designing dynamic logotypes to represent data ·...

DOI: 10.4018/IJACDT.2019010102

International Journal of Art, Culture and Design TechnologiesVolume 8 • Issue 1 • January-June 2019

Copyright©2019,IGIGlobal.CopyingordistributinginprintorelectronicformswithoutwrittenpermissionofIGIGlobalisprohibited.

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Designing Dynamic Logotypes to Represent DataJéssica Parente, CISUC - Department of Informatics Engineering, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

Tiago Martins, CISUC - Department of Informatics Engineering, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

João Bicker, CISUC - Department of Informatics Engineering, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

Penousal Machado, CISUC - Department of Informatics Engineering, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

ABSTRACT

This work explores how data can influence the design of logotypes and how they can conveyinformation.Theauthorsuse theUniversityofCoimbra, inPortugal,asacasestudy todevelopdata-drivenlogotypesforitsfacultiesand,subsequently,foritsstudents.Theproposedlogotypesareinfluencedbythecurrentnumberofstudentsineachfaculty,thenumberofmaleandfemalestudents,andthenationalityofthestudents.Theresultinglogotypesareabletoportraythediversityofstudentsineachfaculty.Theauthorsalsotestthisdesignapproachinthecreationoflogotypesforthestudentsaccordingtotheiracademicinformation,namelythecourseandnumberofcreditsdone.Theresultinglogotypesareabletoadapttothecurrentstudents,evolvingovertimewiththedepartureofstudentsandadmissionofnewones.

KeywoRDSData Aesthetics, Data-Driven Design, Generative Design, Graphic Design, Information Visualisation, Logotype, Type Design, Typography

INTRoDUCTIoN

Typographyisawayofvisualisinglanguage(Cheng,2006).Todesigners,typographyisvaluableasitaddsalayerofcontentandthechoiceofatypefacegivesindicationsregardingthesubjectthatisbeingaddressed.Inordertousetypographyinthebestway,manydesignersstudytheiranatomyandwaysofcategorisingit.

Overtime,thedesignoftypesufferedseveralchanges.Inthebeginning,typographerstriedtocreatealphabetswithpureanduncorrupted letters.However,with theemergenceofavant-gardemovements,visionandexpressionaspectswereovercome.Afterwards,thetechnologicalrevolutioncreatednewpossibilitiesfortypographicexperimentation.Thedesignoftypefacesthroughcodehelpedtheautomationofthedesignprocess,makingitpossibleforcomputerstogeneratenewtypefacesinseconds.Asaresult,newtypefacesemergetoadapttodistinctcontexts(Lehni,2011;Knuth,1986).

Technologicaladvancements,alongwiththeproliferationoftheInternet,allowtheexplorationofnewcreativeareas.Theevolutionoftoolsfortypographicconstructionpromotestheincreaseof

Jéssica Parente

Jéssica Parente

Jéssica Parente


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typographycreation.Moreover,inmodernsociety,thereisaninsatiableneedtopersonaliseeverythingwheneverpossible.

Visual identities created nowadays are becoming more dynamic. Museums, institutions,organisations,eventsandmediaareincreasinglyrelyingonthiskindofidentities.Acomprehensivesurveyondynamicvisualidentitiesispresented,forexample,byMartinsetal.(2019).Thistypeofvisualidentityischaracterisedbyvariability,context-relatedness,processuality,performativityandnon-linearity(Felsing,2010).

Informedby thisbackground, theauthorsexplore throughthiswork the intersectionof typedesign,visualidentityandinformationvisualisation,investigatinghowcandatainfluencethedesignofalogotypeandhowcanalogotypeconveyinformation.Asaresult,theauthorsdevelopdata-drivenlogotypesforthefacultiesandstudentsoftheiruniversity—theUniversityofCoimbra(UC),inPortugal.Todoso,acomputationalgenerativeprocessispresentedtodynamicallydesigntheglyphs,orletterforms,thatcomposethelogotypeaccordingtoinputdataonthefacultiesorstudents.Thisway,thelogotypesareabletoadapttothecurrentspectrumofstudentsoftheUniversityofCoimbra,whileincorporatingandunifyingthefacultiesorstudentsinacoherentfashion.

Theexperimentalprocessbehindthisworkcomprisesfoursuccessiveiterations.IniterationsI,II,andIII,theauthorsaimtodesignlogotypesforthefacultiesoftheUniversityofCoimbra.Therefore,theinputdataconsistsofthenumberofstudentsineachfaculty,thenumberofmaleandfemalestudents,andthenationalityofthestudents.IniterationIV,theapproachdevelopediniterationIIIisusedtodesignlogotypesfortheindividualstudentsoftheUniversityofCoimbra.So,theinputdataconsistsofthecourseandthenumberofcreditsdonebyeachstudent.

The remainder of the paper is structured as follows: Background section describes designprojectswherevisualidentitiesandtypefacesareinfluencedbydata;Approachsectionconcernsthedevelopmentofpresentedwork,summarisingfourdifferentiterationsandtheirspecificities;finally,Conclusionsectionpresentssomeoverallconclusionsanddiscussesfuturework.

BACKGRoUND

Thissectionisdividedintothreeparts.Thefirstpartintroducestypedesignprojectsthattakeadvantageofdigitalmediaandchallengetraditionaltypographiccreation.Thesecondpartpresentsprojectsthat

Figure 1. Typical glyph for letter ‘G’ generated in iteration IV of the present approach. More results at cdv.dei.uc.pt/data-logotype.


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usegenerativetechniquesanddatainputstoinfluencetypedesign.Thelastpartconcernsdynamicandinformativevisualidentitiesthatreacttoexternaldata.

Dynamic Type DesignInitially,typographiccreationwasrestrictedtotheanaloguemediumandthereadingconditionedtobooksandnewspapers.However,with theemergenceof the Internet,online readingbecomespossibleandnewopportunitiesfortypographicexplorationarose.Asaresult,itbecomesfrequenttheappearingoftypographicsolutionsoriginatedinthedigitalmediumandtypographicsolutionsthatevolvefromdigitaltoanalogue.Furthermore,nowadays,typefacesmakeuseoflayersandcolour(Typo,2017),andbecomeincreasinglymoredynamic.

IntersectisatypographicsystemcreatedbyPaulMcNeilandHamishMuir.Itischaracterisedbythefactthatitdoesnotuseabinarycontrast(blackandwhite,shapeandcounterform).TheIntersecttypefaceshavealargespectrumofweightsthatcreatetheillusionofdensity.Thesystemalsoallowsa largevarietyofvisualpossibilities, theIntersect typefacescouldhaveaseriesof layersand intotalthereare256variations(McNeil&Muir,2014).Novo Typo Color BookisatypographicbookdevelopedbyNovoTypostudio.Thisisanotherprojectrelatedtotheuseoflayersandapplicationofcolours.Themaingoalisthetransformationofacontemporarydesignintoahistoricaltypographicprintingtechnique.Thebookisconstitutedbyasetofcolourfultypefaces,anditmarksanewwayofseeingthedesignoftype:moretargetedtotheminesofdesigners,artdirectorsandtypesetters.Thisbooktakesadvantageoftheuseofcolours,itdepartsfrompositiveandnegativeformsandthecontrastofblacktypographyonawhitepage(Typo,2017).

BothIntersectandNovo Typo Color Bookprojectsexplorearangeofopportunitiescreatedbythetechnologicalrevolutionregardingtheuseofcolourandlayersintypographiccreation.Colourcanbeusedalongwithtypestylesandweightstodefinethehierarchyinatypographiccomposition.

Data-Driven Type DesignThespectrumoftypedesignprojectsthatreacttoexternaldataisgrowing.Inmostoftheexistingprojectsinthisfield,theinputdataisrandom.ProjectssuchasIrratiobyIngoReinheimer(Reinheimer,2009),ZwirnbyLisaReimann(Reimann,2009)andPong(Mainz,2008a)byKerstenStahlaresomeoftheseprojects,whichwerealldevelopedinProcessingin2008.IrratioandPongarecreatedfromthecombinationofrandomBézierlines.Irratiogeneratestypefacesusingskeletonsofexistingnon-serifedtypefaces.Thegenerationhappensbythecreationofcurvesfromananchorpointorvertextoanotheronesuccessively.Zwirn ischaracterisedby the interlacingof the lettersofawordbydrawingdotsintotheoutlineoftheletters.Theusercouldchangeasetofparameters,forinstance,thenumberoflines.Pongisbasedonthemetaphorofaballthatdrawsalinewithineachletter.Thecreatedtypefacecanbecomposedoflinesorcurves,whichmayvaryinweightandcolour.Theusercanalsodeterminethetextthatisdrawn.

Soundisalsousedasinputinsomegenerativetypedesignprojects.Blast(Mainz,2008b)andTypography Music(Silanteva,2011)aretwoprojectsthatgeneratetypefacesthatreacttomusic.In2008,DenisKleincreatedBlast,anexperimentalandgenerativetypefacedevelopedinProcessing.Thevisualaspectofthetypefacecreatedresultfromtheanalysisofthemusic;itsappearance,shapeandthicknessactasavisualinterpretationofit.Themusicisanalysedinreal-time,directlyinfluencingthevisualshapeofthetypeface.Typography MusicisatypographicinvestigationbyDinaSilantevain2011.Thecreatedsystemgeneratesglyphsthatreacttomusic.Thelettersareformedfromabasicgridandconstructedbythecombinationoflayers.Eachlayerisconstitutedbyarangeofmodulesandtheshapeofeachmodulechangeswiththetypeofmusic:(i)foranorganicsoundthemodulesare circles; (ii) for ananalogue sound themodules areoctagons; and (iii) fordigital sounds themodulesaresquares.Then,thesemodulessufferchanges,forexample,theradiuschangeaccordingtothedurationofthesound.Thesetwoprojectshavetheadvantageofallowingthecreationofawidespectrumofpossiblevisualvariations.Furthermore,theycreatedtypefacesthatadapttothe


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receiveddataandforthatreason,theycreateavisualisationofthesedata.Besides,whencomparedtostatictypefacestheystandoutduetotheeasyadaptationtosoundcontexts.

Somegenerativetypedesignsystemsuseasinputemotions.ColoquyisanexampleofthisanditwasdevelopedbyJoelBaker.TheColoquysystemanalysesatextwrittenbytheuserandmodifiesthevisualformoftheglyphsinreal-time.Theresultingglyphsaredistortedandexpandedaccordingtothetextcontent(Baker,n.d.).TypeFaceisanotherprojectinthesamecontext.TheauthorshipisassociatedwithMaryHuanganditconsistsofsoftwarethattranslatesfacialexpressionsintogenerativetypefaces.TheOpenCVlibraryisusedtodetectuserexpressions(Huang,2011).

There are also typographic projects for interactive installations. In 2009, Michael FlückigerandNicolasKunzcreatedLAIKA,adynamictypefacethatreactstouserinteraction.ThesystemisdevelopedinProcessingandisusedininstallationswithsensorsoraudiovisualdatafetchedfromtheInternet.Theresultingtypefacedynamicallychangesitsweight,contrast,serifsizeandslope.Itwascreatedtobeusedinthedigitalmedium,soitdidnotneedtobestaticandrigid.Thesystemalsoallowstheparametersalterationinreal-timeanditcanbeappliedindynamictexts.ThedynamismandinteractivityofLAIKAcometoinspirenewapproachestotheuseofdigitaltypes(Flückiger&Kunz,2009).

Informative Dynamic Visual IdentitiesOver the lastfewyears, there isanevidentdemandfordynamicvisual identities(Martinsetal.,2019).Thistypeofvisualidentitiesischaracterisedbyvariability,context-relatedness,processuality,performativity,andnon-linearity(Felsing,2010).Manyorganisations,institutions,museums,andevenplaces,areembracingdynamicvisualidentitiestoachievedifferentgoals,includingtherepresentationofproducts(e.g.Priba,byAlliedInternationalDesignersandGeoffGibbonsin1973),programmesofevents(e.g.CasadaMúsica,byStefanSagmeisterin2007),andcollections(e.g.HouseofVisualCulture,byEdhvin2011)(Nes,2012;Lin,2013).Martinsetal.(2019)provideacomprehensivereviewofthestate-of-the-artondynamicvisualidentitiesaswellasamodelforanalysingthistypeofvisualidentities.

Thisworkconcernsoneparticularcategoryofdynamicvisual identities—the informative.Informativedynamicvisualidentitiesprovideinformationtotheaudienceandaretypicallyusedtocommunicatemessagesortoidentifyproducts,services,sections,orpersonnel(Martinsetal.,2019).

In2002,TomatodevelopedtheidentitytoTVAsahi,aTVbroadcasterintheJapanesemediaindustry.Theidentityiscomposedofseveralrectangularblocksthatchangedtheirpositionaccordingtothesoundsthey“ear”.Theblocks’sizechangeaccordingtothestaffmembersofthecompany,itsprogramsandbusinesses.Besidesbeinginformative,theidentityoftheTVbroadcasterisalsodynamicandgenerative(Nes,2012).

AnotherinformativeidentityistheonecreatedbytheNeueDesignStudiotoNordkynpeninsulain2010.Theidentityisaffectedbyweatherstatistics:(i)thecolourchangeswiththevariationoftemperature;and(ii)theshapechangesaccordingtothewind’sdirectionandvelocity.Thebrandlogo,usedonthesite,reflectstheclimaticconditionsoftheregionandisupdatedeveryfiveminutes(Nes,2012;Lin,2013).Thisidentitywillalwaysbeinconstantdevelopment,becauseitchangesaccordingtothewindconditions.

In2010,COOEEcreatedtheidentityfortheNewPreventionTechnologies.TheidentitywasdevelopedtotheGlobalNetworkofPeoplelivingwithHIVandAIDS.Thebasisforthecreationoftheidentitywasthecontinueddevelopmentofpreventiontechnological.Theidentityiscomposedofdifferentlinesaroundacircleandeachlinerepresentsapreventiontechnology.Oneadvantageofthisidentityisthatitcanbeenrichedovertimewiththeadditionofnewpreventiontechnologies(Nes,2012;Lin,2013).

In2011,MaximPavlovdevelopedadynamic logotype forGogol.tv.This logotype isbasedontheprofileofGogol’shead.Later,sevenmorecharacterswerecreatedtorepresentthedifferent


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sections(e.g.politics,progress,culture,etc.).Overtime,theheadshavebecomethemainiconsofthesite.Thesimilarfactoramongallthecharactersistheprofileoftheman’sheadwithineachofthem(Lin,2013).

AnotherexampleofaninformativeanddynamicvisualidentityistheShanghaiBiennale,in2012.TheidentitywascreatedbyRetothebiggesteventofinternationalartinmainlandChina.TheidentityexploresthetransformationoftheSydneywiththetheme“FloatingEye”.Fortheidentity,theycreateaseriesofsymbolstodescribethemainprinciplesoftheexposition.Themaincuriosityofthisidentityisthecombinationoftwovariables—state(Temporality,Oscillation,Observation,etc.)andthing(Geography,Culture,Demography,etc.),resultinginthecreationofathirdmeaning.Moreover,thefactthatthevariablesarerepresentedbyasymbolturnedtheidentityinterpretableforanylanguage;theidentitycrossedthelinguisticbarrier(Re,2016).

APPRoACH

Auniversityusuallycontainsdifferentfaculties,eachonerepresentingoneareaofstudy.Thisdiversityofareastranslatesintoavastspectrumofstudents.Inthiswork,theauthorsaimtocreatelogotypesthatprovideinformationaboutthestudentsofagivenuniversity,namelytheUniversityofCoimbra,whichistheiruniversity.TheydevelopdynamiclogotypestobeabletorepresentanddistinguishthedifferentfacultiesoftheUniversityofCoimbrainacoherentfashion. It isalso important that the logotypescanchangeover time,adapting to thecurrentstudentsineachfaculty.Itisknownthathumanbeingscreatestereotypes.So,itisnaturalthatpeopleconsiderthatinanartbachelor,thenumberofwomenishigherthanthenumberofmen.However, sometimes, thestereotypesdonotcorrespond to reality, so itcanbe interesting toconsiderthisaspectinthelogotypes.

TheUniversityofCoimbra iscomposedofa largenumberof studentsand,consequently,averydiversegroupofpeople.Thisdiversitycanberepresentedthroughasetofdifferentelements,e.g.typefaces.Torepresentthediversityofthestudentstheauthorsusefourtypesoftypographicclassification—garaldes,reales, didones and linear—and foreachof them, they select sometypefacesandcombinethem,similarlytowhathappensintheprojectFontmixerbyStefanieOppenha(Oppenhaüser,2009).InFontmixer,theuserselectsasetoftypefacesanddetermineiftheyareaddedorsubtractedtoeachother.Inthepresentedworkthemethodisabitdifferent.Theauthorsusetheacronymsofeachfacultytocreatethelogotypesandthetypefacesareonlyoverlapped.Themaingoalistostandardisethecharacteristicsofthegroupofthechosentypefaces.

Iteration ITheauthorsaimtocreatelogotypesforthefacultiesoftheUniversityofCoimbra.So,afterthecreationoftheglyphs,theyfindawaytoaddthedata,throughthefillingoftheshapes.ThedatawasmostlycollectedfromthewebsiteoftheUniversityofCoimbra.Theyuseonlydataaboutbachelorandmastercoursesfromeightfaculties:ArtsandHumanities(FLUC),Law(FDUC),ScienceandTechnology(FCTUC),Pharmacy(FFUC),Economics(FEUC),PsychologyandEducationSciences(FPCEUC),SportsSciencesandPhysicalEducation(FCDEFUC),andMedicine(FMUC).ThecollecteddataisrepresentedinTable1.Forthenationalityofthestudentsfourgroupsareused:Portuguesestudents(PT),studentsfromcountrieswithPortugueseastheofficiallanguage(PL),studentsfromcountriesintheEuropeanUnion(EU),andstudentsfromothercountries(O).

Aspreviouslymentioned,onegoalofthisworkistheuseoftypographyasalayerofknowledge.Forthatreason,theliteraluseoflayersbecamenatural.Thelogotypesrepresentthreevariables:nationality,genderandthenumberofstudents.Theauthorsassociatethedensityofelementspresentineachglyphtothenumberofstudents.Inordertocombineallthevariables,theauthorssetacolourtoeachnationalityandapunctuationmarktoeachgender.Todistinguisheachgendermoreeasily,


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theycreatetwolayers,oneforeachgender.Thelayershavetheshapeoftheglyphspreviouslycreatedandtheyareoverlapped,butnotaligned.

Thenumberofstudentsofeachfacultyisvisuallyrepresentedthroughthedensityofelementsthatcomposethecorrespondinglogotypes.Todothis,thedensityofeachlogotypeisnormalisedaccordingtothemaximumnumberofstudentsperfaculty,andtheminimumandmaximumdensitylevelsarealsoestablished.Thepositioningoftheelementsineachlayerisconstrainedbyapresetgrid.Afterdefiningthedensityofthegridforeachfacultylogotype,theglyphsaredrawn.Foreachletteroftheacronym,theshapeistraversedfromtheupperleftcornertothelowerrightcorner,fromntonpixelsaccordingtothecorrespondingdensityandverifiedwhetherthepixelsarecontainedinsidetheshapeornot.

Eachglyphhas two layers, eachone representativeof agender.These layers are composedaccordingtothenumberoffemaleandmalestudents.Thus,thegenderwiththehighestnumberofstudentsfillstheentirelayer.Asaresult,thelayerofthegenderwiththelowestnumberofstudentsisfilledinrelationtothenumberofstudentsrepresentedbyanotherlayer.Inordertovisualisealltheelements,amultiplyeffectisemployed.

Aftersometests,theauthorsarriveattheresultspresentedinFigure2.Thepunctuationmarks“|”and“-”representthemaleandthefemalegenderrespectively.OrangeisusedtorepresentPortuguesestudents,blueisusedtorepresentstudentsfromcountrieswithPortugueseastheofficiallanguage,greenisusedtorepresentstudentsfromEuropeanUnion,andpurpleisusedtorepresentstudentsfromothercountries.

In this iteration, theoverlappingcoloursareequal, for themostpart.Therefore, theydonottakemuchadvantageofthemultiplyeffectsbetweenthelayers,notproducingathirdcolour.ThishappensbecausethecolourassociatedwithPortuguesestudentsdominatestheothercolours.Thechosenmodulesmayalsobecreatingsomerepresentationproblems.

Table 1. Collected data on the students who constituted each faculty of the University of Coimbra in 2015

Faculty GenderNationality

Number of StudentsPT PL EU O

FLUCfemale 1290 135 24 21 1470

2447male 857 90 16 14 977

FDUCfemale 1510 319 10 10 1850

2890male 859 180 6 6 1040

FCTUCfemale 2202 166 19 49 2437

6210male 3410 258 30 76 3773

FFUCfemale 956 17 2 5 980

1272male 285 5 1 1 292

FEUCfemale 860 139 12 21 1033

1984male 792 128 12 20 951

FPCEUCfemale 1211 84 15 4 1314

1524male 193 14 2 1 210

FCDEFUCfemale 228 11 0 1 240

676male 413 21 0 2 436

FMUCfemale 1464 33 6 5 1507

2259male 730 16 3 2 752


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Iteration IIInthisiteration,thegoalistominimiseorevenremovetheproblemsofthepreviousone.Now,thecolourrepresentsgendersandpunctuationmarksrepresentnationalities.Thisway,itispossibletoidentifythedifferentnationalitiesandtocreateathirdcolour,aconsequenceoftheoverlay.Theuseoflayerstodistinctgendersremains.

Similarly,tothepreviousiteration,theauthorscalculatethemaximumnumberofstudentsineachfaculty.However,nowtheyalsodeterminetheminimum(inthepreviousiterationthisvaluewasalwayszero).Thisway,theyareabletoincreasethecontrastbetweendensities.Inthisiteration,thefacultywithfewerstudentshastheminimumpresetdensitylevel.Moreover,theauthorsmakeanothermodification tomake the logotypesmorehomogeneous; now, the elements are insertedrandomlyineachlayer.Thisonlychangesthewaytheelementsarepositioned.

Aftersomeexperimentation,theauthorsachievedtheresultspresentedinFigure3.Thecoloursorangeandbluerepresentthefemaleandmalegender,respectively.However,inthisiteration,theelement“|”representsPortuguesestudents,“<”representsstudentsfromcountrieswithPortugueseasofficiallanguage,“−”representsstudentsfromwithintheEuropeanUnion,and“=”representsstudentsfromothercountries.TheytriedtouseamorediscreetelementtorepresentthePortuguesestudentsbecauseitgainsemphasisduetoitsquantity.

Figure 2. Logotypes generated in Iteration I. The modules (punctuation marks) represent the students’ genders; the colours represent the students’ nationalities and the modules’ density represents the number of students.


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Itispossibletonoticesomeimprovementsinthisiterationincomparisontothepreviousone,forinstance,thechangesinthesymbologyhelpedtobetterdistinguishthenationalities.Also,punctuationmarksarenowusedtorepresentthenationalities.Thepresentedresultshaveanimprovementintheoverlappingofthelayershoweveritisnotpossibledistinguishedwhereeachlayerbeginsandends.However,thethirdcolouroriginatedfromtheoverlayoftheelementsrarelyappears.Theincreasingoftheareaofeachelementcouldminimisethisproblemandmakeitpossibletoseetheoverlayofthelayers.

Iteration IIIIn this iteration, the authors use modules previously designed instead of punctuation marks torepresent the nationalities. The goal is to facilitate the visualisation of the intersection betweenlayers.Furthermore,withthischange,thedetailsarereduced.Relativetotheremainingvariables,theymaintainthesymbologyappliedinthepreviousiteration(anelementtorepresentnationality;alayerandacolourtorepresenteachgender).However,thewaytheelementsarepositionedineachlayerischanged.Theauthorsdecidetomakethischangebecauseiftherepresentativeelementsofthenationalitieswithfewerstudentswerefarfromeachotheritispossiblethattheywillgounnoticed.

Figure 3. Logotypes generated in iteration II. The modules (punctuation marks) represent the students’ nationalities; the colours represent the students’ gender; and the modules’ density represents the number of students.


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In theprevious iteration, theorderingof theelementswas randomso thiscouldhappen. In thisiteration,theydecidedtogobacktothewaytheyorderedtheelementsintheiterationI(fromlefttorightandfromtoptobottom).

Aftersomeexperimentation,theauthorsnoticethatsometimessomeelementsofthetwolayersarecompletelysuperimposed.Thisisduetothefactthattheelementsusedare,forthemostpart,representativeofthePortuguesestudents.Aspreviouslymentioned,thishappensbecausethenumberofPortuguesestudentsismuchhigherthantheremainingnationalities.Therefore,alargepartoftheoverlappingelementsissimilar,butinanothercolour(theybelongtodifferentgenders,buttheyareofthesamenationality).Asaconsequence,thelogotypesofsomefacultieshaveonlytwocolours(arepresentativecolourofgenderandacolourthatcomesfromtheintersectionofthetwolayers).Inordertoovercomethisproblem,theauthorsapplyarotationtothemodulesaccordingtothelayerinwhichtheyarelocated.Theyexpectthatthisalterationallowsthedifferentiationoftheoverlappinglayers,thushighlightingthemaleandfemaleelements.

Aftersometests,theauthorsarriveattheresultsshowninFigure4.Asforthemodules,theyusethesamecoloursasthepreviousiterationandthefollowingmodules:righttriangleforPortuguese

Figure 4. Logotypes generated in iteration III. The modules represent the students’ nationalities; the colours represent the students’ gender; and the modules’ density represents the number of students.


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students,circleforstudentsfromcountrieswithPortugueseastheofficiallanguage,theothertriangleforstudentsfromothercountriesintheEuropeanUnion,andalineforstudentsfromothercountries.

Now,withtheapplicationofdifferentrotationstothemodules,itispossibletovisualiseeachlayerandtheintersectionsbetweenthem.Moreover,throughthegeneratedlogotypesitispossibletomakesomeconclusionsregardingthestudentswhocomposeeachfaculty.Firstofall,itispossibletodistinguishthevariousfacultiesbyobservingthedensities.FCTUCisthefacultywithmorestudentsand,incontrast,FCDEFUCistheonewithless.Itisalsonoticeablethatinthefacultiesdonothavethesameratiooffemale/malestudents.Aspredicted,FCDEFUChasmoremalestudentsthanfemale,andFPCEUChasmorefemalestudents.

Aspreviouslydiscussed, tocalculate thedensityappliedtoeachlogotype, it isnecessarytoestablishtheminimumandmaximumdensitylevels.Inthedevelopmentprocess,theauthorsfelttheneedtotestthesevalues.Aftersometests,theyconcludedthatinordertoreducethesizeofthelogotypeitisnecessarytoreducethemaximumandminimumdensity;thatwaythedetailisreduced(Figure5presentsfivedensitylevels).Inaddition,theyalsotestedtheareaoccupiedbyeachmoduleinthegrid(seeFigure6).

Iteration IVInthepreviousiteration,theresultinglogotypesrespondtothegoalofthiswork.However,theauthorsbelievethatthesystemcouldalsobeappliedtorepresentotherkindsofdata.Inthisiteration,theycreateanotherapproachwheretheygenerateindividuallogotypesforstudents.Theyusetheglyphsofthepreviousiterationsforthesamepurpose—totranslatethevarietyofthestudents.Thenameofeachstudentisusedtodevelopeachlogotype.

However,inthisiteration,theauthorsusedifferentdata.Theyuseacademicdataofthestudents—currentcoursetype(e.g.bachelor’sdegreeormaster’sdegree),donecredits,andpreviouscourses—tobetteridentifyeachstudent.Inaverylargespectrumofstudents,therearemanywiththissamenationalityandgendersothevariablesusedbeforewouldnotwork.

Forthisiteration,thedatausedisfictional,becausethiskindofdataaboutthestudentsisnotpubliclyavailable.Table2presentsthedataused,theycreatefourfictionalstudentsandestablishdifferentcoursesandcyclesforeachoneofthem.

Figure 5. Glyphs for letter F with different levels of modules’ density

Figure 6. Glyphs for letter F with different modules’ sizes


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In this iteration, each logotype represents threedata variables related to each student.Eachlogotypecanbeexplainedasfollows:eachlayerrepresentsacourseattendedbythestudent;thecolourusedbyeachlayerindicatesthetypeofthecourseitrepresents;andthemodulesusedineachlayeridentifythedifferentcourses.Thisway,theycancombineallthevariablesandrepresentasetofcoursesmadebythestudent.Thedensityofthelogotypesiscalculatedbasedonthenumberofcreditsdone.Theminimumdensityiszero,thusastudentthatstartsstudyingattheuniversitydoesnothaveanycreditsdoneandneitheralogotype.Theelementsarepositionedasinthepreviousiteration(fromlefttorightandtoptobottom).Inthisiteration,theauthorscreateasetofmodulestorepresentthedifferentcourses.Theyalsoapplyarotationtobetterdistinguishthem.

Aspreviouslymentioned,eachlayerrepresentsacourseattendedbythestudentandeachcolourrepresentsacoursetype.Itwasnecessarytoseparatethesetwovariablesbecausetheauthorswanttoapplylogotypestoanyacademiccareerandsomestudentscanhavecompleted,forexample:(i)twobachelor’sdegreesandamasterdegree;or(ii)abachelor’sdegree,anincompletemaster’sdegree,andacompleteone.

In this iteration, thepercentage filled in each layer isdetermineddifferently from theotheriterations.IntheiterationI,IIandIIIthelayersrepresentgenders,soitwassimpletocomparewhichlayer,orgender,hasmorestudents.Inthisiteration,thelayersrepresentbachelorandmasterdegrees,thusthemaximumnumberofcreditschangesineachlayer.Thepercentageoccupiedbytheelementsineachlayerisproportionaltothenumberofcreditsdone(outofthetotalcredits).

After some experiments, the authors obtained the results shown in Figure 7. As previouslymentioned,themodulesarerepresentativeofthecourses.Inthiscase,themodulequarterofcirclerepresentsthecourseofDesignandMultimedia,therighttrianglethecourseofHistory,andthelastmodulerepresentsthecourseofModernLanguages.Theorangerepresentsthebachelor’sdegreesandthebluethemasters’degrees.

Inthisiteration,theauthorsdesignthemodulesinordertomakethemmoreorlesswiththesamearea.Thatway,noneof themstandoutfromtherest.Theytakethis intoaccountbecause two students from different courses with the same number of credits done shouldhaveasimilarvisualemphasis.Throughtheobservationandcomparisonofthelogotypes,itispossibletodrawconclusionsaboutthestudentsoftheuniversity.Byobservingthedensity,itisnoticedthatBrunoisthestudentwithmorecreditsmade.Inaddition,AliceandBrunohavemodulesincommon,sotheyareonthesamecourse,althoughBrunohasalreadymadecreditsinanothercourse.

Table 2. Data used in the iteration IV

Name of the Student Course Type Course Credits Done Total Credits

Maria

bachelor’sdegree DesignandMultimedia 30 180

bachelor’sdegree ModernLanguages 180 180

master’sdegree ModernLanguages 66 120

Bruno

bachelor’sdegree DesignandMultimedia 50 180

bachelor’sdegree History 180 180

master’sdegree History 120 120

Alicebachelor’sdegree History 180 180

master’sdegree History 120 120

Tiagobachelor’sdegree DesignandMultimedia 180 180

master’sdegree ModernLanguages 60 120


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CoNCLUSIoN

Inthiswork,wepresentanexperimentalapproachfocusedonthedesignoflogotypesinfluencedbydata.Theauthorsexploreddifferentchallenges:(i)howcanthecharacteristicsofstudentsbetranslatedintovisualcomponentsoflogotypes;(ii)howlogotypescanconveyinformation;and(iii)howonecanexploretherelationbetweeninformationvisualisation,typedesign,andvisualidentitydesign.TheauthorsdevelopdynamiclogotypesforthefacultiesoftheUniversityofCoimbraandfortheirstudents.Onecanfindfurtherinformationandresultsaboutthisworkatcdv.dei.uc.pt/data-logotype.

Theauthorsproposegenerativedesignprocesses toautomaticallycreate logotypesbasedonexternaldata.ThelogotypescreatediniterationsI,II,andIIIareinfluencedbydataregardingthestudentsofeachfaculty(genderandnationality). In these three iterations, theauthors iterativelyexploresolutionsthatbestdescribeanddistinguishthedifferentfaculties.IniterationIV,theauthorsaimthecreationoflogotypestorepresenteachstudent.Forthat,informationabouttheacademiccareerofeachstudentisused,namelythecreditsdone,andcoursesattendedbythestudent.Inbothapproaches,theauthorsexperimentwiththeuseoflayersandcolourintypedesigntorepresentinputdata.Technologicaladvancesallowthecreationofchromatictypefacesaswellastheiruseinthecreationofdynamicvisualidentities.

The obtained logotypes are able to provide a layer of knowledge about the students of theUniversityofCoimbra.Thelogotypesforthefacultiesadapttotheentryandexitofstudents,whilethelogotypesforthestudentsgrowalongwiththeadvanceoftheiracademiccareer.Inbothapproaches,thelogotypesaredesignedautomaticallyandadapttodata,showingtheprogressionoftheinputdataovertime.Therefore,withthesamesystem,theauthorshavedifferentresultsaccordingtotheexternaldata.Theuseofreal-timeinputdataallowsthelogotypestobealiveandadapttodifferentcontexts.

Figure 7. Logotypes generated in iteration IV. Each logotype represents a student: each layer represents a course attended by the student; the colour used by each layer indicates the type of the course it represents; the modules used in each layer identify the different courses.


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Thisworkexploresnewpossibilitiesintypedesigncombinedwiththecreationofdynamic,data-drivenvisualidentities.Thesearchforvisualidentitiesthatadapttothecontextinwhichtheyaredesignedincreasesthepotentialofthisresearch.

Futureresearchwillfocuson:(i)theimplementationofamechanismtodynamicallysettheminimumandmaximumdensitylevelsofthelogotypedependingonitstargetsize;(ii)thedevelopmentofglyphsthatchangetheirstructure;(iii)theuseofdifferentdatainthesystem;and(iv)theapplicationofthepresentedapproachinothertypesofentities.


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Jéssica Parente holds a master’s degree in design and Multimedia from the University of Coimbra. Her increasing interest in typography led her to explore the subject in her master thesis. Currently, she is starting her PhD. Her interests include graphic and editorial design, web design, video and photography.

Tiago Martins is a cross-media designer who works at the convergence of design and computer science. The focus of his work lies in the development of custom tools to computationally evolve novel designs. After completing his Master in Design and Multimedia in the University of Coimbra, he enrolled in a PhD in Information Science and Technology at the same institution. He is researching and working on his thesis project Design through Automatic Evolution in the Computational and Visualization Lab. (CMS/CISUC). Recently, he started to work as invited assistant lecturer at the University of Coimbra, teaching in the field of computational graphic design in the Master of Design and Multimedia.

João Bicker is a graphic designer, educator, design writer and curator who lives and works in Coimbra, Portugal. With a degree in Biology he furthered his studies in Anthropology, later teaching Social Sciences and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Coimbra. He worked at the Anthropology Museum of the University of Coimbra, developing several projects in the fields of audio-visual arts, museology and graphic design, with particular emphasis on exhibition design and production. He is co-founder and the current creative director of FBA, a graphic design consultancy located in Coimbra, Portugal. At FBA he has developed an extensive body of work as a graphic designer, including art direction and book design for several publishing companies in Portugal and Brazil, as well as supervising several visual identity and exhibition design projects. He is currently professor at the Multimedia and Design courses of the University of Coimbra.

Penousal Machado is Associate Professor at the Department of Informatics of the University of Coimbra in Portugal. He is a deputy director of the Centre for Informatics and Systems of the University of Coimbra (CISUC), the coordinator of the Cognitive and Media Systems group and the scientific director of the Computational Design and Visualization Lab. of CISUC. His research interests include Evolutionary Computation, Computational Creativity, Artificial Intelligence and Information Visualization. He is the author of more than 200 refereed journal and conference papers in these areas, and his peer-reviewed publications have been nominated and awarded multiple times as best paper. Until 28 February 2018 his publications gathered over 1828 citations, an h-index of 21, and an i10-index of 40. He is also the chair of several scientific events, including, amongst the most recent, PPSN XV, EvoStar 2016, and EuroGP 2015; member of the Programme Committee and Editorial Board of some of the main conferences and journals in these fields; member of the Steering Committee of EuroGP, EvoMUSART and Evostar; and executive board member of SPECIES. He is the recipient of several scientific awards, including the prestigious EvoStar Award for outstanding Contribution to Evolutionary Computation in Europe, and the award for Excellence and Merit in Artificial Intelligence granted by the Portuguese Association for Artificial Intelligence. Penousal Machado has been invited to perform keynote speeches in a wide set of domains, from evolutionary computation to visualization and art. His work was featured in the Leonardo journal, Wired magazine and presented in venues such as the National Museum of Contemporary Art (Portugal) and the “Talk to me” exhibition of the Museum of Modern Art, NY (MoMA). He has been the Principal Investigator and Coordinator of several national and international projects, both at an academic and industry level.

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