Read the introduction chapter from the book Information Architects by Richard Saul Wurman.
What does this mean to you as a graphic designer? In relation to this studio? Post your comments below (required).
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10 years ago
I thought it was funny that throughout the article it talks about how graphic designers are brought in to help the information architects make pie charts and maps look "pretty" in order to appeal the audience in which will be perceiving the information. It talks a lot about how there are different types of organization of information that can be applied to different applications. For instance when they were talking about how a dictionary is organized by alphabetically A-Z. But when organizing different information such as a map of different states and how you travel through the map couldn't be alphabetized because that isn't how we navigate. You can't go from Alabama to Alaska, because they aren't within neighboring distance. I thought that this could be very helpful to our collections in that whatever kind of information you are presenting, you should be thinking of how you navigate through the information, and a clear and precise way to do so.
ReplyDeleteas a graphic designer, we should be able to learn everything about any type of work we are trying to represent. when we actually take the time to read about the subject matter we are designing, we should have better concept, and not just make it look pretty. i agree with the term 'we are what we read', although i must be a big fake because i read a lot of fiction novels. after reading about music and live sound i can set up a live set better than someone who hasn't read about the subject matter. i learned how sound travels through air, and how to position my speakers to have maximum efficiency in most rooms. there is no way i would have known that unless i read it. for this project, i will read about keys, and not just keys but locks and safes and how they work with tumblers and what the grooves mean etc. ideally, i would like to do as much research as i can on any subject matter. realistically i probably can't because we all have time restrictions and deadlines, but that shouldn't hinder my learning abilities after the projects end.
ReplyDeleteI found it intriguing how Wurman thought that this 'broken type' fad would be a faint memory by the late 1990's, when in reality experimental type design has grown incredibly since then, and is huge in popularity today. I wonder what he thinks of it now that it's a decade later, and in full swing. He's probably a very depressed man to have to deal with it so much.
ReplyDeleteBut I did like how he mentioned that graphic designers need to be 'in' on the project, so that they can design the information relative to what is being said, so that it may be clearly understood. We can't just approach a new design without any knowledge of the subject matter we are designing for. It would never end up in the appropriate format or style. And I do agree with him that it is the designer's job to be an architect of information, that we should strive to make things clear and easy to understand... but I feel he was slightly missing the point on what the aesthetics can do for the viewer- how if a design is understandable AND 'pretty', it will be even more appealing. That's why designers get praised for those 'wedged pie charts and 256 color charts'. In an age of information overload, good information design stands out from the crowd by not only being clear, but also by being formally captivating.
Things can be beautiful without being illegible. True beauty comes from clarity of meaning or evocation of emotion. The design of statistics should be transparent, unless enhancing the meaning and feeling of the data. In many cases the purpose of the exploding pie chart in three dimensions with shadows on some ethereal background is only purposeful as a why to distract from the tragedy of the information, either poorly gathered, or representing something frightening that needs to be played down.
ReplyDeleteI would argue that the problem with information isn't how it is organized or how it looks, but more importantly how it is accessed. The internet contains exabytes of information, but we can't successfully get to it. Google is one of the most inefficient ways of finding information on the interweb but it is the best one we have. I don't have an answer to how that information should be organized, but there's got to be a better way.
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ReplyDeleteI agreed with Wurmen when he said that "graphic designer" used to have so much more meaning than it does now. His representation of it's current meaning (making things pretty) is how the outside world seems to see us; but our classes show us otherwise. If I could rename my profession it would be "communicator". I want to help people communicate in spite of cultural or physical boundaries. His description for what he does as an information architect seems perfect for what it is (or how I see it, anyways). People do cram too much "information" into articles and books and it just becomes a bunch of facts and figures that don't connect. There has to be some humanity for information to work and that's where we come in. Along with the data he's collected, he's explaining things directly from his thoughts. That's how things should be written and designed.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this i noticed as a kid you are taught to agree and seem smart even if you do not understand whats going on. Most people still do that today I think thats what gets us all into theses slumps because we really don't know whats going on. Also, I agree that we are thought of making things pretty but what we really do is make things functional we help everyday Joes understand what is going on in the world from magazines to books. Then we teach them the smallest thing like how to read a map easily. I think that manuals have shifted over the coming years in the 80's i noticed that they where very disorganized from going to page 30 to talk about a radio then turning to page 15 to program that radio. Now it seems that things are organized a bit better but its still a lot of information to take in. I really don't know why people suggest you read all of your car manual when you cant even stand reading the introduction because its in a language you dont understand. If I understood car talk then i would read it. But I myself am an average Joe when it comes to cars. A lot of manual designs are for people who know what they are doing when most of them don't. I dont think i will ever understand how that came about.
ReplyDeletei feel, in a way, like this piece has illuminated the essence of why i feel my time at portfolio day sucked. "information is everything" unfortunately, design, which used to be a perfectly good word, means to make something look better for most people. although my portfolio didn't look as good as other schools students', i felt like i was getting at more than just making things look pretty. this is not to say that all their work was shallow. But god help me if i make design decision based on looks alone to get my way in the professional world.
ReplyDeletei like the quote, "i call things information only if they inform me, not if they are just collections of data, of stuff." i think this a good point, and a nice refresher course on terms we tend to overuse. i can see how this might apply to a rush of messages from our daily newspaper, but i'm not sure my infographs for my collection will be that complex or heavy with numbers and such. from the looks of the other classes, these graphs are much more "friendly". i'll never forget the LATCH acronym, and i think that "you only understand something new relative to something you already understand" is something we should all remember. as designers, artists, speakers, people reaching to make connections with another person -this is key. some common ground is always a good tactic in any communication especially info architecture.
Morgan, as you're discovering the definition of design is quite malleable. And unfortunately there are people, in business and even in our own profession, that do not see it functioning beyond style alone. So in doing your work and approaching problems with depth and conscience (in addition to good visual acumen), you should also be mindful of your role as an educator too - that is educating others regarding the value and multi-facets of design.
ReplyDeleteOptimistically, there are many that do value design and there is a new school of thought called "design thinking" that strategically places design at the table. Here are a couple of articles about it:
ReplyDeletePresident Obama Goes Optimistic. Obama Is The Design President
Designing the Future of Business
I liked his point about organization (the atlas) and how to pick the correct category of LATCH depending on what you're working on. I think sometimes it's really easy to organize a collection of information in a manner that is inappropriate to it's usage. For example, today in the Charrette, Jamie and I talked about how I was organizing my buttons and that she was glad that I was organizing them as graphic objects and not necessarily as a reflection of the music that I'm not that interested in any more. The 3 ways of organizing them all has to do with the greater category as a promotional GRAPHIC item, not another way to talk about the band it's representing...
ReplyDeleteSorry, I just wanted to link the reading to something I was thinking about today.