The Essence of Information Design and Its Significance Explained
Information design is a broad discipline that focuses on the effective presentation and organization of information in any form, making it understandable and usable. Here's a closer look at this essential practice and its related concepts: data visualization and information visualization.
Information Design
Information design is the overarching practice that encompasses visual, textual, and structural design to communicate complex information clearly. This can include diagrams, manuals, signs, infographics, and more, all designed to organize both data and non-data information for easy comprehension.
Data Visualization
Data visualization is a subset of information design specifically concerned with representing quantitative or qualitative data visually. Its goal is to help users understand patterns, trends, and insights from raw or processed data. Data visualization is often used in data science and analytics to communicate conclusions drawn from data sets.
Information Visualization
Information visualization is often used interchangeably with data visualization but can be broader, referring to the visual representation of abstract information, which may not always be pure data. Information visualization spans interactive or complex socio-technical data, network relations, or concepts that go beyond traditional statistical graphs. Its focus is on making large-scale or complex information accessible through visual means, assisting in exploration and understanding.
The Importance of Information Design
Information design plays a crucial role in making life less boring by providing color-coding, legends, and easy-to-understand visualizations in maps, infographics, websites, textbooks, and more. It is becoming increasingly important and widely incorporated in various design fields, with many universities offering courses, career paths, and Ph.D.'s in this discipline.
Creating an Information Design Project
Creating an information design project involves several stages: ideation, prototyping, user research, planning, visualization, testing, and implementation. Each stage is crucial in ensuring the project is user-friendly, visually appealing, and meets its intended purpose.
Related Examples
Examples of information design include curated information that follows a storyline (e.g., infographics, IKEA manuals, recipe books), searchable information (e.g., search engines, websites, indexed reports), educational resources (e.g., museum exhibits, textbooks, online education portals), visual and emotive information presented in a snackable way (e.g., explainer videos, how-to video tutorials, documentaries), wayfinding (e.g., physical and digital maps, escape plans in hotels, touchscreen maps in malls, trail markers in national parks), health and safety (e.g., hospital triage apps, patient medical histories in digital form, CT scans), and sensory information design (e.g., music apps, 4D cinematic experiences, the smell of apple pie purposefully wafting outside of a bakery).
Tools for Information Design
Our platform offers templates and an editing tool to help create stunning information design projects, including various types of infographics, organizational charts, indexed reports, white papers, proposals, and more.
Summary
In essence, information design is the overarching practice, with data visualization as a focused application targeting data sets, and information visualization including a broader range of visual tools to explain complex or abstract information beyond simple data charts. By understanding and applying these concepts, designers can create effective and engaging information design projects that help users understand and interact with complex information more easily.
[1] http://www.datavisualization.ch/visual-information-design.html [2] https://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/infographic-design-guide/ [3] https://www.nngroup.com/articles/information-architecture-design/ [4] https://www.uxbooth.com/articles/information-architecture-101/ [5] https://www.datapine.com/blog/data-visualization-vs-information-visualization/
