:• Proximity: There are some groups that are re-lated, several others are not.• Prominence: There are some elements that are more prominent, but these are not the most important.• Similarity: Many visual elements are similar, but they seem to have different functions.• Sequence: The sequence of the visual elements as it appears on the ticket does not really relate to the actions of users.

STEP 4: Anticipation on the different users and different commissioners.group of people who need to look at the ticket:- the passenger (it might be necessary to distin-guish between different types of passengers?)- the person who sells the ticket

- the person who checks the ticket before entering the platform- the person who checks the ticket before boarding the train- the administrator who needs to see proof that costs have been made (to reclaim expenses).- the tax-office to check if the costs have been made.Each of these groups has their own activities that need to be supported.

group of people who commission the ticket:- legal requirement to provide ‘proof of purchase’. (trade legislation)- train-company requirement to buy a ticket before boarding. (terms of business).- train-company requirements from different de-partments (marketing requires the logo in colour, sales does want a tamper-proof/not forgeable ticket, administration wants to make control of sales easy, …)- the vendor/manufacturer of the ticket-printing machines wants to upgrade and improve

STEP 5: List of actions of each userbuying the ticket

- Telling the salesperson about your intended journey: destination, date of travel, time of travel, number of passengers, return date, class.- Negotiation about details: clarifications (Can I take a dog on this journey? When is the last train back?)- Agreement about journey and price.- Waiting for sales person to print ticket.- Paying for the ticket- Usually, there is a brief explanation and an instruc-tion where to go.- Walking away from the sales desk and checking the ticket. (destination, price, date)

before embarking

- Find the ‘lower level (planta baja)’. (instruction on ticket).- Finding the platform (checking the departure time, train number, destination)- Is it necessary to stamp the ticket/validate the ticket?- Walking towards platform (checking the depar-ture time, train number, destination)- At beginning of platform, there is a checkpoint/scanning of tickets: do I have to wait in the queue? (instruction: doors close 2 minutes before train leaves).

- Check of ticket by Renfe-people: confirmation that I’m at the right platform at the right time.- Arriving at platform.

embarking

- locating the correct traincoach (are there indica-tions on the platform? Is there a map somewhere? Where are the numbers on the outside of the train?) Checking the coach number.- Entering the coach, trying to locate the seat num-bers in the train above the seats. - Check seat number (Seat number).

during the journey

- it would be nice to know if all is well and that the train will arrive on time (arrival time).

leaving the train

- Keep the ticket for the return journey (or for other purposes: claim money back, deduct from taxes, claim VAT back, proof that you travelled, ...)

questions:- do we really need a picture of the whole train? Or is coach 4 enough?- isn’t the arrival city more important than the

departure city? Shouldn’t this be larger?- the Renfe logo is not used in the above descrip-tion? For which user action would this be relevant?

STEP 6: Match the information with the actions of a specific user-group.In the railway-ticket, the instructions are grouped together. The first two instructions are relevant before departure. If the ticket was structured purely chronological, these two should appear above the train. (The sequence of the information could fol-low the sequence of actions of the passenger.)

Could we provide information that is relevant to other user actions or expectations?For example: - Should you validate your ticket (Italy)?- Can the trainticket give the confirmation that you are in the right train?- Are there privacy problems? Too much control by government?

STEP 7: Design the information to show this sequence.The graphic design needs to reflect the actions of people.

ALL STEPS

TRAIN TICKET

STEP 1ViSual ElEmEnTS on ThE Train TickETAbove the boxes:1. Renfe (company logo).2. billete + Reserva (title, description of type of document)3. CoNseRvese PARA LA vUeLtA (instruction for passengers to keep the ticket during the journey).4. LoC.: U47WxvWJ (no idea what this means or why it is there.)5. vCx (no idea)6. AQbe4869 3974 (I think that they belong together: no idea)7. 31oCt12 09:50 (Date and time of purchase)(elements 6 and 7 also appear on top of the tear-off part).8. 7514300298197 (no idea)9. Four boxes (Grouping/separating informa-tion)

box 1:10. Fecha: (date)11. 31oCt12 (date of the journey)12. salida: (exit, starting point of journey)13. PtA.AtoChA (name of station)14. 10.20 (departure time)15. Llegada: (destination/arrival station)

16. toLeDo (name of arrival station)17. 10.53 (arrival time)18. Producto: (product name)19. AvANt (name of the product: Avant is a fast train)20. 08302 (train number?)box 2:21. Coche: (coach/coach number)22. 4 (number of the coach)23. tURIstA (probably ‘class’? to separate it from ‘business’?)24. Plaza: (seat)25. 17b (seat number)26. seNtADA (no idea, it means ‘sitting’? to separate it from ‘standing’?)

box 3:27. Fecha: (date)28. salida: (departure station)29. Llegada: (arrival station)30. Producto: (type of product)31. Cierre del acceso al tren 2 minutos antes de la salida (this means something like: ‘the doors of the train will close two minutes before departure’)there does not seem to be a relation between 27-28-29-30 and 31?

box 4:32. Coche: (Coach)33. Plaza: (seat)34. el embarque en Pta. De Atocha es por la planta baja. (this means something like: ‘In Pta. De Atocha, you can board the train at the downstairs level.’)• there does not seem to be a relation be-tween 32-33 and 34?• box 3 and box 4 could be used for another journey, but that has been replaced by the warnings/instructions.

stAmP35. over box 3 and 4, there is a stamp with the text: ‘Informado y conforme el cliente con los datos del billete’. (this means something like: ‘the client has been informed about the dates of the ticket’?)

UNDeR the boxes:36. 016 IDA Y vUeLtA metALICo (no idea? Return journey?)37. bright fluorescent background (to highlight something)38. 07102628617581 (no idea)39. Precio: (Price)40. Gastos gestion (administration costs)

41. total: (total costs)42. IvA 10% (could be vAt, or it could be an-other reduction/addition?)43. ***12,10 (Price in euro)44. ****0,00 (administrative costs in euro)45. ***12,10 (total costs in euro)46. **1,10 (Percentage of tax?)(something strange here: it looks as if the text IvA 10% is printed too far to the left because it overlaps with the number (element 37). however, the **1,10 ranges left with the other prices? this leaves two spaces at the end of the line: the location of the comma’s does create a vertical line.)the teAR oFF PARt.47. AQbe4869 3974 (I think that they belong together: no idea)48. 31oCt12 09:50 (Date and time of purchase)(elements 47 and 48 also appear on top of the main part).49. Fecha (Date)50. 21oCt12 (Date of journey, same as item 11)51. tren (train)52. 08302 (train number, same as item 20)53. PtA-toL (Abbreviations of departure and arrival station)54. Coche (Coach)55. 4 (coach number, same as item 22)

56. Plaza: (seat)57. 17b (seat number, same as item 25)58. barcode (to be read by scanner)59. Fecha (date)60. tren (train)61. Coche (coach)62. Plaza (seat)63. tarifa (tarifclass)64. 016 (no idea – but there is another 016 in element 36)65. total (total costs?)66. ***12,10 (price in euros)67. @@ (no idea)• the tear-off part also indicates that the ticket could be used for a return journey.

bACkGRoUND PAtteRN68. triangular pattern of blue/cream shapes.69. c CIt1996. (reference to the manufacturer/printer.

STEP 2rElaTionS bETwEEn ThE ElEmEnTSA. PRoxImItYthere are some groups on the trainticket that seem to indicate that the information in these groups belongs together. the four boxes, the tear-off strip, the information about costs with

the *** in front. some sort of ‘heading infor-mation’ that appears above the boxes. there are some horizontal relations between for example ‘Fecha’ (10) and ‘31oCt12’ (11), but this is not a pattern. For example the relation between ‘Precio’ (39) and ‘: ***12,10’ (43) is visually different (space, typesize).

b. PRomINeNCethere are some visually prominent elements on the ticket. the highlighted box (35), the stamp (37) and the barcode (58). these are not ‘the most important’. the consequence of this is that the ‘eye of the user’ is automatically drawn to information that is not useful.

C. seQUeNCethe sequence of some of the elements is cor-rectly indicated. For example, the departure station (13) is mentioned before the arrival station (16), and the coach number (22) is men-tioned before the seat number (25).other sequential relations are not that clear. Why is the first warning ‘keep the ticket during the journey’ (3) separated from the other warn-ings (31 and 34)? on the tear-off strip, why are the numbers (47, 48) put before the departure and arrival station (53)? And why is the 10%

vAt/deduction/addition (46) mentioned after the total price (45)?

D. sImILARItYFor the trainticket, the ‘similarity relation’ is particularly problematic. the typography consists of 3 differentiations only: text in large capitals, text in small condensed upper and lowercase, text in expanded upper and lower case. there are many more elements that are not differentiated from eachother although they have clearly different functions. For exam-ple, the train number (52) is not different from the coach number (54).

STEP 3concluSionSA. CoNCLUsIoNs AboUt eLemeNts:• there is hardly any typographical structure (many elements look very similar but have dif-ferent functions. the use of capitals/lower case is inconsistent)• there are no illustrations/images/visual cues apart from the boxes.• Repetition of same information• spanish• No layers, no differentiation for different users.

• the boxes give the most important informa-tion, but this is hardly distinguished.• highlighted information is probably impor-tant for people who check the ticket.• Inconsistent typography. times are indicated as: 10.20 or 09:50.

b. CoNCLUsIoNs AboUt ReLAtIoNs betWeeN eLemeNts:• Proximity: there are some groups that are related, several others are not.• Prominence: there are some elements that are more prominent, but these are not the most important.• similarity: many visual elements are similar, but they seem to have different functions.• sequence: the sequence of the visual ele-ments as it appears on the ticket does not really relate to the actions of users.

STEP 4anTiciPaTion on ThE diffErEnT uSErS and diffErEnT commiSSionErS.GRoUP oF PeoPLe Who NeeD to Look At the tICket:- the passenger (it might be necessary to distin-guish between different types of passengers?)- the person who sells the ticket

- the person who checks the ticket before entering the platform- the person who checks the ticket before boarding the train- the administrator who needs to see proof that costs have been made (to reclaim expenses).- the tax-office to check if the costs have been made.each of these groups has their own activities that need to be supported.

GRoUP oF PeoPLe Who CommIssIoN the tICket:- legal requirement to provide ‘proof of pur-chase’. (trade legislation)- train-company requirement to buy a ticket before boarding. (terms of business).- train-company requirements from different departments (marketing requires the logo in colour, sales does want a tamper-proof/not forgeable ticket, administration wants to make control of sales easy, …)- the vendor/manufacturer of the ticket-print-ing machines wants to upgrade and improve

STEP 5liST of acTionS of Each uSErbUYING the tICket.

- telling the salesperson about your intended journey: destination, date of travel, time of travel, number of passengers, return date, class.- Negotiation about details: clarifications (Can I take a dog on this journey? When is the last train back?)- Agreement about journey and price.- Waiting for sales person to print ticket.- Paying for the ticket- Usually, there is a brief explanation and an instruction where to go.- Walking away from the sales desk and check-ing the ticket. (destination, price, date)

beFoRe embARkING- Find the ‘lower level (planta baja)’. (instruc-tion on ticket).- Finding the platform (checking the departure time, train number, destination)- Is it necessary to stamp the ticket/validate the ticket?- Walking towards platform (checking the de-parture time, train number, destination)- At beginning of platform, there is a check-point/scanning of tickets: do I have to wait in the queue? (instruction: doors close 2 minutes before train leaves).


embARkING- locating the correct traincoach (are there indi-cations on the platform? Is there a map some-where? Where are the numbers on the outside of the train?) Checking the coach number.- entering the coach, trying to locate the seat numbers in the train above the seats. - Check seat number (seat number).

DURING the JoURNeY- it would be nice to know if all is well and that the train will arrive at the arrival time (arrival time).LeAvING the tRAIN- keep the ticket for the return journey (or for other purposes: claim money back, deduct from taxes, claim vAt back, proof that you travelled, ...)

Questions:- do we really need a picture of the whole train? or is coach 4 enough?- isn’t the arrival city more important than the departure city? shouldn’t this be larger?

- the Renfe logo is not used in the above description? For which user action would this be relevant?

STEP 6maTch ThE informaTion wiTh ThE acTionS of a SPEcific uSEr-grouP.In the railway-ticket, the instructions are grouped together. the first two instructions are relevant before departure. If the ticket was structured purely chronological, these two should appear above the train. (the sequence of the information could follow the sequence of actions of the passenger.)Could we provide information that is relevant to other user actions or expectations?For example: - should you validate your ticket (Italy)?- Can the trainticket give the confirmation that you are in the right train?- Are there privacy problems? too much control by government?

STEP 7dESign ThE informaTion To Show ThiS SEquEncE.the graphic design needs to reflect the actions of people.

Anticipate the different users and different commissioners.Usually, each document is

‘used’ by different people in

different contexts for different

reasons. For each of the

elements, and especially the

ones that are unclear, it is

necessary to find out why they

are there, for whom, and in

which context they are used.

STEP 4

Design the information to show this sequence.The graphic design needs to

reflect the actions of people.

STEP 7

Draw conclusions.Based on the description of

the visual elements and their

relations, it is usually possible

to draw some conclusions

about the quality of the visual

design.

STEP 3

































Consider the visual relations between the elements.With the list of elements,

you can describe the relation

for some of these elements.

There are four relations:

proximity, prominence,

sequence, and similarity.

This shows if the graphic

design is ‘internally

consistent’ and if the relations

between elements are logical.

STEP 2

































STEP 1 STEP 1ViSual ElEmEnTS on ThE Train TickETAbove the boxes:1. Renfe (company logo).2. billete + Reserva (title, description of type of document)3. CoNseRvese PARA LA vUeLtA (instruction for passengers to keep the ticket during the journey).4. LoC.: U47WxvWJ (no idea what this means or why it is there.)5. vCx (no idea)6. AQbe4869 3974 (I think that they belong together: no idea)7. 31oCt12 09:50 (Date and time of purchase)(elements 6 and 7 also appear on top of the tear-off part).8. 7514300298197 (no idea)9. Four boxes (Grouping/separating informa-tion)
































Make a numbered list of all ‘visual elements’.The main aim of this list is to

have a description of all the

visual elements that appear

on a document. A numbered

list also makes it possible

to quickly refer to elements

in the next steps. The list of

visual elements is not in any

particular sequence.

Match the information with the actions of a specific user-group.There will be a substantial

amount of information that

is not required by the group

you’ve selected. Not all

visual elements identified in

step 1 are required. Put the

information into the sequence

in which a person needs to

use it.

STEP 6

































Make a list of actions for each of the users.The easiest way to make this

list is chronological: before,

during, after. For this project,

just choose one group of

people that you’ve identified

in step 4.

STEP 5STEP 1ViSual ElEmEnTS on ThE Train TickETAbove the boxes:1. Renfe (company logo).2. billete + Reserva (title, description of type of document)3. CoNseRvese PARA LA vUeLtA (instruction for passengers to keep the ticket during the journey).4. LoC.: U47WxvWJ (no idea what this means or why it is there.)5. vCx (no idea)6. AQbe4869 3974 (I think that they belong together: no idea)7. 31oCt12 09:50 (Date and time of purchase)(elements 6 and 7 also appear on top of the tear-off part).8. 7514300298197 (no idea)9. Four boxes (Grouping/separating informa-tion)
































improving visual information

Documents

train number

average train ticket

train ticketabove

arrival station17

arrival station30

arrival stations

arrival time18

visual elements