Published by MacroVU Press in support of the Visual Language
Project at Stanford University, which is directed by Robert E.
Horn.
The UPDATE summarizes the research and applications of visual
language and information design.
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In this issue:
This is a SPECIAL ISSUE of the Visual Language Update
with commentary by our project director, Robert E. Horn.
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PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
HINGES ON VISUAL INFORMATION DESIGN
Who would have thought the Presidential election would hinge on
poor information design? Not most professional information designers,
members of a rapidly growing, new profession whose job it is to
make sure that the immense amounts of complex information we all
receive is clear and easy to use. Practitioners and researchers
in this new profession more often are found designing web pages
than ballots. But the now-famous Palm Beach ballot is just the
latest and most memorable example of poor information design that
Americans endure from their government. After the first of the
year we'll see another example--the IRS tax forms.
Practically everybody in America now acknowledges the Palm Beach "butterfly" ballot as an example of bad design. But you don't have to be an expert to see the ballot design flaws, so why do we need a profession to criticize bad design? The fact is we don't need a profession to critique bad messages. But we can call on the art and science of visual information design to create and test as many error-free ballots as necessary.
FEDERAL ELECTION
COMMISSION REPORT
As far back as 1984, a panel of the National Clearinghouse of
the Federal Election Commission pointed at the "need to look
at related human engineering standards [for voting devices]; panelists
stated that neither the manufacturer of voting systems nor most
state and local election offices pay much attention to how the
voter interacts with the various voting devices...Panelists stressed
that standards should encompass such matters with an emphasis
on ballot design and format." However, "subsequent federal
guidelines produced for evaluating voting systems, while comprehensive
in other areas, did not address the panel's concerns" about
clear, readable, non-confusing ballots, wrote Susan King Roth,
Chairperson of the department that covers visual communication
design at The Ohio State University, and one of the few information
design scientists who have studied the communication aspects of
ballots.
INFORMATION DESIGN
JOURNAL RESEARCH
Exactly the problem that surfaced in Florida was described in
one research study done by Roth and reported in the Information
Design Journal. Subjects (voters) in that study indicated that
the "electronic ballot was organized in a manner that caused
confusion as to which button was associated with the corresponding
candidate's name." Said one subject: "The square next
to (candidate) Clinton's name was for the other candidate to the
left. The square for Clinton was to the right." Sound familiar?
It's precisely what many of the nineteen thousand confused voters
in Palm Beach county have been saying.
For further information: <http://www.informationdesign.org/pubs/roth1998.html>
VOTERS CONFUSED BY
WORDING
Other findings in that study showed that voters were confused
by multiple negatives in the wording of referendum issues and
that language was unclear. Another startling finding was that
some of the reading areas for the voting machines where actually
too high above the eye level for a substantial number of voters
to even see the issues presented for them to decide!
RESEARCH ON PUNCH
CARD BALLOTS
In a second study, Roth put the punch card voting format -- similar
to the type of punch card used in Palm Beach and many other jurisdictions
-- to the test. The error rate on the punch cards was approx.
15 per cent. Sound familiar? The elderly made more errors and
took more time on the average than the other voters in the study.
Said Roth's report: "Subjects stated verbally and on questionnaires
that they were unsure which holes corresponded to numbers desired
and had difficulty tracking progress on the card." The punch
card format was "disliked by the majority of subjects"
because it was difficult to read. As if looking into a crystal
ball in a concluding remark in her study, Roth wrote, "does
this imply that previous election results can be challenged by
losing parties? Can public confidence in the voting process be
maintained if problems with voting systems are published in the
media?"
CANADIAN STUDY FINDS
BUTTERFLY BALLOT IS FLAWED
Here's more data. Nature (408, 665-666; 2000) on December 7, 2000,
published the results of a study by Robert Sinclair and colleagues
of the University of Alberta which reported that Canadian shoppers
made mistakes using the Butterflly ballot in a simulated voting
experiment for a Canadian prime minister. Their results: Of 53
people using the double-column butterfly ballot, four made mistakes;
three of these involved voting for the candidate in the wrong
column. In a control group, a similar group of shoppers made no
mistakes on a simpler, single-column ballot. While a limited study,
the results were statistically significant.
For further information:
http://www.nature.com/nature/
http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/butterflyballot001130.html
TEST THE BALLOT DESIGN
A couple of weeks ago when I asked a colleague, Australian David
Sless, what he thought was the single most important thing we
could all do to improve our communications with each other, he
said, "test them." Indeed, a modest amount of testing,
done by a professional can go a long way to clearing up these
ballot messes. It would be much easier and less costly to do than
to change the Constitution to replace the Electoral College with
direct election. Given the difficulty of getting the small population
states to change the Electoral College, it is eminently more practical.
On the other hand, even if we do get new voting machines, how the information is displayed on the machines is still an important factor. And, if the voting is done on a computer screen, we should have a (pop-up) dialogue box which appears that says, "Here is the candidate you chose. Is this what you want?" And, as Sless says, we should test it.
WHAT NEXT?
All of this may seem like common sense. And it is, because so
much of information design is the attempt to design something
that feels so easy and clear that one doesn't even think of it
as having been designed.
Can we reduce ballot reading errors to zero? Not likely. But we can reduce the amount of error significantly, and in the case of the Palm Beach "butterfly" ballots for President we should use all of the visual information design knowledge and skill available in the service of our democracy. It's possible. It's even nonpartisan. And it should be one of the top agenda items for Congress in the next session.
For further information: The Information Design Journal is
the leading research journal in the field of visual information
design.
http://www.benjamins.nl/jbp/journals/Idj_info.html
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Editor and Publisher: Robert E. Horn, visiting scholar, Stanford University
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