FreshSpectrum Information Design
On a mission to make research and evaluation more accessible.
Are you interested in design? On this page you will find blog posts on topics like design accessibility, user experience design, graphic design, human centered design, and data design.
This is one in a series of before and after designs. With each post I take a real publicly available resource or report and adapt the writing, format, structure, and illustrations in order to increase …
Continue Reading about Guiding Principles for Evaluators – Before and After →
Compelling Qualitative Data Visualization, my latest free-to-read book, is now live. Here is a little synopsis. What's the book about? In the book I talk about my approach to illustrating …
Continue Reading about My qualitative dataviz book is now live! (and free) →
This is the second in a series of before and after designs. With each post I'll take a real publicly available resource or report and adapt the writing, format, structure, and illustrations in order …
Continue Reading about CDC Evaluation Framework – Before and After →
I've decided to create a few concepts to show you exactly how I approach adapting pdf reports for the web. These will be unofficial concepts adapted from real reports and resources. My goal is to …
Continue Reading about UNICEF Strategic Plan 2026–2029 – Before and After →
Where do I start? If you read my last blog post, you'll know a little about my plans to turn FreshSpectrum from being my personal/consulting blog into a kind of evaluation forever conference. At …
Continue Reading about Behind the Scenes: Developing a FreshSpectrum Content Strategy →
Back in 2006 I was in grad school. At the time I lived and worked full time in the Maryland suburbs outside of DC. A few times a week, I would take the Metro from the end of the line to …
My first piece of advice, stop using PDFs to share your reports. Now I know that 95% of you will not follow that advice. Even if PDFs are shown to be unfit for human consumption, they are still …
Continue Reading about If you must use a PDF, at least make it widescreen. →
Time for another report design mindset change. At the most basic level successful communication requires a sender, a message, and a receiver. You, as the report designer, are the sender. The …
Continue Reading about You should build an audience, before you write your report. →
What is a spork report? I want you to imagine visiting a nice little cafe for a light lunch. You decide to order a simple salad and a cup of soup. When the meal shows up, what utensils will you …
Page count is a somewhat useless measure. When I was young, every once and awhile a teacher would allow us to bring in a "cheat sheet" to use when taking a test. I would write in tiny script so …
Continue Reading about How long does it take to read a report? →
