Mod 4

What struck me most about the lecture this week was the section focused on visual storytelling and thinking.  It is extremely important for designers to be able to effectively communicate graphically.  Throughout my classes I have seen this aspect of projects fall to the wayside; it's strange but the importance of clear visual communication is overlooked.  Great designs can shine through bad graphics but that forces the viewer to be educated in design rather than being able to see a great design framed in great graphics.  Good visuals create a democratic viewing experiences that allows for everyone to understand a project regardless of their education in design.  

The focus on Rem Koolhaas' use of graphics to tell the story of his designs was especially effective.  The Parc de la Villete design from OMA is so geometric and graphic in it's own right and in order to properly convey the intent of the design there was a huge responsibility to create graphics that could easily translate this complicated design to the masses.  In order to reach the client or average viewer who is not as educated about our respective fields we need to give them the clearest picture about what the design is.  

I especially liked the lecture's example of using before and after photos.  We are constantly bombarded with before and after photos promising a complete transformation; they are extremely effective at selling an idea.  These sorts of selling points can be dangerous however.  I have seen  it happen a lot in smaller cities like Moscow where there is a beautiful and populated after photo but it doesn't actually convey what can be built on budget.  Most recently the Gritman Medical Center and released a rendering of it's newest building; which is a steel box with stucco and brick plastered on, street trees lined the lot with families walking by.  It fails to recognize that there are no plans for street trees and the lot lined by the highway making it extremely unwalkable.  It sells a false idea.

The other aspect of graphics, aside from conveying designa and intent, is translating data into graphics.  Infographics have become extremely popular as a tool to quickly convey complicated information and data.