JordanO_R03

I think there is a great deal to be learned from the space shuttle disaster that took place in the mid 1980’s. This is an event that could have been prevented with greater communication because the research was clearly there or almost clearly there. Either way there was substantial evidence that a red flag should have been risen and the space shuttle launch should have been delayed, or postponed all together in till the proper safety measures where meet and peoples life’s where not in jeopardy. It is fairly clear that this was more of a political accident than it was scientific, or as a result of mechanical failure. The information was there but could have been conveyed in a much better way to get the point a crossed to all of the people only concerned with money and deadlines.

The issue that was discussed both in the article and in class was the lack of information that the charts they used actually provided. There was little character in these charts and also little indicators of what the damage to these rockets actually referred to. There were subtle indicators that there was O-ring damage and to which part of the rocket it was affecting. There was also a temperature factor involved in these charts; this gave the temperatures readings at which these rockets where affected and when the O-ring took on damage.

There are many things that could greatly improve upon these charts as they stand or they could benefit from some simple changes that would make them a great deal more visually impacting. There could be a easy incorporation of color to these charts. The color red is an easily identifiable indicator of danger, or warning. If the designers were to use this to represent the damage caused to the O-ring in some form or variation it would make the graphic instantly more powerful. A second idea that would result in greater effectiveness in my opinion would be to change the icons and symbols that make up these charts altogether. This was a concept discussed in class briefly and I think could be taken to a greater depth of exploration. One member of our class came up with the idea to represent engine problems with little icons of perished astronauts. Now I think this would be a interesting concept and would certainly drive the point home more to the political leaders of NASA and our nation, but from a designers point it may also not be the most sensitive method. I think that a large-scale image of a rocket with powerful colorful graphics representing explosions would be a interesting information graphic. I think that there could be the correlation between the temperatures that a rocket is affected by represented on a image of a rocket laying on its side. One side would represent the coldest temperatures and one side representing the highest temperatures. The chart then would highlight the damage in a detailed way also informing with more detailed informative text what the significance of the impacted areas will have and how the temperature has a direct impact on the O-rings performance and safety. There is much more to concept that could be discussed in detail and this is only a first idea of how to solve this communication problem. The implication of color and powerful icons along with informative text is a start in a right direction anyways.