My answer after reading Chapter 1 in Information Design, and the Information Design Workbook, and Chapters 1 & 2 in The Back of the Napkin: "There's a bit more to it than that. Boo-yah, gimmie an A+!" (The power of positive thinking people, keep saying it enough times and it'll happen.)
What I ultimately take away from those readings, and the content provided in our web module led me to create the following masterpiece to illustrate my own take on the subject:
Information Design = Information + Organization with the goal of Impact
Impact is the key in my eyes. And in the world today, impact almost always needs to be instantaneous in order to consider your design a success. What catches the eye, what's the most important thing, what message do we want to send and what design asethetics will help us achieve these goals?
Those are just some of the questions facing Information Designers. But in everything, you're competing for attention first, and then competing to keep that attention second.
"The purpose of Information Design is to Simplify, Integrate, Filter and Selectively Emphasize information." ~ Luigi Canali De Rossi
- Simplify: Make it as streamlined as possible to make it easy to understand
- Integrate: Make it fit the feeling, tone, and environment in which the information is being presented (ie: using that cool new graffiti style text is probably not a good idea for your company's next financial review presentation).
- Filter: Pick out the important bits and if you have a good number of less important bits, see if you can condense those down to a single important bit.
- Selectively Emphasize: Taking filtering to the next level by picking and choosing what information you want to portray (usually only the good parts). Like saying: "Hey mom, I just cleaned my room!" while neglecting to add "And destroyed the living room, your room, the neighbor's garage, and flushed my baby brother down the toilet."
Doing those things sounds rather simple, but the infinite possibilities in which you can go about achieving them can be so over-whelming that you get nothing more than a jumbled mess of data that has no order. You want your impact to capture your audience's attention, not bludgeon them to death with a metal pipe.
Wow, way to start off with a big IMPACT :D I think I agree with you, for the most part ;) when it comes to marketing and sales, impact is key. But, pulling from the example in Back of the Napkin in which he boiled the executive summary down to one chart... sometimes understatement is as effective. Then again, understatement can be impactful. Ugh! Okay I've now come full circle back to agreeing with you wholeheartedly. Well done! :D
ReplyDeletePS: That was Sara Neukirchner (last name now included) :D
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree with you about understatement. I often think of fashion when it comes to examples of how understatement can make a huge impact. Just have to think of the 'little black dress' that's a staple in so many wardrobes. It's a classic for a reason, because it almost always works at making an impact. It can be dressed up a bit with accessories, but usually is enough to make a statement by itself.
ReplyDeleteNot to say flashy and gaudy don't have their own value as well. Which is why a good information designer will always be aware of the 6 W's (Roam 14) and how to adjust to them.
I'm torn, here, and quite frankly I find myself in this quandary often.
ReplyDeleteWhile I'm completely with you on "impact as king" in marketing, sales, growing a business, etc... I think that there can be societal issues here that can easily and unconsciously lead to problems. I'll explain that a little:
Sales, Marketing, Advertising... these fields all depend and rely almost totally on the impact of a site, signage, advert, commercial, etc.
Way-finding (signage in public places like bus/train/plane stations, street signs, highway markings, warning symbology on products, etc) needs to be very universal, clear, concise, and easy-to-rapidly-internalize.
Blogging for personal/topical things can find a balance that suits the author, as it is a more personal preference (although blogs that "pop" DO seem to get better traffic, etc.)
Here's the BUT, though (and you made an excellent example of it!):
The whole "selectively emphasize" thing... that's how Information Design is used by entities such as CNN, FoxNews, Huffington Post, etc... to intentionally, purposefully, and irresponsibly filter, modify, distort, and 'spin' our news. Information Design, as a skillset, is used to make sure that you hear what 'they' want you to hear, nothing more, nothing less, and in precisely the way that you want it heard!
Here's an example I use regularly:
Arbitrary Fact (simply for demonstration): 5% of all traffic accidents are caused by drunk drivers.
News Item (using craftily applied Information Design): 95% of all traffic accidents are caused by sober drivers. We should pass a law that makes them get off the highways and let the poor drunks get home safely.
THAT is how the "impact" end of Information Design can be twisted around and used to manipulate a population.
Great Looking blog, nice work, and excellent points made... I just like playing the devil's advocate sometimes, lol!
-Dave Blythe