Information Design

Information design is designing communication to inform, to make information easier to understand and making complex information clear and simpler. Overall creating an efficient yet effective and enjoyable information. It is a non traditional approach; it’s not just pie charts and bar charts; it is integrating images and visual design to what starts off as heaps of text or statistical information

You find information design everywhere; some of which you may not realise but there has been such thought process and development before being published. Some include: Maps, Broachers, menus, Recipes, packaging, bus stop timetables, instruction manuals etc.

When creating and evaluating design/graphic communication there are several factors you must consider and assess to assure the success of the imagery. Without evaluating and assuring these key elements have been taken into consideration, everything would just be a huge jumble and frustrate the viewers: the last thing any designer would want.  These key aspects are:
Grouping information:  assuring that the lines, spacing, columns are clear and define each section of the layout. This creates a clearly formatted and breathable piece for viewer to indulge.

Consistency: creating a formal/informal language appropriation to the layout or typography. Ultimately decided upon depending on the audience, tone of voice and message you are trying to get across.  

Typography:  Ultimately the type must be legible for the audience, putting inplace headings and sub headings if needed. The type chosen must also be appropriate for the audience, topic or message it trying to convey, enhancing and defining the message.

Grid Structures: Although pushing the boundaries and thinking one step ahead is what we are taught to do; the information and graphics much be clear, consistent and navigate from one place to the other. There are several aspects we must think about to assure cleanliness of the design for example; margins, gutters, columns, relevancy of imagery.

Graphic elements: Whether it be adding bullet points, icons, pictograms, illustrations, shapes, lines etc they all enhance the visual pleasure and consistency of the page. As people say, one picture can paint a thousand words.

Spacing: Different ranges of spacing create different tones of voice to a piece of design. Whether it is all tightly packed together, have lots of white space or positive and negative spacing etc. You must also take into consideration legibility of spacing for type, because if it is tightly packed together in a small, times new roman font, are people really going to bother reading it?

Visual Hierarchy: Creating a visual hierarchy will lead then viewer around the canvas, adding structure to the page. There are several ways to create a hierarchy within a piece of design: type, size, weight, colour, spacing, lines etc. A good example to give is hierarchy of comics!

A few information designers I’ve found to be truly inspirational and really give that additional knowledge and understanding to the graphics are:

Neville Brody: it is clear to say that Neville is one of the more experimental information typographers, breaking boundaries and challenging the type, layout and structure. A style which can be used on posters, t-shirts or magazines rather than on a piece of packaging etc.                                            

Otto Neurath: has created a series of isotypes and was one of the first to start the notion of information design in a visual way. We can see the simplicity in his ideas yet they all created a defined statement!

                                              
Richard Saul Wurman: has given us 5 ways of categorising helping us to understand the notion of organisation within a piece of information and graphics: LATCH: L-Location, A-Alphabetical, T-Time, C-Category, H-Hierarchy. A short film he has created which talks about each of these in more depth!

What the font?

When designing there are different roots and disciplines in which we as designers use to communicate graphically. The three key disciplines in which a designer can choose to use are: Design to Invite, Design for information and Expressive graphics. This can be done through a range of platforms;  adverting, virals, branding, typography, motion graphics, corporate publishing etc.

Designing for invitation: This aims to invite and engage people into the product, service or brand; persuading them into the idea.  Simply communicating the offer to the audience.
Throughout all advertisements it is clear to say that they all use aspects, illustrations and graphics to draw you in and engage you into the product they are offering. From accountancy companies, fashion to food and electrical products all use this principle to persuade the audience.
An example of a company using its unique selling points (USP) of the product to persuade people to buy the products is the McCain chips: expressing their British potatoes, by using the products themselves to create a union jack. Another example is the marmite campaign has a series of delicate illustrations yet put across it love or hate it strap line/ideology. The brand also keeps you interacting with the product by having websites and facebook like or hate it pages.

 

Design for information: This is used to inform and educate the audience. Creating simple concepts for complex data/information; adding understanding.
One of the most iconic pieces of information design is the Underground tube map originally by Edward Johnston and adapted by Harry Beck. A simple creation informing people of which trains go where and all the stops they take. Simply using colour codes for different trains, dots for the stops, diamond shapes for interchange stops, stop names and the river Thames running through created a clear circuit like, informative design. This design is so clear and presented so well that it has been manipulated over a range of railways throughout the world.

Expressive graphics: This adds a graphical language of emotion, ethics and values. Expressing and debating for you, to help make an option over the concept.
A simple piece of advertising adds that emotion and movement to their design campaign as well as adding insight into the product is the apple iPod adverts. From the movement of the silhouette to the vibrant bursts of blocking colour.
An adaptation of the current iconic I Love NY logo by Milton Glazer expressed emotion and added real ethics to what happened. When the 911 attacks happened Milton simply adapted his current logo design, by burning the corner of the heart to show the terror which happened (corner because that is where the state of NY is on the map); but also with the additional text it boosted the morals of the country when it was posted up.

How text can change the meaning of an image

A photograph or an image always has a story, a meaning. A photographs meaning can change depending on who is looking at the image and we all have different approaches of thinking and visualisation; creating hundreds of possibilities to the meaning of an image. Therefore designers imply an addition of text to give the image a direct meaning for what it is intending to show, creating a form of legibility.

This also makes me think of photography is general, is there any way in which we can tell what someone in that image is thinking, find out what the people are going through, or discover what their situation is like; and to me it is always been an intriguing factor.
A photographer called Jim Goldenberg, has created a series of photographs called rich and poor. His images are not focused as one big bold photograph but have text weaved into them. The text of compelling stories brings so much more emotion and understanding to the photograph as a whole. Also with the hand written text it adds personality and reality to their living; in comparison to computerised text or no text at all. It is clear to say from this that text can change the context in which we are looking at an image, opening it up to the broader picture.

Another artist which has created something similar is Wendy Ewald, she has taken a series of portraiture shots and introduced a line of text. The line of text introduces more emotion and meaning behind the image as a whole; relating the emotion in their eyes, expression on their faces and the body language corresponding to their situation.

In the advertising industry today, designers are creating such abstract, indirect, vibrant imagery it is hard to tell exactly what is being advertised. And with a small addition of text it becomes clearer to the viewer to tell what is being advertised; somewhat making the image legible. Below I have gathered a few examples of camera advertisements which have been using this very abstract, yet intriguing imagery.



1. The image of the eye could refer to a nature programme 2. A documentary  3. A holiday brochure or a pool yet they all are advertising different cameras and presenting their unique features of 1. Image quality 2. Capture speed 3. Use under water

Overall it is clear to say that text can alter the context of an image and can strengthen the meaning of an image; creating new varieties but also direct meanings. Although it is a very simplistic process it can give the image a whole new lease of life!

The 10 Essential Milestones in Graphic Production

The design process is a very tougher process in which all of us designers must go through in order to produce the most effective, professional outcomes for our work. This makes it interesting to look back through time about production and different processes and styles which have come about through the years; as it definitely has effected and enabled the variety art and designs produced over the periods. Creating some of the essential milestones in graphic production.

The history of print and graphic production has gone through thousands of different forms, enabling new, efficient, artistic forms of design to be created. Here are 10 milestones in which I feel have and will be the most influential over the years for my work and for several other designers.

1. The Gutenberg press – a form of flat bed printing press, allowing engraved metal blocks to transfer ink onto a flat bedded media(blocks previously created from wood) This process allowed the first form of rapid mass production and the start of a revolution of printing.

2. Lithography – the process of etching away an image and then being able to transfer the image several times over onto a smooth surface. This process is used today to produce high volumes of design, for thing like posters, newspapaers, packaging etc.

                          

3. Rotary printing press – The use of two rotating cylinders to transfer print onto paper. This process is now called flexography. This method can be used for printing on a variety of medias including plastics; metallic papers etc, but is now mostly used for food packaging.

4. Photographic process – an image forming device of recording a medium, enabling people to create a durable image. Photography has advanced over time from black and white to colour creating so many variations in between only creating more variations for us.

5. Screen printing – a technique of transferring ink through a woven screen and through a stencil underneath, creating blocks of colour around the stencilled image. This technique has been around for thousands of years and has been used by some of the world leading artists (Andy Worehole and Hiroshige)

6. WWW – the world wide web allowing people all over the globe to network and communicate their images and text across to each other and the whole world. As designers this is particularly important milestone for us, to showcase our work as well as have a chance of recruitment.

7. Inkjet printing – Allows images and documentation to be printed out in high quality in our homes and studios. It allows imagery to be printed at a high quality, be professional and be of a sellable quality.

8. Adobe Software – these are programmes which are must knows in the design industry, including Photoshop allowing you to simply manipulate images to creating masterpieces from scratch, InDesign allowing the production of professional design materials(magazines), Illustrator, After Effects several more programmes.  

9. Windows processing system – allows us to create and function some of our most basic, day to day needs on a computer. It enables effective use of the computer system and to enable effective production of documentation and processing.

10. 3D imagery - The latest form of technology, still being developed to enabling the creation and viewing of 3d imagery on a flat surface. It allows the creation of illusion of depth in an image.  This is a very modern process which could revolutionise the graphic milestones from today.

LITHOGRAPHY - a few quick snaps of my works :

I have done this process a few times- by indenting polystyrene, this method is less durable yet still creates a very nice effect.  Especially in b&w it adds that slight rustic feel. The second method is etching into a harder more durable material of lino. It allows you to repeatedly use this lino as well as create detailed and textured images. You can choose to add as much detailing as you would like and overall for very time I have used it, it has proven to be a success and effective piece for my project.

SCREEN PRINTING - a few quick snaps of my works :

A few of my screen print i snapped up for you to see. You can print on a range of materials and create a variety of variations. What I particularly find interesting is the addition of textures and off edges to what may start off with the idea of having a block, matt colour on Photoshop.

‘The experts’ - Stefan Sagmeister

My favourite expert is Stefan Sagmeister, he is a contemporary practitioner working across several medias. Firstly I feel that his ability to work across medias and produce his visuals is what makes his work so powerful, enabling him to produce variety as well and amazing, captivating imagery for us to look at.

His work is captivating to see yet the thought processes is even more intriguing. As his concepts are all very close to life it makes us think about how he done it and what he was thinking about when he created it and thought of it. His images are very explicit and shout to the viewers. He makes us observe different ways of visualising through an extraordinary use of media.

He also ranges his work through graphic design, typography, photography; furniture design etc showing is explosive number of ideas and versatility. He is able to work across platforms, creating very different, bold and inspiring pieces.
Overall I hope one day that I am able to produce and versatile and unique designs as he does; as any designer would be every other designers dream also!

As I have referenced this artist before and find him a strong figure in graphic design I have also been watching some of his presentations. Finding out about his personality and his thought processes which enable him to produce the ideas; create in depth interest into his work. And though this video we can clearly see that his though process is very different to several others and his list making is very inspirational. I recommend people to watch this!!



A collection of his work.



Information Design

Information is passing us by every day, but how much have we taken in and remembered? Being a graphic designers and visual communicators we all have to think about all of the different ways in which we could communicate information to reach different audiences making them enjoyable, effective, and inspirational; overall creating an impact on the audience.

Information design is about creating efficient, effective, understandable and enjoyable pieces of information. It is a non traditional approach, a different visualisation, a way of integrating images and visual design into statistical information or heaps of text.
Information graphics have been around for several years and there are several traditional to more contemporary designs which people have been producing. None the less they are all very beautiful, eyes catching and create efficiency to the information. They allow us to create an instantaneous way of comparing information, and allow us to make immediate responses.

I feel they give greater depth and create broader scope to the initial information. The pleasure given by looking at these images in comparison to a heap of statistics is on another level! Below I have made a collection of a few inspirational designers of information design.



Charles Minard – His flow map of the Napoleon march, showing the number of people from the start to end, in a simplistic graphical way in comparison to it being a table of statistics. One of the first forms of information graphics.



Nicholas Felton – a modern, boundary breaking, approach to information design. I would say he is one of the top designers of information design today -more of his graphics are here: http://www.theloudcloud.com/felton/




A few additional imforation graphics showcasing a variety of designs and interpriations



I have found a few moving motions of visual graphics some common themes as well as some which break boundaries of the traditional information systems. Also able to see how the market and brands today are integrating this practice into their design strategy! It is inspirational to see that graphics like this are produced rather than a mountain to text.





Platform

In today’s industry there are several ways in which platforms are used to intrigue and target various different audiences. Companies now choose to us ‘360 campaigns’ which means the brand is commissioned over a variety of different platforms. Again this is a very similar concept to advertising.

The different commissions can include, online games, animations, video clips for YouTube and android and iphone markets, films, TV shows, etc. They all create different platforms for people of different interests and for people to enjoy different ideologies. For example animations could be created to target a younger audience, so they can to understand and gain interest: broadening the brands market. These different platforms change the way people can interact with the brand and the theme. E.g. a computer game would allow you to get involved and become part of it.

Several of these platforms are played over different variations in time, to create different impacts. 10 minute clips featured on YouTube to intrigue interests. 10 hours across weekly episodes keeping people coming back to watch. 100 hours over season, where it is played every day within a season so people come back each season to see what’s happening, this can then also come out as a box set for people to collect.

As a graphic designer I could come across having to do something like this for a brief so seeing all of the outcomes and developments is truly inspirational. A good example of a subject which works across several platforms to intrigue different viewers is ‘Dr Who’.

They create a wide range of different platforms to entice and fulfil different viewer’s likes and passions. From films, TV shows, animated series, computer games, features on YouTube etc. We can see that they have to very similar imagery and styles across the different platform so the imagery does not go on a complete tangent. This also shows a good use of advertising as the image stays consistent but can work across a variety of platforms: e.g. the TV series is turned into an animation, yet with easily recognisable differences.