Analysis of RSA Brief mind mapping

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Following extensive mind mapping for my chosen RSA brief, 'Conflict Resolution', I decided to choose the topic 'Cyber Bullying' for my brief. The issue is one that is rising rapidly amongst teens and is something that is becoming a real issue for parents, teachers and young people alike. Perhaps the most frightening part is that unlike 'conventional' bullying, there is no escape. Modern technology means that the bullying is literally in your bedroom, classroom and in your pocket… there is no getting away from it. In the worst of cases, it has led to young people taking their own lives.

Issues/questions which arose from the mind mapping process

1. How prevalent is Cyber Bullying, both globally and in the UK? What are the figures, or, are they even known?


2. Who are the parties involved? ie- The parents, the victim, the bully, the technology


3. Are parent aware of cyber bullying? What are their attitudes towards it?


4. Should the technology providers bear some of the responsibility that their respective platform is moderated when minors are involved?


5. Where is the line drawn between harmless 'slagging' and bullying?


6. What is the link between virtual and 'offline' bullying?

Primary research required

1. A case study (interview, discussion, etc.) of an individual that has been affected in some way by cyber bullying. It could be a parent, victim, bully, etc.


2. Perform a survey of parents to gauge their awareness of the issue


3. Perform a survey of teens to see what they consider cyber bullying to be.


4. Interview a teacher to try and assertion how prevent cyber bullying is in their respective school.

Desktop/secondary research required

1. Research the official websites on bullying such as http://www.bullying.co.uk to get an overview of cyber bullying. Also, these websites will be able to provide the official figures.


2. BBC have down a number of features on cyber bullying that provide a useful insight.


3. What are the policies of Google, Facebook, etc. on bullying over the web. What have they done about it? Look at their official policies (available on their respective websites) and contact them for any further information/statements as required.


4. There are a number of new software products available for parents that tackle cyber bullying (such as www.cyberbullyalert.com). Look at the effectiveness of these products and investigate if a better solution is possible. Fo example, these products are desktop based, they do not tackle cyber bullying via mobile technology.

Framing the context of my project and user scenario

1. Who is the target audience/end user?


2. Rewrite a brief as if it was a brief from a client, outlining the requirements and aims of the project.


3. Once context of the project is established and brief rewritten, then design a user scenario to help begin visualising possible solutions.

The Luxury of Graphic Design for Graphic Designers

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Touching on the subject of information design once again, I thought I'd mention another designer working in that area, Peter Crnokrak of The Luxury of Protest.

In many ways, Crnokrak's work is at the opposite end of information design to David McCandless (whose work was mentioned in my previous post). Considering the Modernist, minimal style of Crnokrak's work, it could be suggested that his work is designed by a graphic designer for a graphic designer. Crnokrak does not use pictorials, colour or any of the other attributes found in information design geared toward the general public. As such, the work could be seen as a little more 'high brow' than that of McCandless. However, given the increased complexity of the work, lack of colour or pictorials (all commonplace in McCandless' work), it certainly does not have the same ease of comprehension. In many ways, it is purely form over function.

In saying all this, it is not the intention to criticize overly Crnokrak's work. All of the above attributes, while can mean a more challange for the reader to understand the information, also means that the work of Crnokrak is visually stunning. The lack of pictorials lead to the use of striking geometric forms. Beautiful, minimalist typography adorns the work, with highly contrasting 6pt type set against 120pt headlines. Perhaps the 6pt type is indeed difficult to read, and the complex shapes may require you to study the each piece like a treasure map in order to comprehend it, but from the perspective of a graphic designer, they are visually beautiful works.

Some very beautiful information

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Recently, while working on an information mapping project, I came across the London based designer David McCandless and his fantastic data visualisation. McCandless runs the website Information is Beautiful and regularly contributes information design to The Guardian along with publishing books on the subject.

McCandless approaches information design in a practical, easy to understand way. He has the unique ability of taking the most complicated concept or intangible idea and turning it into an easy to understand visual representation. Unlike some information design which is more difficult to decipher then a clue in a Dan Brown novel, his work is easy to understand, clean and minimal. And herein lies the beauty of it: McCandless' work allows the reader to instantly understand a complex topic or issue at a glance, often without even having to refer to a legend. In his own words, information design is a way of "squeezing an enormous amount of data into a small space".

Interestingly, McCandless' background is not is design, but in journalism. He never studied design or art of any kind and has only been working as a designer since 2008.  Maybe this background is partly the reason for the effectiveness of his work. McCandless does not 'over-design' the visualisations, or try to make them complicated or overly 'pretty'. Instead, his work is invisible, allowing the information, rather then the design, to be the focus of the work. After all, it is he himself who says 'information is beautiful'.

Hello world!

Just checking in with my first post!