ITAP Lecture: Information Design*

My recent ITAP lecture was on about information design. Information design is concerned with transforming data into information making the complex easier to understand and to use. From attending this lecture I learnt, the three key principles of information design are: 

1. Visual hierarchy  (type/ colour/ lines/ space).

2. Grouping information (lines/ space/ type).

3. Consistency (language/ layout).
Information design/graphics are presented everywhere for example hospitals, public signs, airports, and even motorways/roads. Famous practitioners mentioned in the lecture were people like Edward Tufte, Richard Saul Wurman, Erik Spiekermann, Paul Mijksenaar, David Sless, Rob Waller, Wim Crouwel, Neville Brody and David Carson. From this bunch of designers, the work that stood out for me and was memorable was the work of Richard Saul Wurman and Neville Brody. 

1.Richard Saul Wurman

Richard Saul Wurman is an architect and a graphic designer who is considered to be a pioneer in practice of making information easily understandable. Below is an example of information design that is visually pleasing to the eye and is simple to follow and understand. This is because by him using cyan it immediately attracts the eye especially against the white background. Shapes is also considered here, I think shapes are good to have in information graphics because it simple is clear for the audience to understand. And at the end of the day thats what it really comes down to, is if the audience understand the message the designer is showing? And I feel that Wurman achieves this in his work.   
   

2. Neville Brody 
   
Neville Brody is a British graphic designer, typographer and art director. By creating work the famous Nike ad and more posters he became very successful the perhaps is known as the best designer of his generation. Other designers soon became interested and inspired by his art work. He has designed many fonts like Arcadia, FF Gothic, Insignia and more. Brody has been the art director for 'The Face' and 'Arena' magazine' and creating really good spreads that catered to their target audience. Below are examples of layouts from these magazines.

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Written By Kawsar

Images from Google.