Download Final Work
Process Work & Self Reflection
1. Inspiration
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I initially decided on making a Visualization for a special food, the process of decision making was
messy and struggling. I later found out a lot of different good work of design showing a fantastic
visualized effect. However, most of them requires a lot of careful and in-depth research, as well as
elaborate illustrations & icon design. It usually takes people months to make a elaborate data visualization and I tried to find a in-between topic to make my work, which with a in-depth research and thesis, as well as a relative short work-time demand.
I later figured out my problem-- the reason that I couldn't make a final decision of what to make is probably because that I have not yet done enough research. I later tried to do as much research as I can. However, even though I found a lot of data, it is still hard for me to set up my theme. There is another reason why I could not do so -- all the data I am having now is superficial and linear, they were usually from a report that has beeen made by others, they are not critical, and most of them do not seem to be conceiving. The solution at this point became that I have to focus on one big theme and then start my research from that.
Even though I did not use all of the research I did, I categorized them in theme and I decided to save them in the subpage in Project3 so I can find them easily, just in case I will need to use them later :)
2. Food system building
The compounds in a food is countless. I decidede to have the 3 prodominant compounds: Carbonhydrate, protein and fat to illlustrate how healthy a food could be. As what I found in the research of Chinese diet, it is said that there are a lot of people gaining weight and disease because of having too much salt or sugar. I would like to contain them all in my visualization too.
​I selected the TOP10 popular takeaways on the app to inspect how healthy they are.
To calculate the data, I decided to use the data of food from a fitness app called "MINT HEALTH" as it has a diet calculater function, including different types of food with their estimated calories per 100g (100ml). Millions of people use the food calculater to lose weight.
I later calculated the calories for carbohydrate, fat and protein for each deliver food. I estimated the weight for the food based on the research.
After that, I found that I need to have a standard of what could be count as healthy and what could not. After researching, I found that there are differen standards for different people. For example, a child at the age of 5 consume less calories than an 25-year-old adult. I found that I might need to find a group of people to be the representation in order to have a universal standard.
Having only one group of people to represent the whole people is not possible. This should be analyzed by the situation. For selecting a sample group for the topic "people with delivery food," I later choose to select the group of people within 21-35 years old as according to the statistics, they are the largest amount of users of the delivery app (73.04%). I later use the calculater of calories consuming with the information of the sample index.
After that, I found that I need to have a standard of what could be count as healthy and what could not. After researching, I found that there are differen standards for different people. For example, a child at the age of 5 consume less calories than an 25-year-old adult. I found that I might need to find a group of people to be the representation in order to have a universal standard.
The final result of calculation is to have 1158.85-1580.25 Kcal calories from Carbohydration, 316.05-632.1 Kcal from fat, 210.7-316.05Kcal from protein. I divided them in three so they could be seen as for each meal.
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The final result of calculation is to have 386.3-526.75 Kcal calories from Carbohydration, 105.35-210.7 Kcal from fat, 70-105Kcal from protein. I divided them in three so they could be seen as for each meal.
3. Final Design
I finally designed the patterns and some ilustrations for the data, I also made a sample "example" on the top to help people better understand the data.
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There are some versions that were considered during the process of making the final design.
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I initially would like to use the geometrica patterns wo represent different types of nutritional compounds. However, I later found that it was unessary becase in that case, both the color and the pattern will be different.
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Having geometrical patterns might make the visual less homogeneous.
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A good data visualization requires a systematical research and calculation. It requires people with the ability of organizing useful information, making information being shown in the best way of visualization. Making the information being harmony in a whole visual effection.