Alan Greenspan gives us his thoughts.
Tufte, Medina, Koolhaas, Architecture and the Phenomenological Diagram
Ayrolyn Keady
IT5130
9/5/2008
One thought regarding instructional message in graphic representation supports the thought that the instructional message should be apparent to the viewer, perhaps at least in feel, upon the first glimpse. Upon opening architect Rem Koolhaas’ book, Content, to page 252, I assume that you would be able to clearly read the indication of his defining message.
Upon even a peek of another human being a viewer of art will become so taken with the image that their entire attention will be drawn; once the human has been investigated, the viewer will become freed and move their view about a composition, discovering the other points of contrast. Communication of experience has become an obsession in the world of architecture and phenomenological diagramming (diagrams relating to experiences; phenomenological research emphasizes the importance of how people experience and feel things) is a technique which has been adopted by Rem Koolhaas (among others) the principal architect of the international architecture and design firm, OMA.
Upon this page of his book, Content, Koolhaas has, perhaps untrue to his own style, provided the viewer of his book a clear center of interest upon which to glance, revealing the message explained in detail though the text at the bottom of the page. Alan Greenspan, chairman of the United States Federal Reserve, lets us know his thoughts on the economic boom of the late 1990s through a clear hand gesture, and Koolhaas uses this to provide this message without a single word. Koolhaas’ examination of correlations between the Dow Jones Index and the “transformation of the institutional structure into something more of an economic enterprise” could have been better supported has his diagram represented the logos of those supporting this expansion or graphic design incorporating the extension of the museum’s duties to serve these larger spaces.
In closing, I feel that Koolhaas has supported several ideas presented by the leaders in the field of instructional message design. Specifically, the idea presented by Tufte concerning the use of sentences, paragraphs and details to provide the full picture of the situation at hand as well as Medina’s brain rule number four stating that people don’t pay attention to boring things. Koolhaas applies Medina’s fourth rule by using action packed graphics, emotional images and a clear center of interest.
