Designing Information

"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.

10 Introduction 12 1 Aspects of Information Design The nature of information 14 The nature of information 16 Self-referential vs. functional 18 When it doesn't work 20 Non-wayfinding cartography 22 Learning from Minard 24 Simple and complex 26 Worlds in collision 28 Dispersed vs. layered 30 Anatomy and function 32 Metaphor and simile 34 Emotional power 36 Is it really urgent? 38 The branding fallacy 40 2 Qualitative Issues Perceptions, conventions, proximity 42 Lines 44 Unintended consequences of shape 46 (Mis)connotations of form 48 The middle value principle 50 Connotations of color 52 Color constraints 54 Color and monochrome 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 76 3 Quantitative Issues Dimensionality, comparisons, numbers, scale 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 100 Per capita 102 Data and form 104 Apples to apples: data scale consistency 106 Relative and absolute: ratios of change 108 Multi-axiality 110 Measurement and proportion 112 4 Structure, Organization, Type Hierarchy and visual grammar 114 The grid 116 Organizing response 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 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