Lindsey Martin (April 12, 1996)
Dear Colleagues:
What is the lexigraphical status of the expression 'information design'? Is it a discipline? A loose commercial designation like 'desk-top publishing'? A port-manteau word?
Yours truly.
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Robert Jacobson (April 16, 1996)
As far as I can tell, it's what information designers do. Much in the same way that architecture is what architects do. Is "architecture" a discipline? A loose commercial designation like "building construction"? A port-manteau word?
I am in the process of editing an anthology comprised of 15+ contributions, all about "information design," and I am delighted to report there are only 14 different definitions. Two authors actually agree on one.
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David Barker-Plummer (April 16, 1996)
I don't know about its lexicographical status, but it certainly seems an unfortunate choice of term. Surely no-one designs information.
*Representations of information*, maybe.
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Andrew Thompson (April 16, 1996)
I would be curious too about the use of the term 'information design' because I have seen the term used in many different references. I tend to use the term in reference to the actual structure (or architecture) of information, as in a bank statement or a web site, or screening a large amount of information in order to streamline and simplify the material. I also use the term as a graphic design term, in designing the layout of the information for maximum usability and attractiveness (without being cartoony!). But it seems to also be used in more technical terms as in programming and strict interface design. Often when doing research on information design I run across references which have no bearing to my needs of the term 'information design,' often leading to dead ends.
So what exactly is the consensus in the use of the term information design? I will be anxious to hear.
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Howard Liptzin (April 16, 1996)
Hello list,
I recently read a quote from Jean Cocteau which brought up two interesting issues for me. Here is the quote, as it appeared in the article:
"The greatest masterpiece in the world is only a dictionary out of order."
The quote quite nicely illustrates how information in one form makes a great research tool, while a subset of the same information, rearranged, has a completely different purpose. Yet strictly speaking, it is still information, designed.
It underscores the fact that, for me, really useful information design can have a wide variety of goals -- to educate, to amuse or even to confound (in the sense of to reframe in such a way as to tickle the recipient into a new understanding of the info/data, as opposed to merely confuse). The raw material is information, the goal directs the brief.
So my first question is this -- can we come up with a concise definition of information design that takes this idea into account? (And if not, why not?)
Since the field of information design, as such, is in it's infancy especially with respect to the understanding of many clients, I find it useful to use quotes and analogies such as may be found in RS Wurman's intro to Info Architecture (tsunami, etc.) to clearly explain what I'm talking about.
So my second question is this -- what techniques, stories, quotes, analogies or other tools do you use to introduce the field of information architecture/design to clients and potential clients?
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Jay Rutherford (April 26, 1996)
I quote from the most recent issue of "ID News", the newsletter of the International Institute of Information Design (IIID):
"What is Design?
Design is the intellectual creative effort of an originator, manifesting itself in drawings or plans which include schemes and specifications.
What is Information Design?
Information design is the defining, planning, and shaping of the contents of a message and the environments it is presented in with the intention of achieving particular objectives in relation to the needs of users."
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Peter J. Bogaards (April 26, 1996)
Trying to compose another definition of Information design, various elements come to mind. In my opinion, Information design is based on a process view of the transformation of data-elements into information. Furthermore, a information design process is related to a specified domain in which domain dependent and domain independent parts can be identified. These parts are related to declarative (What) or procedural (How) information. Lastly, information design is aimed at a definite surplus value related to, as R.S.Wurman puts it, the way people understand a specific domain. So, combining all these thoughts, I come up with the following definition of Information design:
"Information design is the intensional process in which data-elements related to a specific domain are transformed in order to obtain an understandable representation of that domain."
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Here is my definition of information design. It is from my chapter "Information Design as a Profession - A Preliminary Assessment" by Robert E. Horn, a chapter prepared for Robert Jacobson (ed) Information Design (MIT Press, forthcoming).
As you can see I disagree with my editor's definition, sent to this list a couple of days ago.
"What is Information Design?
Information design is defined as the art and science of preparing information so that it can be used by human beings with efficiency and effectiveness. Information design's primary products appear as documents and as presentations on computer screens.
Objectives of Information Design
As I see it, the primary objectives of information design are:
The values that distinguish information design from other kinds of design are efficiency and effectiveness at accomplishing the communicative purpose."
Brief Notes on History
The Information Design Journal, the most prominent journal of the field goes back to volume one, number one in 1979. It is published out of the University of Reading, Department of Typography and Graphic Communication and edited by Paul Stiff.
The Information Design Association in England has had at least 5 international conferences that I know of.
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Here's two cents:
Information design is the identification of constraints on understanding and the outsmarting of them.
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<I've been biting my lip reading the definitions posted here recently, and can restrain myself no longer.>
In his book 'The Roots of the Self', Robert Ornstein posits a new model of the personality based on three axes - a model which supposedly fits better with recent discoveries in neurophysiology than previous, psychological models. One of these axes he describes as the deliberation/liberation continuum. Most of us have a set point somewhere along this axis, which at either extreme trails off into disorders (obsessive compulsive disorder at the 'deliberation' end, schizophrenia at the 'liberation' end). Creative people, he suggests, sit close to the liberation end - often crossing over into schizotypal behaviours.
I'd like to add to Ornstein's assessment by suggesting, from the evidence I've accumulated over the past few years, that temperamentally, *information designers* sit a whole lot closer to the deliberation pole than most other types of designer. They are, I think, more likely to be compulsive list-makers than erratic, disorganized geniuses. They share with the accountant and the engineer a love of precision, detail and... lets face it, the duller aspects of visual communication.
So, in the spirit of furthering the debate, my answer to the question 'what is Information Design?' is that it is perhaps the nearest that graphic design comes to trainspotting.
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