informationdesign

informationdesign
Clutter is a failure of design, not an ! attribute of information. Edward Tufte!

Edward Tufte has been described by The New York Times as the "Leonardo da Vinci of Data."

what is it?
!

informationdesign

what is it?
The design of information-intensive projects: ! ! thinking of design from a user-centric approach

informationdesign

what is it?
data is fairly worthless to most of us. to have value, it must be organized, transformed, and presented in a way that gives it meaning and makes it valuable. ! ! ! ! !
p270 ID jacobson

informationdesign

informationdesignhistory
Egyptian scribes sat every day in the marketplace and wrote ! hieroglyphic letters, reports, memos and proposals for their clients. ! At least since then, the business of assisting others to make ! their communications more effective has ourished. Robert E. Horn!

(using maps, diagrams, images as the communication method for the 21st century).

Robert Horn, political scientist, USA : best known for his development of information mapping, a method of information development suited especially for technical communication. His latest contribution to the presentation of information is called "Visual Language (1998)

evolution of informationdesign
Today s world of information overload means that ! designers are frequently asked to organize and simplify ! massive quantities of information - in terms of the ! designer s evolving role in business, expertise in ! information design has become a key factor in ! providing value to clients. !

Idw rockport

evolution of informationdesign
visual language has emerged and evolved because of the urgent needs of contemporary individuals and organizations to deal with the complexity. Many ideas are best expressed with visual language, and other can only be expressed with visual language.! ! Along with information design, visual language ! has also developed rapidly in the past decade especially because of the widespread availability of computer graphics programs. !

informationdesign

printed matter : ! ! ! ! ! information graphics : ! ! ! interactive design : ! ! ! ! ! environmental design : ! ! ! ! ! !

what is it?!
!magazines, packaging !corporate communications! !maps, charts, and diagrams! !websites, screen based projects, !digital media, hand-held devices! !waynding (directional signage !design for public spaces) !and exhibits (museums, etc.)!

informationdesign

what is it?
think : how will the user experience this information guide their journey through it! ! process : Organize : Group : Declutter : Simplify ! ! ! themes and patterns will emerge and ! you will nd the story you want to tell!

informationdesign

what is it?
Think : an information designer is like a really ! good translator or interpreter. ! ! to create a good piece of information design, ! a designer needs to understand the goal of ! the piece and be able to get to! ! the essential story or set of messages.
!

informationdesign

what is it?
Think : when you make information attractive ! and persuasive it affects whether readers !
will actually read and use the information! !

informationdesign

visualizing data

informationdesign

what is it?
!

visualizing data

informationdesign

visualizing data

informationdesign

information graphics

informationdesign

Attributes of an information designer (A user-centric mindset)

what is it?!
>>
!a passion for asking questions (nd the story to tell)!

the ability to see detail and general ! respect for the end-user s time and needs! the empathy to imagine what others feel! a sensitivity to everyday annoyances! the ability to observe and participate ! !! !A sense of humor

informationdesign

what is it?
there are thousands of ways we depend on ! design to help us sort through complicated ! information and complex choices ! whether the information is online, printed, ! environmental, or experimental ! design can cut through the clutter! to the essence of an idea ! !

informationdesign

what is it?
! searching for the aha moment !
after all the collecting, the two partners of an agency say the hardest task is peeling away the density of data . as they work, they write the words what is the story? in large letters at the top of their worksheets as a constant reminder to nd the very essence of the narrative. after all the simplifying, it s likely that only 25% of the total data will be used.

informationdesign

what is it?
! your idea must drive the design (not the other way around)! ! ! !

informationdesign

more examples
! charts, graphs and mapping !
humans show a remarkable need to visualize, understand, ! and catalog the world around them. we have been mapping ! geographic landscapes for centuries, we create charts ! and diagrams to analyze data and draw conclusions from it. ! ! well-executed information graphics create a sense of ! context and reveal relationships between sets of ! information, allowing for new conclusions. !

informationdesign

*bar graph

what is it?
!

*pie chart

informationdesign

information graphics

informationdesign

*information graphics : comparative data

informationdesign

TIMELINE: Holy texts organized to create visual and conceptual connections between the different world religions. The information graphic is essentially a data visualization of the Holy Books of 5 world religions showing the commonalities and differences of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism. The goal: offer viewers fresh insight into the topics of religion and faith.!

This graphic shows the 41 most frequent characters from different holy texts and their commonalities. Character names appear alphabetically on the x-axis. The size of the names and arcs are calculated from the total word count in all scriptures. The colored segments of the arx show the frequency of the word representing the character in the respective texts.!

information graphics : mapping

informationdesign

informationdesign

and finally
! Make everything as simple as possible, ! ! but not simpler. Albert Einstein ! ! !

informationdesign

who are the players?

!

historyofinformationdesign

who are the players?

William Playfair ! lived during the american revolution 1775-1883
he invented several major types of graphics and charts ! and popularized them through his writings on political ! and economic topics.!

historyofinformationdesign

who are the players?

Florence Nightingale
1820-1910

invented new types of statistical graphs, and one of the rst ! to use information design - in a public policy report (prepared ! for the Prime Minister during the Crimean War - which led to ! a revamping of conditions in british military hospitals)!

historyofinformationdesign

who are the players?

Michael George Muhall, (Irish, published statistical books) Otto Neurath (austrian social scientist) David Sibbet (organizational consultant and information designer)
Michael George Muhall invented pictorial statistics (late 1890 s)! Otto Neurath developed a methodology for displaying them effectively (1973). David Sibbet devised a set of techniques for graphically ! recording the process of group dynamics as they develop ! during a meeting (1980). !

historyofinformationdesign

who are the players?

Charles and Ray Eames! pioneers of modern information design the timeline mural and exhibition design !

!
!
! ! ! ! ! !

!from the 40 s to 60 s : Charles with his background in architecture, !

!and Ray with her background in abstract expressionist paintings ! !and textile design, designed pioneering and prize winning modern !furniture, monumental exhibitions and later, information design. ! !Although the timeline existed, theirs contained an unprecedented !information-carrying capacity for historical currents and events and ! !were the central organizing principal for designing exhibitions.! !

historyofinformationdesign

who are the players?

the British Information Design Society! ! invented and popularized the term information design
it s conferences have brought together users from several ! disciplines: designers, researchers in psychology and education,! computer interface designers, performance technicians, typographers, advertisers. This has led to developing! interdisciplinary university programs in information design.!

historyofinformationdesign

who are the players?

Edward Tufte information design esthetician!
his three books, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (1983), Envisioning Information (1990), and Visual Explanations (1997), have provided the eld of information design with pioneering studies in how communication can be both beautiful and useful.!

historyofinformationdesign

who are the players?

magazines and newspapers
information design vehicles art director at Time !

Nigel Holmes

! In recent decades magazines and newspapers have been ! the leaders in the popularization of information design. Advertising designers have long known about and practiced, making information attractive and persuasive, to increase its chances of being read. Nigel Homes is an acknowledged teacher and pioneer in this area and described these infotainment values in several books (1984 - 1993).! !

historyofinformationdesign

who are the players?

information design vehicles art director at Time !

Richard Saul Wurman Nigel Holmes

! he raised public awareness of the importance of information design in his books, Information Anxiety (1989), Follow the Yellow Brick Road: Learning to Give, Take and Use Instructions (1992) and Information Architects (1997)

historyofinformationdesign

who are the players?

signage for public spaces
during the past 40 years, as the environmental graphic design profession matured, the range of waynding projects rapidly expanded. In the early 1970s signage was limited almost entirely to showcasing architects and developers buildings. today almost every type of public space and most private complexes require a waynding system. As our cities continue to sprawl, getting people from place to place and orienting them in complex spaces is increasingly complicated. p16 TWH

wayfinding graphics

historyofinformationdesign