HYPERLINKS
DOWNLOADS
DELIVERABLES
- By the end of today's class, you'll give me a folder. It must contain all the files we worked on today in their respective folders.
This is an example of a pie chart created in Illustrator. It's much more appealing then anything one could produce in a office suite. The added value is that graphs can be press-ready, scalable and editable.
The Lie of the Pie
Project Highlights
- This project is worth 10% of your final grade.
- This is due for the start of next class.
- You will use data on a subject to build a graph using Illustrator's graphing tools.
Graph Away
Mark Tawin said: "There are lies, damned lies, and statistics." That may be true. Well, consider yourself an interpreter of those lies. As a designer, one of the most difficult and rewarding jobs is to transform boring data into exciting, engaging visuals. The challenge is to present so many numbers in a compelling way. Boring graphs can really put the kibosh on a great design. Columns representing numbers are pretty lame. As designers, it is our job to represent information in an interesting and informative manner.
Luckily, Adobe has provided some really great graphing tools in the new version of Illustrator. This is what we are going to explore this week.
Info Porn
Take delight in numbers.
Choose a topic of interest. It could be baseball, motocycles, Barbie Dolls ... it's on you. Find some numbers related to it. So, for example, you could graph the powerband of the Harley Davidson Soft Tail Fat Boy . In this specific example, you would graph power over time.
Don't hesitate to pass your idea by me before you start. Surf the Web to find data on your topic.
To make sense of your graph, you'll give me an explainer. Put your information in context, graphically. Your graph needs to be delivered in the form of a cohesive, unified page design. This means a letter-sized page. I'll show you a sample in class.
About Illustrator Graphs
To draw a graph, It is important to have a data file well formatted ahead of time. Then, simply take one of the graph tools and draw a rectangle where you want the graph. The data window will open automatically. Click on the "Import Data" button in the data window. You can then click the "Apply" button (check mark). The graph will be drawn on the artboard. If things don't look right, click the "Revert" button. Fix your data file and try again.
You can edit the text in the graph at any point. Simply select it with the Group Selection tool. Change the text formatting until you are satisfied.
A graph in Illustrator is a grouped object. Don't ungroup the graph. If you do, you will no longer be able to make changes to it as a graph. You can, however, make changes to the graph with the direct selection tool. This does cause unexpected results when the graph data is edited afterwards.
To go back to make changes to the graph, select it with the selection tool and double-click on the graph tool. You can also control-click on it and make various changes.
You can make two types of graphs in one. To do so, select on of the data sets with the Group Selection tool. Double-click on the graph tool and select the desired type of graph from the icons from the dialog.
