Information Design

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What is Information Design?

What is Information Design?

Katrin Becker

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overviewoverview

• fleeting glance at information design– definition– what does an information designer do?

• design process• domains of the field• related disciplines• key skills / competencies

– a few examples• text• visual• interaction• sonification• bloopers

• what’s next?

Katrin Becker © 2009 Information Design

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introductions (a.k.a. my philosophy)introductions (a.k.a. my philosophy)

rationalistknowledge is a product of the mind actively organizing and making sense of experience

realist there is an existence independent of our perception

empiricist knowledge must be derived from observation or experience


Who Cares?Personal Bias

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What is Information Design?What is Information Design?


Information Design is the defining, planning, and shaping of the

contents of a message and the environments in which it is

presented, with the intention of satisfying the information needs of

the intended recipients. (source)

there is no single

accepted definition

this is a new field

(10 – 30 years, depending on who you ask)

extent and bounds still

evolving

diverse skills, applications,

body of knowledge

5Katrin Becker © 2009 Information Design

Must understand both syntax and semantics.

Not as easy as one might think....

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What does an Information Designer do?What does an Information Designer do?


graphic design

scientific writing

technical writing

book publishing

desktop publishing

web design and

development

multimedia production

business and professional

writing

advertising

signage documentation

cartography

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it’s about the messageit’s about the message


Information in B&W by tmoody000

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the design processthe design process

design is: (Budgen, 1993)

1. requirements: needs and constraints (what is needed)

2. specification (what will be done)

3. ** design ** (how it will be done)

4. implementation (actually making it)

5. testing : – verification :are we building the thing right?– validation: are we building the right thing?

(making sure it was the right thing done right)


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designing ‘widgets’designing ‘widgets’

all of these elements appear in one form or another in every single design

process, regardless of the thing being designed.


•what do we need?

•what will we do?

•how will we do it?

•DO IT

•how did we do?

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caution:caution:

widgets aren’t really real.

the common elements of design

are just a starting point


each project will have unique elements.

some problems have more than others.

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so what’s the answer?so what’s the answer?

• there is NO right answer – at least no single one.

• there are many design models.

• many models work well in specific instances.

• none work reliably in all situations – even within a restricted domain .


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speaking of domains…..speaking of domains…..


information design is more

than “just” design


Theory&

Practice

Utilization

DesignDesign

Systems DesignMessage Design

Cognitive StrategiesUser Characteristics

EvaluationProblem Analysis

Task AnalysisCriterion-Referenced

MeasurementFormative EvaluationSummative Evaluation

DevelopmentDevelopmentPrint Technologies

Audio-Visual TechnologiesComputer-Based

TechnologiesIntegrated Technologies

Management

Project ManagementResource Management

Delivery System ManagementInformation Management

Media UtilizationDiffusion of Innovations

Implementation & Institutionalization

Policies & Regulations

Adapted from:Instructional

Technology: The Definition and

Domains of the Fieldby Barbara B. Seels and Rita C. Richey

ISBN 0-89240-072-2

Domains of Information

Design

Domains of Information

Design

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you can’t be / do it allyou can’t be / do it all

Katrin Becker © 2009 Information Design Just One Click Away by arturojm

design discipline

diverse applications

draws from many

disciplines

broad skill set


graphic design

web development

information architecture

interaction design

multimedia

psychologysoftware

development

usability

user experience

user interface design

writing and editing

instructional design

computer science

art

information visualization

sonification

what fields / disciplines are related?what fields / disciplines are related?

cognitive science

industrial design

newmedia

dataarchitecture

epistemologyontology

typography

linguistics

political science

policy studies

policy studies


what are key skills / competencies?what are key skills / competencies?

teamwork

audience analysis

communication

digital asset creating &

management

taskanalysis

structured approaches

interaction design

research

outcomeanalysis

creativity humanfactors

technology

project management

costanalysis

life-long learning

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some examplessome examples

Katrin Becker © 2009 Information DesignWhen in Rome by lilsip


information architectureinformation architecture

Brad Paley’s Text Arc

Averaging helps show the viewer where a word is used. "Gryphon"

appears near 9:00, pulled close to his

episode in the story by the rubber band-

like action of the averaging.


visualizationvisualization

FaceBook FriendWheel

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information visualizationinformation visualization


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We get some information from this...

We get some information from this...


7-day forecast:static view

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We get different information from this...



7-day forecast:

maybe not as static as we

thought

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7-day forecast:

can start to look at

forecasting trends /

accuracy


A quick comparison...A quick comparison...


information visualizationinformation visualization

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How do we know this is a

research paper?

How do we know this is a

research paper?


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What Colour Can Do...What Colour Can Do...


20031999

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sonificationsonification


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cognitive sciencecognitive science


source:http://www.readingonline.org/articles/art_index.asp?HREF=/articles/r_walker/

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simplicitysimplicity


2004 Toyota Apache Dashboard by Trit

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signagesignage


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advertisingadvertising



communication

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What’s Next?What’s Next?


a more thorough treatment– evolution– current status– theoretical foundations– key concerns and issues– core competencies– specializations– technology– societal trends– the future

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Questions?Questions?


Thanks

Information Design

Education

Transcript of Information Design