Off for finals

For those who visit this place every now and then (which I can prove through my log files ), I want to let you know that I am currently working on my final exams at KISD. Students at KISD have two write three different “Diplom” theses (two minor theoretical, one major theoretical+practical), and each has to be in a different design discipline. This means I have to focus on stuff I don’t usually put my nose into and that I would hardly consider myself an expert in. It’s also hardly within the scope of this blog (yet). But, hey, you never know how reading books can affect you…

For the sake of “Sendebewusstsein” (sense of mission) I let you know what the two minor theses will deal with:

• Visual information in television news: What’s the role of pictures in TV news? How does it influence attention, memory, attitude towards the message? What kind of strategies are used by several formats in order to use (or avoid) imagery, graphics, visualisations in order to support messages? Are there obvious abuses of image material? Numerous german, european and a few american stations are considered. I am currently reviewing literature as well as recording and reviewing current TV news. Unfortunately, the latter one is hardly a pleasure since the picures from South Asia which dominate the news are rather disturbing.
• Evaluation of the german income tax form: Everyone I spoke to hates this bloody piece of paper. I wonder how high the cost for the public is due to belated delivery or erroneus handling of the forms. And I also wonder who is responsible for the design of the forms. I will try to evaluate the german form (and, to be more wholistic, the “form handling user experience”) in comparison to some other countries.

The major Diplom topic is not yet decided, but it will definitely deal with user interface design and information visualisation in a more direct fashion.

Of course I would be grateful for any suggestions on the above topics. Please feel free to leave comments on this topic.