Manifestations of information overload and sensory overload in the digital environment
Collect visual materials.
Visual Experiment
I wanted to combine the visual language developed in my earlier research with the image of a contemporary computer in order to explore the theme of information overload. While the first stage of the project focused on revealing hidden systems, this outcome shifts towards how we now experience technology as a constant flow of content, notifications, and digital activity. To reflect this transition, I introduced a more modern and technological colour palette, using brighter and cleaner tones associated with current interfaces and screen-based environments.
The first image represents the moment of unlocking a screen. I wanted to suggest that, despite advances in technology, digital images are still fundamentally constructed from individual pixels, echoing the simplified visual logic found in Inside the Personal Computer. The second page focuses on how devices have evolved since the 1980s, showing that modern keyboards now integrate touchpads and fingerprint sensors, combining multiple functions within a single surface.
The desktop composition presents numerous files and folders, acknowledging how each user organises their digital space differently according to personal habits and workflows. Finally, the fifth image uses a horizontal bar to visualise the continuous arrival of new information entering from the right side of the screen. This gesture represents the endless stream of updates, messages, and data that characterises contemporary digital life.
Class Review
This approach was ultimately too abstract, making it difficult for the viewer to immediately understand the intended meaning while reading the work. Although the project aimed to record a day of personal computer use, the visuals introduced too many possible interpretations, which weakened the clarity of the narrative. Rather than communicating a specific personal experience, the outcome felt overly open-ended and lacked a clear reading direction.
In particular, the idea of information overload was not effectively conveyed. The compositions did not fully communicate the sense of being surrounded by constant notifications, files, updates, and incoming data that I intended to express. As a result, the visual language did not yet match the conceptual ambition of the project.
Reflecting on this, I realised that it would be more effective to first establish a complete and consistent visual system before documenting a day of computer use. By defining clearer rules for colour, symbols, layout, hierarchy, and movement, the work could communicate more directly while still allowing room for personal interpretation. This would create a stronger foundation for expressing both routine digital behaviour and the overwhelming nature of contemporary information flow.
Design Visual System
Try different colors – should they be gradients or solid colors?
The system I built mainly consists of three parts: information container classes, unit classes, and signal classes, as well as the hardware components and storage capacity of a modern computer.
The colours used to represent storage capacity are drawn directly from the existing colour palette of my project, helping to maintain visual consistency across the work. I expressed the capacity through percentages, using colour as a clear indicator of data usage and remaining space. This transforms technical information into a simple visual language that is easy to read while reinforcing the overall system of the project.
A day With Computer Book Layout1
I designed this book, A Day with the Computer, using a newly developed visual system, and this represents the initial layout stage. At this point, I focused on establishing the overall structure, hierarchy, and flow of information across the pages. The layout serves as the foundation for recording a day of computer use, translating everyday digital interactions into a clear and organised visual language.
Size Choose
My two publications are both 180*120 mm in size if I put them together, that's the size of my computer.
Class Review
After the tutorial, the professor identified a number of layout issues within the book, including several basic alignment problems. These were important points for me to address, as I had previously focused mainly on vertical alignment while overlooking the horizontal alignment of text and images. This feedback was particularly useful, as it helped me recognise that successful layout depends on balance and consistency across the entire page rather than in only one direction.
The tutorial also introduced new visual references and playful conceptual approaches that expanded my thinking. One suggestion was to humorously represent available storage space as our remaining free time, transforming technical data into something more personal and relatable. The professor also encouraged me to consider how the book, although visually dense and potentially overwhelming to read, could still communicate the positive and energetic attitude I originally wanted to express. This feedback helped me see that information overload does not need to be represented only as pressure or negativity, but can also reflect possibility, activity, and contemporary rhythm.
Screen System Book Layout
Size: 180mm*120mm
Bending: Concertina Fold
A Day With Computer Book Layout
Size: 180mm*120mm
Bending: Ohm staple binding
The printing process was the biggest challenge I encountered. I tried printing three times, but none of them could achieve the accordion binding I wanted, the print shops couldn't crimp extra-long pages.
Test
- The ohmic staples could not be aligned well in the first two binding attempts, and the printed content also had problems.
- Regarding the accordion fold brochure, the final solution to the problem of its excessive length making creases impossible was to splice it together. After many attempts, it was finally possible to achieve a crease that was not very noticeable from the front.