Information Design

by Robert Jacobson, Richard Saul Wurman

Overview

The contributors to this book are both cautionary and hopeful as they offer visions of how information design can be practiced diligently and ethically, for the benefit of information consumers as well as producers.

Information design is the newest of the design disciplines. As a sign of our times, when the crafting of messages and meaning is so central to our lives, information design is not only important—it is essential. Contemporary information designers seek to edify more than to persuade, to exchange more than to foist upon. With ever more powerful technologies of communication, we have learned that the issuer of designed information is as likely as the intended recipient to be changed by it, for better or worse.

The contributors to this book are both cautionary and hopeful as they offer visions of how information design can be practiced diligently and ethically, for the benefit of information consumers as well as producers. They present various methods that seem to work, such as sense-making and way-finding. They make recommendations and serve as guides to a still young but extraordinarily pervasive—and persuasive—field.

Contributors
Elizabeth Andersen, Judy Anderson, Simon Birrell, Mike Cooley, Brenda Dervin, Jim Gasperini, Yvonne M. Hansen, Steve Holtzman, Robert E. Horn, Robert Jacobson, John Krygier, Sheryl Macy, Romedi Passini, Jef Raskin, Chandler Screven, Nathan Shedroff, Hal Thwaites, Roger Whitehouse

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262600354
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	08/25/2000
Series:	The MIT Press
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	373
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

Table of Contents

Foreword
Richard Saul Wurman
Preface
1 Introduction: Why Information Design Matters
Robert Jacobson
I Theoretical Foundations of Information Design
2 Information Design: The Emergence of a New
Profession
Robert E. Horn
3 Chaos, Order, and SenseMaking: A Proposed Theory for
Information Design
Brenda Dervin
4 HumanCentered Design
Mike Cooley
5 SignPosting Information Design
Romedi Passini
II The Practice of Information Design
6 The Uniqueness of Individual Perception
Roger Whitehouse
7 Information Design in Informal Settings: Museums and
Other Public Spaces
C. G. Screven
8 Graphic Tools for Thinking, Planning, and Problem
Solving
Yvonne M. Hansen
9 Visual Design in Three Dimensions
Hal Thwaites
10 Collaborative Informaiton Design: Seattle's Modern
Odyssey
Judy Anderson
III Designing for the Technologies of Information
11 Information Interaction Design: A Unified Field
Theory of Design
Nathan Shedroff
12 Interactivity and Meaning
Sheryl Macy, Elizabeth Anderson, and John Krygier
13 The Role of Ambiguity in Multimedia EXperience
Jim Gasperini
14 Sculpting in Zeros and Ones
Steve Holtzman
15 Personal Reflections on the Development of
Cyberspace
Simon Birrell
Epilogue
16 Rationalizing Information Representation
Jef Raskin
Contributors

What People are Saying About This

Endorsement

A wonderful resource compendium on the diverse landscape of information design. From theory to practice, the book is truly an effort in the 'design of understanding'.

—Clement Mok , Chief Creative Officer, Sapient

From the Publisher

This timely collection of essays offers diverse perspectives on the art and science of 'information design' as seen through the eyes of contemporary practitioners. An accessible, thought-provoking resource for anyone interested in design's role in mediating information and human experience.

—Loretta Staples, Assistant Professor, Graphic Design, University of Michigan School of Art & Design

A wonderful resource compendium on the diverse landscape of information design. From theory to practice, the book is truly an effort in the 'design of understanding'.

—Clement Mok , Chief Creative Officer, Sapient

Loretta Staples

This timely collection of essays offers diverse perspectives on the art and science of 'information design' as seen through the eyes of contemporary practitioners. An accessible, thought-provoking resource for anyone interested in design's role in mediating information and human experience.

Clement Mok

A wonderful resource compendium on the diverse landscape of information design. From theory to practice, the book is truly an effort in the 'design of understanding'.