INFORMATION DESIGN-pp 83-130

Sign-Posting Information Design

Information Design > umbrella term to cover the planning of everything–from user intstructions to warning labels, from manuals to timetables, from forms to invoices, traffic instructions to traffic signs, wayfinding signs to maps, technical information to scientific papers and so on...

>Communication by words, pictures, charts, graphs, maps, pictograms and cartoons, whether conventional or electronic means. The design of information for helping people find their way around in a complex settings (An example would be a smart phone app)

1994 David Sless points out the only thing left to sell is "information" (data-mining) a branch of computer science[1] is the process of extracting patterns from large data sets by combining methods from statistics and artificial intelligence with database management. Data mining is seen as an increasingly important tool by modern business to transform data into business intelligence giving an informational advantage. It is currently used in a wide range of profiling practices, such as marketing, surveillance, fraud detection, and scientific discovery.

>Distinguishing Characteristics of Information Design>Emphasis on communication and is concerned with content discerning form. Design and research.

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Questions?

Is this true anymore? "Most people will rely on a linear sequentail style when fingin their way in complex underground spaces where cognitive mapping is difficult?

How has chanel surfing and the internet affected this statement?

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–Content and location of wayfinding information are determined by users' wayfinding decisions, form and presentation relate to the way people percieve information displays. Letterforms, styles, spacing, legibility and distance and distortion, colors, symbols and arrows. Information must be tested in real settings with real users.

–Decision Plans, how one goes about the process of gathering and acting on information (ie pushing a button)

Questions?

What are examples of interactive decision plans? How is there a hierarchial structure?

How can thinking that architects employ in the "Circulation System" help us in wayfinding devices or how can we do this in a 2-Dimensional plane?

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Wayfinding devices and information design include behavorial considerations making it interdisciplinary in nature.

What different disciplines would benefit information design and why?

 

Practice of Information Design

Universal Design–a design system for getting information to all individuals, regardless of whether their perceptions of the world are conveyed through the tactile sense, sound, sight, or in some other way. All groups of individuals have access to information "sensorium."

Who benefits from the idea of "sensorium"

 

Uniqueness of Individual Perception

If information is to be meaningful, it must be responsible to the full range of perceptual viewpoints. Designers must search for commonalities.

>Sensory Mechanisms-receptors: such as whether we are colorblind (10% male red-green), shape of our ears for hearing.

>Processing-how the brain process information, though we actual see upside down we perceive right side up.

>Meaning-how we ascrible meaning to something, memory, culture, experiences

From this we learn to compare, contrast, and to sort out our experiences. Perception is what we see and understand. Perceptual beliefs serve as a framework for interpreting sensory experiences

Questions?

What influence do you think perception plays in understanding information? How can we work with this, what should we do?

What does he mean by the term "inattentive design?"

What role does "adaptablility" play in information gathering and is that good?

In the Lighthouse experiments how did type play a role? Why was this different than say an average setting of information gathering? What senses did they use for their informaiton?

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