Intro
- The difference between a photorealistic rendering or photo and a line or iconic drawing is the level of fidelity that the image has.
- Iconic imagery (low fidelity) is good for an audience that needs to understand something very quickly
Efficient Visual Processing
- Minimalism optimized the Human Information Processing System
- Our neurons work in parallel while we perceive primitive features and interesting/relevant information.
- In some situations a high fidelity photo could overload the audience’s working memory
- Reduced forms may be more effective because they look more like the mental models that we create in our mind.
Applying the Principle
- Reduced realism is an attempt to interpret reality through visual abstraction and simplification.
- Ways to apply the principle: Limit the number of elements in a graphic, smooth surface, sharp colors & contours, appropriate blurring,
Visual Nose
- The greater quantity of meaningless info, the harder to decode the message.
- Photos and realistic renderings should have no visual noise.
Silhouettes
- Silhouettes highlight the most important feature of an object, the edges.
- The silhouettes have to be animated and clear, no ambiguous poses.
Iconic Forms
- Iconic forms are the highly distilled or stylized depiction that captures the essential characteristics of an object or concept.
- Context is a strong contributor to the meaning of an iconic form. Especially a symbol that accompanies text or images.
- Resemblance icons: directly portray the object to which they refer. (e.g.picto people doing an activity)
- Exemplar icons: depict a comon example of the class of objects to which they refer. (e.g. knife & fork to signify restaurant)
- Symbolic icons: convey a concept that is at a higher level of abstraction than the object depicted (e.g. cracked glass=fragile)
- Arbitrary icons: no relationship to an object or concept and their association must be learned (e.g. no entrance symbol)
Line Art
- Line drawings are an easy way to simply convey the shape of an object.
- Line drawings add a third dimension to a simple 2D illustrations through small visual cues.
Quantity
- Strictly limit the quantity of elements in a design. It contrasts the outside world.
- We can automatically subitize up to around four objects
- Impactful visuals
- Creates a more clear hierarchy. Dominant, subdominant & subordinate.
