Information Design — Exercise 1: Quantify & Visualize Data

02.02.2025 - 14.02.2025 / Week 1 — Week 2

Chan Zhi-Ren Zenndan / 0369069

Information Design / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylor's University

Exercise 1: Quantify & Visualize Data

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Table of Contents

    1. Instructions

    2. Process

    3. Reflection

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1. Instructions

Fig 1.0 Module Information Booklet

Exercise 1: Quantify & visualize data (10%)

Exercise 1 requires us to quantify our chosen items and arrange them into a presentable layout. The submission is a picture that must be uploaded to the respective folder in Google Drive.

The requirements as posted by Mr. Kannan is as follows:

Information must be presented as is. You are required to arrange the objects  with relevant indicators written out with pens to help you visualize the quantity and data. Take a picture of the final assembly and upload into your Google Drive folder.

Keep it simple, present the information as clear as possible and as interesting as possible. Aesthetic is the key but so does information delivery!

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2. Process

Before finding what I can quantify in my house, I took a look at our senior's work to gain a better understanding of the exercise.

Fig 2.1 Example #1

Fig 2.2 Example #2

I then started to look for what qualified for the exercise, and that’s when I found a small box of coins that had been kept hidden away.

Fig 2.3 Primary Data Source

The box contained a mix of series of coins, which I thought would be incredibly useful for organising the data. I was surprised to see how many 1 sen coins were in it.

I proceeded to research the Malaysian coin series and learn how to identify each one.

Fig 2.4 First Series / Parliament Series (1967)

The box contained only two coins from the first series (informally known as the Parliament Series), both of which were 20 sen coins.

Moving on to the second series (also known as Bunga Raya series), I found that the box contained the most coins from this series. It had all the coins except the one sen coin on the right, as shown in Fig 2.5.

Fig 2.5 Second Series / Bunga Raya (1989)

Finally, there is the third (or current) series, which carries the theme “Distinctively Malaysia”, featuring motifs from traditional crafts as well as Malaysian flora and fauna. The 20 and 50 sen gold-colored coins use an alloy called Nickel Brass Clad Copper.

Fig 2.6 Third Series / Distinctively Malaysia (2012)

With my research, I started to compile everything onto an A4 paper and labelling everything to what I just learned.

Fig 2.7 Final Exercise 1

Although I wanted to include more information in the paper, I decided against it. According to the submission requirements, the work should be kept simple and presentable, which I believe I have already achieved by presenting the quantity, value, and timeline.

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3. Reflection

This task was quite interesting because it involved arranging items and presenting them according to a specific category. As someone who prefers a straightforward approach, I first identified a category that the coins would fit into, study the category, then calculated which coins belonged in each group.

Although my presentation may not have been very decorative, I prioritized clarity and simplicity in the way I displayed my data.

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