Just what do you see when you’re eating cereal for breakfast? Some literal thinkers might see just what’s there – a bowl of cereal, something to eat and provide nourishment. Individuals with a bit more artistic inclination might see the stars of the sky spreading across the Milky Way, or a surreal pond filled with edible lilly pads. What Visual and Interactive Designer Ed Lea sees is a visual metaphor for web products. His graphic featured here looks at how such a designer could interpret their breakfast.
The nourishing infographic dissects the normal bowl of cereal and rearranges its components into elements of an interface. In the graphics first frame, Lea looks at what encompasses all the elements of the design, the product. In the second he looks at the user experience – in this case the bowl of cereal ready to eat. Next he looks at the user interface – a spoon for interacting with the bowl. Then Lea looks at two things which the user rarely thinks about – the server and datacenter – represented here by the box of cereal and the cabinet of various cereals. Overall, Lea’s visualization is a simple way to break down something rather complex and make it shall we say… “digestible.”