Information design
Key question
What makes information understandable?
Information design makes complex content easy to understand: figures, processes, locations and connections. It isn't about making data look pretty, but about enabling people to quickly understand and use it correctly.
Learning objective: You can define information design, distinguish between data, information, and knowledge, and identify areas of application.
Good information design is understood, not admired.
1.1 / Where it comes from
Visualising information has a long history.
Several historical examples continue to shape the subject today:
1854
Cholera map
John Snow mapped cholera cases in London, revealing a contaminated water pump as the cause.
1858
Rose diagram
Florence Nightingale demonstrated that during the Crimean War, more soldiers died from disease than from battle injuries.
1869
Russian campaign
In a single graphic, Charles Minard combined troop strength, route, time and temperature.
FROM 1925
Isotypes
Otto Neurath and Gerd Arntz developed a visual language of pictograms to make statistics understandable to everyone.
What they all have in common is the goal of turning numbers into insights that lead to a decision.
A good graphic leads to a decision.
1.2 / Data, Information, Knowledge
Data only becomes information through context.
The DIKW model (Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom) describes a hierarchy: Data consists of individual values without context. Information is created when data is placed into context. Knowledge is formed when information can be understood and applied.
Information design works on the threshold between data and information: it gives numbers meaning, order and form.
Without context, a number is just a number.
1.3 / Fields of application
Information design is everywhere people need to understand something.
Information design encompasses more than just diagrams:
01
Data visualisation
Charts, maps and infographics.
02
Control systems
Wayfinding in buildings, cities and transport.
03
Forms and documents
Contracts, invoices, applications, package leaflets.
04
Guides
Installation, operation, safety.
05
Interfaces
Dashboards, apps and interactive graphics.
The fields overlap: a wayfinding system contains maps, a dashboard contains charts, and instructions contain processes.
Clarity is a design task.
Exercise
Everyday Information Design
Task: Collect and compare examples from your everyday life.
STEP 1
Photograph five examples: timetable, label, sign, diagram, form.
STEP 2
Note down for each: What should be understood, and for whom?
STEP 3
Time how long it takes you to find the most important piece of information.
STEP 4
Choose the weakest example and outline an improvement.
Evaluation: Why was one example understood more quickly than another?