http://www.informationdesign.org/ Dedicated to the growth and improvement of the information experience industries. en-us plato@xs4all.nl 2012-12-06T14:05:59+01:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 How perception of information drives our concepts and the way we think, understand and come up with ideas. "As humans, our ability to observe and analyse the contents of the world around us is both unique and astonishing, but so too is our capacity to form verbal and visual concepts. These seem to be the principal factors which have worked to our adaptive advantage in competition with other animal species. We are, in one respect at least, superior to other animals because we have developed a greater variety of systems of communication and expression, and one of these is art." (Richard Ingram) InfoViz 2012-12-06T14:05:59+01:00 It's all about language: morphology, phonology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. "Many types of information have their own vocabulary along with conventions for visual communication." (Sarah O'Keefe ~ Scriptorium) Information graphics 2012-12-04T15:58:31+01:00 Even business graphics is on the horizon. And that's not clipart in PPTs. "In the last ten years, the area of Information Visualization has witnessed an exponential increase in its popularity. Diagrammatic reasoning and visual epistemology are becoming readily accepted methods of research in many academic domains. Concurrently, information graphics and Infovis have grabbed the attention of a larger mainstream audience." (Parsons Journal for Information Mapping Volume IV, Issue 4) Information design 2012-10-23T15:36:14+01:00 Visual thinking and communication, the way to tackle many wicked design problems. "It's not just clients who are compelled by visuals. Visuals grab everyone’s attention in meaningful, memorable ways, whether we're trying to influence project managers or CMOs. Content strategists use words to argue our points, yet our colleagues (UX and Creative, and even Project Management) use visuals. We should, too. Not sure how to turn data into information? (Tosca Fasso a.k.a. @toscafasso ~ SUBTXT) Information design 2012-10-15T16:04:53+01:00 Example of how InfoViz finds its way into Service Design. "As the field of service design evolves so do the tools. At Adaptive Path we often find ourselves debating the form and definition of service design artifacts." (Kim Cullen ~ Adaptive Path) InfoViz 2012-07-17T09:36:33+01:00 One image, a thousand words. One word, a piece of the jigsaw puzzle. "It is all too easy to create UX deliverables that are not visually pleasing. But UX expertise encompasses Web design, graphic design, and branding, so why should we be satisfied with mediocre design in our deliverables? When we present our personas, sitemaps, user flows, wireframes, and other design deliverables to our clients and stakeholders, it is our duty and responsibility to create well-designed deliverables." (Barnabas Nagy ~ UXmatters) User experience 2012-05-07T13:32:20+01:00 And who's Darth Vader of visualization? "If there is a Jedi Master of presenting data clearly, visually, and simply, then it is Hans. He proves time and time again, that data are not dull-and when you are trying to change the world, there is no excuse for boring presentations." (Garr Reynolds a.k.a. @presentationzen ~ Presentation Zen) InfoViz 2012-01-28T12:00:53+01:00 How much information does an image contain? 1.3 Mbyte? "Visual storytelling is nothing new. We only need to look to the earliest signs of humanity for proof-simple paintings on the walls of caves tell the story that people are a visual tribe." (David Armano a.k.a. @armano)courtesy of latebytes Information graphics 2011-11-22T09:50:07+01:00 Visuals are great, but what about the language it uses, spoken. "(...) the most compelling work by a new generation of designers, illustrators, graphic editors, and data journalists tackling the grand sensemaking challenge of our time by pushing forward the evolving visual vocabulary of storytelling." (Maria Popova a.k.a. @brainpicker ~ Brain Pickings)courtesy of nicoooooooon Information graphics 2011-10-26T09:40:37+01:00 "Edward Tufte occupies a revered and solitary place in the world of graphic design. Over the last three decades, he has become a kind of oracle in the growing field of data visualization - the practice of taking the sprawling, messy universe of information that makes up the quantitative backbone of everyday life and turning it into an understandable story. His four books on the subject have sold almost two million copies, and in his crusade against euphemism and gloss, he casts a shadow over the world of graphs and charts similar to the specter of George Orwell over essay and argument." (Joshua Yaffa ~ Washington Monthly) ~ courtesy of jasonkottke Information graphics 2011-05-15T10:49:02+01:00 "Visual communication via diagrams, sketches, charts, photographs, video, and animation is fundamental to the process of exploring concepts and disseminating information. The most-effective visualizations capitalize on the human facility for processing visual information, thereby improving comprehension, memory, and inference. Such visualizations help analysts quickly find patterns lurking within large data sets and help audiences quickly understand complex ideas." (Maneesh Agrawala, Wilmot Li, and Floraine Berthouzoz ~ CACM) Visual design 2011-03-21T16:39:31+01:00 "The topic of my Master thesis project is the development of a design pattern taxonomy for data visualization and information design. In its core, the project consists of a collection of 55 design patterns that describe the functional aspects of graphic components for the display, behavior and user interaction of complex infographics. The thesis is available in the form of a 200-page book that additionally includes a profound historical record of information design as well as an introduction into the research field of design patterns." (Christian Behrens) Information design 2011-01-18T13:13:45+01:00 "An hour-long documentary on statistics and infoviz produced by the BBC. Documentary which takes viewers on a rollercoaster ride through the wonderful world of statistics to explore the remarkable power thay have to change our understanding of the world, presented by superstar boffin Professor Hans Rosling, whose eye-opening, mind-expanding and funny online lectures have made him an international internet legend." courtesy of jasonkottke InfoViz 2010-12-31T15:30:58+01:00 "The explosion of information that analysts and executives must consume, as well as the increasing variety of sources from which that information comes, has boosted the popularity of information dashboards. Modeled after the dashboard of a car or airplane—which informs its operator about the status and operation of the vehicle they’re controlling at a glance—dashboard user interfaces provide a great deal of useful information to users at a glance. Typically, the role of an information dashboard is to quickly inform users and, thus, enable them to take immediate action." (Mike Hughes ~ UXmatters) Information design 2010-11-08T13:45:17+01:00 "Journalists are coping with the rising information flood by borrowing data visualization techniques from computer scientists, researchers and artists. Some newsrooms are already beginning to retool their staffs and systems to prepare for a future in which data becomes a medium. But how do we communicate with data, how can traditional narratives be fused with sophisticated, interactive information displays?" (Geoff McGee) InfoViz 2010-10-25T11:24:20+01:00