Simple Tables to Graphs

I chose to use the high school GPA of incoming freshmen to RWU. For information like this, there are clearly certain visuals that work much better than others. Obviously, the simple table displayed the information very easily and effectively. The pie chart also did a very nice job displaying percentages for each GPA group. However, the bar graph did a very poor job displaying what I wanted it to, but I included it to show how much better the pie chart was. I'm not sure if it's because I didn't differentiate my variables correctly, but it used the GPA and the percentage as 2 comparing numbers instead of using them together.
Using excel wasn't too difficult for me since I am somewhat familiar with it, but I did run into some problems. Mostly just trying to get the data to read as a wanted. I'm not sure why, but I had to make the pie chart first with only one number for each percentage (for example 2.0 and 2.5 instead of reading 2.0 - 2.49), then go in and change the actual words in the pie chart to its respective piece.

How to make a spaghetti dinner

While doing this assignent, I found the most dificult part to be drawing the spaghetti itself. I wasn't sure how to draw it, because I didn't want to just draw a bunch of yellow lines which could be a lot of things. I came up with the idea to draw the spaghetti box with the little window on the side because I thought maybe the viewer would recognize the box. I guess that would be my "ah-hah!" moment.
Besides the spaghetti, I didn't have too many problems figuring out what to draw. I realize now that everyone probably doesn't use the same products that I use, so they may not recognize the packaging for the sauce and grated cheese I drew, but it's the best I could come up with.
I decided to go the extra mile and draw a glass of wine, because I figured that whoever has the misfortune of eating this horribly drawn spaghetti deserves a nice glass of red wine with it.
The only thing I would have maybe done differently would be to use a different symbol than arrows to denote the steps of the process. I really couldn't think of much else at the time, though, so I just went with it.

(Seahawks Depth Chart)

(Saint's depth chart)

(Final Iteration - combined depth chart)

My experience with this assignment was a very tedious one. I didn't really have any problems figuring out what to fix, but rather how to fix it while making it still look good. I knew right away that my plan was to combine both teams' depth charts into one. However, since NFL.com wouldn't let me save both team's depth charts as an image, I was forced to use a screen shot, and was supplied with limited space. In order to make this image work, I had to use photoshop to move around some text that was already in place to make room for the names of the other team's players. This required the extremely tedious process of moving text, and then patching up the spot where that text used to be. The image is of a little lower quality than what I would normally want, with some areas of "splotchy" colors. However, considering my mediocre photoshop skills, and the limited space I had to work with, I'm happy with the outcome.

I actually got a pretty profound sense of accomplishment after completing this image because I felt like I was really on to something. As I stated in my essay, I was really annoyed with the inconvenince of having to switch back and forth from each team's web page to view their respective depth charts on sunday. By combining the the two opponents' depth charts into one, it reduces the cognitive load, and just makes looking into the game a whole lot more convenient. While I realize that they are not going to, I honestly feel like this is something that could improve the NFL's website.

I'd say my real "ah-hah!" moment was when I realized that I just had to insert text (in a different color) above the already excisting depth chart. This feeling was soon ruined when I realized that I had to cover up all the old spots, but none the less, that was still the moment when I figured out exactly what I wanted to do with this.