Research Presentation

Collection 100 - Possible Ideas

1) Flipbook consisting of 100 images

This could be, for example, how to create a crop circle, with an animation showing the process from start to finish and the implements you'll need. I found an article online where the user described how to create your own home made flipbook using an existing video and post-processing through After Effects.

This would be a good idea but I'm not too sure what the video would explain/show or even how I could relate it to my theme of UFO's and aliens. If I were to go ahead with this idea, I would probably create a computer generated animation.

2) 'How to avoid an alien abduction' kit

I thought of this idea after seeing a handy survival kit in a compact, sardine can (images). It contains all the necessary equipment to survive the wilderness.This kit, however, would contain all the tools along with any tips or tricks to avoid an alien abduction. Although a tongue-in-cheek product, I will be designing the contents alongside the packaging itself.

My inspiration for the packaging comes from the following - here the contents are organised in a clear and concise way with several inserts each fitting the contents perfectly.

UFO Reports & Hotspots

Many UFO reports are located within the same area therefore resulting in 'UFO Hotspots'. These areas of high 'alien activity' are where most 'extraterrestrial experts' go to collect findings.

http://www.burlingtonnews.net/hotspots.html

Map provided by J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies, Chicago, Illinois
Map Shows Density of UFO Reports for Each State

However, this map is not in direct correlation with the following:

http://www.openminds.tv/ufo-trends/

As you can see, the first map shows the highest activity in the west whereas this is the opposite for the one above where most are reported in the east. This may be because the studies were performed in different years or it may be completely biased. 

http://www.openminds.tv/ufo-trends/

UFO reports from 20 towns across America have been categorised by the number of sightings reported alongside the percentage of sightings per population. As you can see, the percentage per population is miniscule and makes you wonder whether these sightings are true or simply a hoax. 

http://www.virginmedia.com/digital/science/ufo-sightings.php

These are the UFO 'hotspots' across the UK. They are categorised by the number of UFO sightings per county since 1961; however, 34 in West Yorkshire, for example, the highest activity on the map, is such a small number of reports in a total of 50 years.

Questionnaire & Findings Statistics

Using the feedback from my questionnaire, I created a few pie charts to represent this data. (The middle should be in reverse - the majority infact said no).

Also, from my research, I found the National UFO Reporting Society (http://www.nuforc.org/) which lists every UFO report, dating back to the early 1900's (even the odd sighting earlier on). Rather than listing this data as research, I wanted to clearly show a comparison between the years, as you can see below. However, they documented the sightings per month therefore I focused on the last 10 years primarily.

From this same website, I found UFO sightings categorised by shape or appearance. However, this was also listed per month therefore I decided to focus one particular month in particular. The highest amount of UFO sightings was in July 2010 therefore I used this as the basis of my data representation.

I categorised them into the following: Circle, triangle, fireball, oval, light, sphere and unknown. However, there were a few other shapes but due to the low amount of similar sightings, I decided to exclude these.

However, I then found every single UFO report they have received categorised by these shapes so I decided to represent these through pictograms also.

Visual Language - Type & Grid

Make up of type

Components
Baseline
X-height (height of a lower case x)
Counter
Bowl
Ascender/descender
Stem
Point size etc

Weights and sizes
Light
Regular
Medium
Bold
Extra Bold etc

Styles
Condensed
Extended
Script etc

A ligature is when a couplet of letters become a single glyph

Body size is measured from the ascender to the descender

10pt lettering with 4pt leading = 14pt linefeed also known as 10/14 pt
- Same as 14pt baseline to baseline
10pt solid = no leading

1 Pica = 12 points. This makes the size of a point approximately 0.35mm. A pica is derived from the width of the capital "M" in the currently used typeface and defines the proportion of the letter width and height with respect to the point size of the current font.

For example, a 20pt body indented by 1em will be indented by the same width as a 20pt letter 'M' of that typeface.

Halation is the effect of white (or light) spreading against a dark background. This can impair the legibility of white text on black therefore the tracking is usually altered so the black ink does not impair the readability of the text.

This is an example of a DPS I created in my national diploma course using a 7 column grid: