Information design

Eva Pidgeon    November 2006


Introduction

Information design is a relatively new professional field, however, it relies on an understanding of age-old principles and processes, even though it has a tool-kit of new technologies. This paper looks at some definitions of the discipline, its background, practical applications — particularly in relation to web development, and some of the issues and trends facing its practitioners.

What is information design?

To have value, information must be organized, structured and presented in a way that gives it meaning. Data alone, as the raw product of research or creation, can be inadequate for effectively communicating meaning. Data must become understandable information, and information needs to be made both accessible and useable to achieve that aim. The field of information design is concerned with these transformation processes.

Information design has been defined as:

  1. a broad term for the design tasks of deciding how to structure, select, and present information (inclusive of information architecture, information visualization, and information retrieval). (Source: Usability First web site)
  2. addressing high-level information problems to provide the most possible clarity, understanding and effectiveness... In order to achieve that ambitious end, information design must be open to any and every discipline or field of thought... information design must actively encourage and participate in research that increases our understanding of information and the effect that it has: how and why people respond to information, how the human brain processes information and builds knowledge, as well as how humans organize knowledge and convert it into improved behaviour and operation. Better understanding of these factors will enable us to create the best possible information, interfaces and communications. (Source: Dirk Knemeyer, Chief Design officer at Thread Inc. in Nichani 2004.)
  3. a field and approach to designing clear, understandable communications by giving care to structure, context, and presentation of data and information. As a field, its principles relate to all communications products and experiences, regardless of medium (print, broadcast, digital, online, etc.). Information Design is, primarily, concerned with clarity (instead of simplicity) and understanding. (Source: Shedroff 2004.)

Related but distinct fields of expertise include information architecture, usability, interaction design and visual design.

There has been some confusion on the differences between information architecture and information design. Terminology and overlapping areas of skills are still evolving and this is discussed further in the section 'Issues — disparate views'.

For the purposes of this paper, the focus is on information design as it applies to publishing educational or business information, whether online or in other electronic or print media.

Background

Although information design is relatively new as a professional field, information design processes have always been with us. Anyone who attempts to organize their thoughts and communicate them is making judgements on the goals and clarity of the information they present.

Storytelling can be seen as an ancient example of information design, with the skill of the teller adding greatly to the effective communication of the contents of the story.

An early example of information design being applied to complex statistical information is the drawing done in 1861 by Charles Minard depicting Napoleon's march against Moscow (in STC SIG 2002) . The large chart shows the path and size of the army plotted against temperature and time scales for each location, dramatically illustrating the horrendous losses suffered.

Minard's graphic has been described as "probably the best statistical graphic ever drawn" in the words of another outstanding figure in the information design field, Edward Tufte. He was Professor Emeritus at Yale University, and the author of The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (1983) which provides still highly regarded examples of how complex information can be represented visually.

From the current information design standpoint, a new reality is emerging in terms of what is possible in information handling. This is driven by technological options allowing information to be 'blended and woven' into software in ways that were barely imaginable a decade ago.

"The face of software is changing. It's often more browser-like and increasingly offers portals to the Web. Sometimes its displays are conditional on who the user is and what the user has done. Sometimes its components no longer stand still; they move, and entire displays can shift shape." (Marion 2001).

Some of the practical applications of information design using these new methods are discussed below.

Practical applications

Information design has long been applied to the development of items such as signage systems, forms, tests and test scores, information kiosks, data tables, statistical displays, diagrams, ballots, maps, schedules and timetables, manuals, product catalogues, advertising, food and medicine labels and instructions and so on.

For businesses, information design principles can be applied to assist organisations define the image they wish to establish, to co-ordinate on-line, print media and other communications strategies, and to integrate regulatory and marketing information in readily useable formats.

An example of the type of services frequently offered by professional information designers can be summarised as:

(Source: CRIA 2004)

The information designer can examine an existing communication 'problem' or need, recommend alternative methods to record, store, process and format the base data, improve or change the method of delivery of the information (eg. from a manual to interactive help system), and monitor the results. Information design principles can assist integration of business web site design with back office processes, such as handling of customer enquiries by email using a consistent style and approach.

In web design and development, the application of information design services can help unify the contributions of other fields of expertise. Erik Spiekermann (2002 on the AIGA web site) says, "There have always been designers who have not mainly been interested in making beautiful images, but solving problems following a more analytical approach. Often, however, the analytically derived solutions have lacked in finesse — they simply weren't attractive. This schism still exists when it comes to web design: business consultants may define the problem well, but don't care what the visual solution looks like. Engineers as well as programmers tend to use the constraints of the backend implementation to deny designers the freedom to explore more exciting graphics, interesting interfaces or surprising visuals. Who, then, is equipped to formulate good information design for the web? First of all, designers who have not been afraid of those wicked design problems in the classic media (which have never attracted high fees or awards) are probably more qualified to design websites than a lot of the new, self-proclaimed web-specialists. True, time and motion are elements that the "classic" designers are not familiar with, but they can be incorporated by working with specialists. Designing functional, yet beautiful websites is more a question of attitude than one of style."

Issues — disparate views

Information design is still consolidating as a discipline and the roles and terminology is still evolving. There has been some confusion in the past about the differences between information design and information architecture. The two terms have sometimes been treated as synonyms and there has been much debate on exact definitions (STC SIG 2002). This is less common now there has been an explosion of practical work done in these domains.

At its core, information architecture deals with the structure of a website. It has strong connection to the library sciences. So, "if you have a large website handling many documents, then the task of easily finding, browsing and navigating these documents is the responsibility of the information architect. Typically this would entail building labeling systems, creating taxonomies and controlled vocabularies, designing the navigation and optimizing the searching of documents. Note that there is an emphasis on the structure here, hence the title information architecture.

While information architecture deals with the structure of a website, information design deals with the design and presentation of information to facilitate understanding." (Nichani 2004)

Nathan Shedroff was an early, prolific writer on information design and his 1994 theory paper has often been quoted (for example on STC SIG 2002). Nathan has now changed his terminology to move towards the term 'experience design' and broadened his view of the field to be more all encompassing of every aspect of an information consumer's experience. Conversely, the term 'information designer' is now appearing as one of the defined roles in the development of both web sites and web software applications (Garrett 2000).

The CRIA site raises another issue, which is the extent to which some of the more lofty ideals of the information design 'gurus' can be applied. David Sless points out "Tufte spares no expense in getting the best from current technology-a luxury of time and economy which is seldom offered to today's information designers who are invariably working to tight time lines with restricted budgets." A counterbalancing view is that new available technologies are greatly opening up the possibilities for effectively improving information handling with ease and economy.

Future trends

The development of increasingly sophisticated front- and back-end technologies is fostering the use of browser-based applications and the web as a remote software interface. Some of the new technologies available to information designers are indicated in the following information design topic list (Source: Jim Gillespie 2006):

Information designers will constantly need to be asking themselves questions about what tools and techniques are most appropriate for different forms of interaction and why. The enormous possibilities of new software, and ways information can best be delivered using it, are only beginning to be explored.

Australian Government initiatives are supportive of greater application of information design considerations in the presentation of business information. Interoperability is the capacity to transfer and transform information between different technologies. Interoperability is important to public policy objectives because it helps determine the number of organisations that can engage in, and accrue benefits from, e-business technology. A guide booklet (DCITA 2004) has been produced to help small businesses publish their catalogues. The guide addresses this issue of creating a single master e-catalogue that can be read in different formats by numerous buyers.

Summary

Information design is an emerging and evolving field with new technologies opening the way for exciting and varied possibilities for information handling.

The final word is from Erik Spiekermann (2002, on the AGIA site) "There are some encouraging signs that information design is finally coming into its own. Identifying the problem — the bogeyman we call information anxiety — is the first step. And more and more businesses are now discovering the advantages of clear communications. Their response signals a fundamental shift in design thinking to a model where something is more efficient, more practical and — what a surprise — more affordable, precisely because it is rationally designed."

References

CRIA (Communication Research Institute of Australia Inc.) (2004) Expert Services. Retrieved October 30, 2004 from http://www.communication.org.au/index.html

DCITA (Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) (2004) From Paper to Procurement. Effective catalogue creation and management for buyers and suppliers. Retrieved October 30, 2004 from http://www2.dcita.gov.au/ie/ebusiness/interoperability

Frontend Solutions (2004) Knowledge centre, Papers Retrieved October 31, 2004 from http://users.bigpond.net.au/uceva/Papers.htm

Garrett, J.J. (2000) The Elements of User Experience. Retrieved September 5, 2004, from http://www.jjg.net/ia/elements.pdf

Marion, C (1999, 2001) What is Interaction Design and What Does It Mean to Information Designers? Part 1 of 2 Retrieved November 1, 2004 from http://www.chesco.com/~cmarion/PCD/WhatIsInteractionDesign.html

Nichiani, M (2004) Embracing Information Architecture and Information Design — Information Architecture Vs. Information Design. Retrieved October 30, 2004 from http://learnscope.flexiblelearning.net.au/LearnScope/UserProfile.asp?Id=129

Shedroff, N. (1994) Information Interaction Design: A Unified Field Theory of Design. Retrieved October 30, 2004 from http://www.nathan.com/thoughts/unified/

Shedroff, N (2004) Glossary. Retrieved October 30, 2004 from http://www.nathan.com/ed/glossary/index.html

STC (Society for Technical Communication) Information Design SIG, (2002) An Information Design timeline. Retrieved October 30, 2004 from http://www.stcsig.org/id/timeline.html

Spiekermann, E (2002) Information design on the web. In AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts), Information Design. Retrieved October 31, 2004 from http://designforum.aiga.org/content.cfm?ContentAlias=%5Fgetfullarticle&aid=278943

Tuft, E (n.d.) In The Work of Edward Tuft and Graphics Press. Retrieved October 30, 2004 from http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/

Usability First (2002-2004) Glossary — Information design. Retrieved October 30, 2004 from http://www.usabilityfirst.com/glossary/main.cgi?function=display_term&term_id=427