NOTE: This webpage provides resources for this course. It is NOT the course syllabus and DOES NOT provide information about course assignments, requirements, or expectations. Please consult the course syllabus for such information.

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Back to Top The following topics will be the focus of Module 1

• General definition of Information Design
  The same term is applied in several different fields with slightly different meanings/applications
• Brief history of Information Design; watersheds for trends
  Information design trends don't appear full blown. They come from somewhere, evolved from previous practice, from many perspectives.
• Disciplinary tracks associated with Information Design; brief history and contribution of each

Information Design focuses both theory and practice on the systematic collection, processing (including arrangement), and dissemination of data (disparate bits of related information) using various communication media, messages, and design principles to increase the understanding of those using the particular data set.

More simply stated, Information Design is the theory and practice of preparing and presenting information so people can use it efficiently and effectively.

The overall practice of Information Design involves the following

• Choosing relevant content and dividing it into separate "chunks" based on or in relation to specific audience(s) / purpose
• Organizing these separate information chunks to include overviews, concepts, definitions, examples, and references that follow an organizing principle
• Developing information topics within each chunk logically, with an emphasis on what is important to message and audience; provide clear navigational structure(s), consistent presentation of information subsets; assure consistent use of typographic features / cues, font face choices, use of white space, etc.

• Graphic Design: the effective graphic display/presentation of information with a focus toward effective utilization rather than attractiveness or artistic expression
• Professional Writing: practice sometimes called "document design"
• Technical Communication: creating information structures for specific information aimed at specific audiences
• Web Design: practice often called "information architecture" includes focus on message content and language, user testing and research
• Computer Science and Information Technology: a rough synonym with "Information Architecture": the design of information systems, databases, or data structures; includes data modeling and process analysis

Horn, Robert E. "Information Design: The Emergence of a New Profession." Information Design. Ed. Robert Jacobson. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 200. 15-33.

Norman, Donald. "We're All Designers"
Epilogue of Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things. New York: Basic Books. 2005.
Available: .PDF here

Norman, Donald. "Attractive Things Work Better"
Chapter 1 of Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things. New York: Basic Books. 2005.
Available: .PDF file here

Several lectures by Donald Norman are available on YouTube. Search for "Donald Norman" and watch a few to get a better sense for Norman's argument: that design is a factor in every aspect of our lives that involves the use of things.

Back to Top Information Design is a relatively recently recognized field of theory and practice focusing on the systematic collection, processing (including arrangement), and dissemination of data (disparate bits of related information) using various communication media, messages, and design principles to increase the understanding of those using the particular data set.

Information Design can be seen as operating in two different arenas: the more traditional arena of two-dimensional graphics, and the ever-evolving arena of interactive computer-driven multimedia. It has evolved from a number of disciplines, most specifically communications and visual design. Putting a pin in a definitive beginning is, therefore, difficult. But, there are several landmarks we can point to as we outline the evolution of information design as an undertaking to subjectively craft human experience.

The roots of information design can be traced back to distant campfires around which prehistoric storytellers related the histories of their tribes. The emphasis on oral storytelling continued with the priests, poets, and playwrights of the ancient world. Many of their efforts to arrange and present the information of human experience, since recorded and preserved in written (cuneiform, hieroglyphics, ancient and modern alphabets) form, are still considered classics in our current world. (For example, The Odyssey, The Greek Tragedies)

Spot maps prepared by Dr. John Snow (1813-1858) helped pinpoint the source a of cholera epidemic in London. Map showed London neighborhood overlaid with the location of cholera victim homes and location of nearest pumps for getting water. By examining the map Snow could easily see that most of the deaths occurred near a particular pump. Solution: remove the pump handle so that people could no longer get to this the tainted water.

Reading(s)
"John Snow"
UCLA Department of Epidemiology
School of Public Health
A website devoted to the life and work of Dr. John Snow. Provides information about his cholera maps.

"Visual Display of John Snow"
A response by Edward R. Tufte (The Visual Display of Quantitative Information Graphics Press, Cheshire, Connecticut, 1983) to Snow's work. Tufte says "graphical analysis testifies about the data far more effectively than calculation."

The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World (Steven Johnson. New York: Riverhead Books, 2006)
An historical narrative of Snow's map, and how it evolved at the intersection of microscopic bacteria, the tragedy and courage of individual lives, the cultural realm of ideas and ideologies, and the sprawling metropolis of London, to make sense of an experience that defied human understanding.

Online Resource(s)
John Snow's Map 1 (1854)
A high resolution image of Snow's original map

High Resolution Maps by John Snow
Available online here

Charles Joseph Minard (1781-1870) pioneered the use of graphics in engineering and statistics. He is famous for his "Carte figurative des pertes successives en hommes de l'Armée Française dans la campagne de Russie 1812-1813," a flow map published in 1869 depicting Napoleon Bonaparte's disastrous Russian campaign of 1812. Beginning at the Polish-Russian border, Minard's map used a thick brown band to show the size of Napoleon's army at each position during the march to Moscow. The path of Napoleon's retreat from Moscow, during a bitter winter, is shown by a darker lower band which is tied to temperature and time scales. Edward R. Tufte says of Minard's map "it may well be the best statistical graphic ever drawn" (The Visual Display of Quantitative Information 40). Minard's map set the standard for graphically depicting flows of people and goods in space.

Online Resource(s)
Poster: Napolean's March
Information about Minard's map, including his sources and biography, along with an image at a website maintained by Edward R. Tufte. Buy a copy of Minard's map as a 22" x 15'' poster if you like.

Corbett, John. "Charles Joseph Minard: Mapping Napoleon's March, 1861." Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science

Neurath sought to develop a universal, objective, and neutral pictorial language system that transcended linguistic and cultural barriers. His modern graphic designs sought to promote an International Picture Language and, in fact, provides the basis for much of the visual language and international signage we see and use everyday.

Reading(s)
Pendle, George. "Otto Neurath's Universal Silhouettes" Cabinet 24 Winter 2006/2007.

Lee, Jae Young. "Otto Neurath's Isotype and the Rhetoric of Neutrality" Visible Language 2008.

Charles Eames (1907-1978) and his wife Ray, beginning in 1940 and continuing four decades, were the pioneers of modern information design. They worked in many mediums including puppets, film, and furniture. The Eames chair is still considered the epitome of contemporary, comfortable design. Their most famous contribution to information design was the timeline mural which provided a graphical, linear depiction of some historical or current event with far more information carrying capacity than anything previously produced.

Reading(s)
Erwin, Daniel. "Eames: Paragon of Simplicity" October 2007
Apparently, a paper written by Erwin for his Intro to Design class.
Available in HTML format here Available in .PDF format here

Online Resource(s)
"Powers of Ten"
A short, interactive film by Charles Eames which visualizes the size of the universe, from space to subatomic particles, through a series of "jumps," each 10 times larger, or smaller, than the previous.

Timelines with their graphic depictions of intersections between space and time are one facet of visual language. Another, and very interesting, facet is comics and graphic novels, with their emphasis on the sequential juxtaposition of text and images, is directly related to the concept of timelines. See Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art (HarperPerennial, 1994. ISBN 0-06-097625-X). The subtitle reads, "The invisible art," and McCloud makes it extremely visible. Good discussion of how comics work, with many examples. The entire book is presented as a comic.
More information online at Scott McCloud.com

Designers, psychologists, linguists, and interface engineers begin discussing how to best visualize information.

"Information design" evolved as a subset of graphic design; seen as a multidisciplinary endeavor

Edward R. Tufte develops course on statistical graphics; further developed with John Tukey as information design; course materials form basis of Tufte's first book The Visual Display of Qualitative Information (1982)

Role of graphic information design begins to include message content, language, and user testing

Back to Top

• Content management
• Graphic design
• Information architecture
• Knowledge visualization
• Statistics
• Technical communication
• Technical illustration
• Typography
• Visual literacy
• Web indexing

Create a diagram that depicts how Information Design, as seen in your particular career area, connects and interacts with and draws from other, multiple disciplinary areas.