Designing Information
Human Factors and Common Sense in Information Design
1. Edition October 2012
224 Pages, Hardcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Short Description
"The book itself is a diagram of clarification, containing hundreds of examples of work by those who favor the communication of information over style and academic postulation--and those who don't. Many blurbs such as this are written without a thorough reading of the book. Not so in this case. I read it and love it. I suggest you do the same."
--Richard Saul Wurman
"It is a dream book, we were waiting for...on the field of information. On top of the incredible amount of presented knowledge this is also a beautifully designed piece, very easy to follow..."
--Krzysztof Lenk, author of Mapping Websites: Digital Media Design
"Having had the pleasure of a sneak preview, I can only say that this is a magnificent achievement: a combination of intelligent text, fascinating insights and - oh yes - graphics. Congratulations to Joel."
--Judith Harris, author of Pompeii Awakened: A Story of Rediscovery Designing Information shows designers in all fields - from user-interface design to architecture and engineering - how to design complex data and information for meaning, relevance, and clarity. Written by a worldwide authority on the visualization of complex information, this full-color, heavily illustrated guide provides real-life problems and examples as well as hypothetical and historical examples, demonstrating the conceptual and pragmatic aspects of human factors-driven information design. Both successful and failed design examples are included to help readers understand the principles under discussion.
"The book itself is a diagram of clarification, containing hundreds of examples of work by those who favor the communication of information over style and academic postulation--and those who don't. Many blurbs such as this are written without a thorough reading of the book. Not so in this case. I read it and love it. I suggest you do the same." --Richard Saul Wurman
"This handsome, clearly organized book is itself a prime example of the effective presentation of complex visual information." --eg magazine
"It is a dream book, we were waiting for...on the field of information. On top of the incredible amount of presented knowledge this is also a beautifully designed piece, very easy to follow..." --Krzysztof Lenk, author of Mapping Websites: Digital Media Design
"Making complicated information understandable is becoming the crucial task facing designers in the 21st century. With Designing Information, Joel Katz has created what will surely be an indispensable textbook on the subject."--Michael Bierut
"Having had the pleasure of a sneak preview, I can only say that this is a magnificent achievement: a combination of intelligent text, fascinating insights and - oh yes - graphics. Congratulations to Joel."--Judith Harris, author of Pompeii Awakened: A Story of Rediscovery Designing Information shows designers in all fields - from user-interface design to architecture and engineering - how to design complex data and information for meaning, relevance, and clarity. Written by a worldwide authority on the visualization of complex information, this full-color, heavily illustrated guide provides real-life problems and examples as well as hypothetical and historical examples, demonstrating the conceptual and pragmatic aspects of human factors-driven information design. Both successful and failed design examples are included to help readers understand the principles under discussion.
12 1 Aspects of Information Design
The nature of information
42 Lines
44 Unintended consequences of shape
48 The middle value principle
50 Connotations of color
52 Color constraints
56 From color to grayscale
58 Generations of labeling
60 Connections among people
62 Connections in products
64 Consistent and mnemonic notation
66 It's about time
68 Point of view
70 Navigation: page and screen
74 Interpretation
40 2 Qualitative Issues
Perceptions, conventions, proximity
34 Emotional power
46 (Mis)connotations of form
54 Color and monochrome
78 Information overload
80 Too much information
82 Too many numbers
84 Dimensional comparison
86 The pyramid paradox
88 How big?
90 Substitution
92 Numerical integrity
94 Meaningful numbers
96 Perils of geography
98 Escaping geography
102 Data and form
106 Relative and absolute: ratios of change
108 Multi-axiality
110 Measurement and proportion
114 The grid
118 (Dis)organization and proximity
120 Rational hierarchies
122 An intelligible ballot
124 Understanding audience needs
126 Staging information
128 Synecdoche
130 Is a picture worth 1,000 words?
132 Visualizing regulations
134 Focus and distraction
136 Language and grammar
138 Sans serif
140 Serif
100 Per capita
104 Apples to apples: data scale consistency
116 Organizing response
76 3 Quantitative Issues
Dimensionality, comparisons, numbers, scale
112 4 Structure, Organization, Type
142 Font efficiency
144 Typographic differentiation
146 Size matters (weight, too)
148 Legibility
150 Expressive typography
152 5 Finding Your Way?
Movement, orientation, situational geography
154 What's up? Heads up
156 Signs and arrows
158 Scale and adjacency
160 A movement network genealogy
162 Map or diagram?
164 Guiding the traveler, then and now
166 Information release sequence
170 Isochronics 1
172 Analogies in painting and sculpture
174 The road is really straight
176 Transitions and familiarity
178 Service, naming and addressing
180 (Ir)rational innovation
182 Perils of alphabetization
184 The view from below--or above
186 Urban open space
188 6 Documents
Stories, inventories, notes
190 Credits
214 Inventory: Paris
216 Inventory: Italy
218 Bibliography
221 Gratitude
222 Index
224 About the author
