Information design is the skill and practice of preparing information so people can use it with efficiency and effectiveness. Where the data is complex or unstructured, a visual representation can express its meaning more clearly to the viewer.
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Information design began as a subset of, or synonym for, graphic design and is often taught as part of graphic design courses. One of the first uses of the term was by the London graphic design consultancy Pentagram, who used the term in the 1970s to mean their graphic design, as distinct from product or other kinds of design. Since then, the term has come to be used specifically for graphic design for displaying information effectively, rather than just attractively or for artistic expression.
The term 'information design' emerged as a multidisciplinary area of study in the 1970s. Some graphic designers started to use the term, and it was consolidated with the publication of the Information Design Journal in 1979.[1]
Proceedings of other multidisciplinary conferences include Easterby & Zwaga (1984) and Duffy & Waller (1985). Schriver (1997) has a good history of the emergence of information design.
During the 1980s, the role of graphic information design broadened to include responsibility for message content and language. This required more user-testing and research for those elements than is common in mainstream graphic design.
During the 1970s, Edward Tufte developed a course on statistical graphics, which he further developed in joint seminars with John Tukey, a pioneer in the field of information design. The course materials became the foundation for his first book on information design, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, which he self-published in 1982. The book was called striking, beautiful, and ground-breaking. It raised non-professionals' awareness of the issues and possibilities of presenting information.
The term information graphics tends to be used by those primarily concerned with diagramming and display of quantitative information.
Information designers with roots in professional writing sometimes refer to the field as 'document design', particularly in the USA.
In technical communication, information design refers to creating an information structure for a set of information aimed at specified audiences. It can be practiced on different scales.
Similar skills are brought to bear in designing web sites, with additional constraints and functions that earn a designer the title information architect.
In computer science and information technology, 'information design' is sometimes a rough synonym for (but is not necessarily the same discipline as) information architecture, the design of information systems, databases, or data structures. This sense includes data modeling and process analysis.
Information design is associated with the age of technology but it does have historical roots. Early instances of modern information design include these effective examples:
Information designers may cater to very broad audiences: for example, public signs in airports are for everybody. Or they may cater to very specific ones: information products such as telephone bills may be personalized for individual customers using market segmentation and information management techniques and technologies similar to those used in direct marketing.
Information design projects often seek to create or reinforce trust in users of design products. Examples of such products are medicine packaging inserts, operational instructions for industrial machinery, and information for emergencies. If it's important for the instructions to be carried out, readers must understand, trust, and be motivated by the products. In other words, the audience needs to rely on the information conveyed. The designers must get the message across in ways that reach the audience.
This gives information designers unusual power over their audiences compared to other designers, and "with great power comes great responsibility". The increased responsibility means information designers require accountability, and this is developed through user testing of design artifacts.
The power relationship between information designers and their clients is also different from that between graphic designers and their clients. Information designers seek to serve the interests of their clients' audiences as well as those of their clients, and they often advocate for the audience over the client.
Information design draws on a wide range of competencies that are seldom possessed by a single person. For this reason, information designers tend to work on information products in teams that include specialists and other information designers.
In the United States, the title of information designer is sometimes used by graphic designers who specialize in creating websites. The skill set of the information designer, as the title is applied more globally, is closer to that of the information architect in the U.S.
This list is indicative rather than prescriptive or fully descriptive.
Research:
Transformation:
Writing for clear communication:
Graphic and typographic design:
Information visualization:
Prototyping:
Testing:
Co-ordination:
Accessibility:
Specification:
Information design affects to a wide range of applications and document genres, including financial information, administrative documents such as forms, medical and pharmaceutical information, food and health information, user guides, technical manuals, travel information, and wayfinding information.
Governments and regulatory authorities have legislated about a number of information design issues, such as the minimum size of font in financial small print, the labeling of ingredients in processed food, and the testing of medicine labeling. Examples of this are the Truth in Lending Act in the USA, which introduced the Schumer box (a concise summary of charges for people applying for a credit card), and the Guideline on the Readability of the Label and Package Leaflet of Medicinal Products for Human Use (European Commission September 1998).