In the one week information design course, we learned to transform raw data into information. Through design, we are able to simplify the data and communicate in an effective way. The challenge of this assignment was in comparing communication channels to the relative closeness I felt for the people I was communicating with.

When thinking of communication, I instantly thought how I could visualize the interaction of daily phone-calls. I calculated the number of received calls and dialled calls between contacts and me and put this into lined-up icons. The draft reveals the relationships of me, and my contacts, while the length of space between us symbolises the closeness of our relationship.

The idea then evolved into visualizing more information. Rather than only looking at phone calls, I expanded my range to What’s App, Hangouts, Facebook and Skype. The concept of WHERE WE TALK presents where my communication with different people takes place at home and which channels we use to communicate. It includes the initial idea of showing the closeness between the contact person and me by visualizing the frequency and, more interestingly, the behavior while making calls.

By displaying furniture, it implies the spaces where I make calls such as the kitchen, bathroom, sleeping and working areas. The environment settings allows readers to easily imagine my behavior while talking. For instance, lying down on the bed, relaxing and chatting with my parents; discussing the shopping list with my flatmate in front of the refrigerator; calling my mom for help while cooking; sitting straight in front of the desk and having a meeting with my business partner.

The size of the bubbles indicates how often I have communicated with the contact, and the shape of the bubbles implies the channel I used for the call. For example, light blue represents Skype, green means What’s App, navy blue represents Facebook massages, and yellow is Google Hangouts.