Author: Robert Egger

is-design
Vienna, Austria

Co-founder and Director, Design for All in Austria
IIID Vice President, Finance & Administration

motivation to work in info design?

I feels good to create something that improves someone’s experience or understanding.

working on at the moment?

Wayshowing, orientation, medical information.

project you consider a great example of info design?

Paris public transport, the new bus stops;
Telebanking in India with voice interaction only;
(Wayshowing in Hofburg Imperial Palace Vienna and Austrian Parliament); my latest project 🙂

dream project?

A truly inclusive public space.

Koponen + Hildén
Helsinki, Finland

Co-founder of Koponen+Hildén
Teacher at Aalto University, Lahti Design Institute

motivation to work in info design?

I believe that good decisions require understanding the facts. Information design is about making the facts understandable. Therefore, information design facilitates good decisions, whether it be in government, business, or people’s daily lives.

workin on at the moment?

I run a small information design studio with my business partner Jonatan Hildén. We mostly create infographics and data visualizations for public sector clients and media, and train PR professionals, researchers and other experts on the basics of creating their own visualizations. We also teach information design at Aalto University.

projects you consider a great example of info design?

I’m a big fan of The New York Times’ graphics desk. For example, the online article “Tracking Harvey’s Destructive Path Trough Texas and Louisiana” uses data visualizations to paint a detailed picture of the havoc created by hurricane Harvey after making landfall: www.nytimes.com

dream project?

My business/creative partner Jonatan Hildén and I are starting work that very well might be the dream project. With the help of a grant from Kone Foundation we are creating 40 data maps and cartograms of Finland on a wide variety of topics. The project combines journalism, data collection, wrangling and analysis, map design, and interaction design, making it a very interesting and rewarding project, and hopefully one that will have an impact on the Finnish society.

User Centered Design
New York, USA

Consultant

motivation to work in info design?

It’s a special capability that allows for solving complex problems, with impactful and real results.

working on at the moment?

Designing a platform that monitors unauthorized trading for credit, commodities, prime and FX.

project you consider a great example of info design?

Nate Silver’s interactive sections on fivethirtyeight.com

dream project?

Re-designing an air traffic control platform.

Information Designer
Mexico City, Mexico

Animal Político Information Designer
workin in a journalistic environment

motivation to work in info design?

For more than 10 years I dedicated my work to editorial design and that was the job I enjoyed a lot. However, it was not until I completed my master’s degree in information design with a project on Central American migrants who crossed Mexico, that I realized that the information design applied to social affairs was what really passionate me. After that I had the privilege of being invited to be part of the team at Animal Político, a digital native newspaper in Mexico that deals with issues such as violence, corruption, transparency, human rights, inequality and others.
Being in a place where everyday I understand more the reality of the country in which I live is a luxury, and having the opportunity that my work reaches hundreds of people is a privilege. When we published the news report on “The Ghost Companies of Veracruz” (that won the National Journalism Award in 2017) that gave rise to the investigation that today has the governor of that state in jail accused of corruption, I realized the impact that the work we do in Animal Político can have.
Information desing can transform our reality, and I have experienced it first-hand: that is my motivation.

working on at the moment?

In Mexico, 2018 is an election year, there will be a change of president and several governors, so at this moment I am carrying out projects related to elections both with Animal Político and on my own.

project you consider a great example of information design?

In the article “Logic and Visual Information” by Hammer, E.M., with a diagram similar to the following, the author expresses the relative distance between the Earth, Moon and Mars:
Earth — Moon ——–Mars
It seems trivial and very simple, however it is a great example of how this type of representations are very necessary in our information consumption. Sometimes with 3 words and 2 lines we can explain complex processes, and for me, this is the challenge.

dream project?

I enjoy synthesizing very complex problems in a clear and easy to understand information. One project would be to explain the history of human beings in one data visualization. To portray so many years of history in a single image would be a very intersting challenge.

Chapman University
California, USA

Associate Professor of Graphic Design
IIID Vide President Communications

motivation to work in info design?

Advocacy trough based evidence-based practice and principles.

working on at the moment?

I am working on an international initiative with Design Network for Emergency Management creating tsunami evacuation communication guidelines for emergency management.

project you consider a great example of info design?

A Better A&E led by PearsonLloyd, Medicine for People initiative led by David Sless and the Communication Research Institute, Bristol.
Legible City by Tim Fendley, and Simple Action Reports led by Rob Waller and the Simplification Centre.

dream project?

To participate on a federal committee dedicated to ensuring that design thinking and evidence-based design principles are leveraged into policy and standards for public communication before, during and after emergencies.

Thinking Machines Data Science
Quezon City, Philippines

Consultant

motivation to work in info design?

Data is power and the ability to visually communicate it for analytical/decision making/usability/problem solving purposes and mor is crucial in the coming years since we are getting more and more of it.

working on at the moment?

Dashboards on PowerBI and Tableau, Interactive Data Visualizations on D3.

project you consider a great example of info design?

Moritz Stefaner’s entire body of work and Nick Felton’s report.

dream project?

Something related to doing UX work for AI/ML, an Interactive Data Installation, or anything film/data related.

National Taiwan University of Science and Tech.
Taipei, Taiwan

Visiting scholar, University of Chicago & Director VIDlab (Visual Information Design lab)

motivation to work in info design?

Not only with personal interests, but also feel it’s one of ways to make the society better for living.

working on at the moment?

user research, emergency and safety, service design methods, interface design

project you consider a great example of info design?

waiting for its coming.

dream project?

Collaborated curate with cool ID friends globally on whatever topics that we name it (bi-)annually without language barrier.

Wayne State University
Detroit, USA

Professor, Graphic Design
Life Fellow, Communication Research Institute

motivation to work in info design?

To help people get the information they need so that they can do what they want/need to in life.

working on at the moment?

Assessment handbooks (Program and Student Services) for Wayne State University; grant studying asthma in Detroit teens (design of asthma diary, instruction booklet for personal air monitor used by teens); NIH grant/program (BEST – Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training) on carrer options for biomedical PhD students (design of all program materials, program steering committee, facilitator for Communication module of program); Type II diabetes record log (in conjunction with Pharmacy faculty).

project you consider a great example of info design?

Claudine Jaenichen’s designs for tsunami evacuation in California.

dream project?

Anything related to healthcare emergencies.

BMJ Publishing, Inc.
London, United Kingdom

Data Graphics Designer
Information Design Association Committee

motivation to work in information design?

I am an information designer working in visual communication of health research data to practitioners and researchers. I tell stories using data visualisation and infographics.

working on at the moment?

Full time for the BMJ (former British Medical Journal) making static and interactive infographics for print and web.
Check out: www.bjm.com/infographics

project you consider a great example of info design?

Old favourites of mine include the work of the Isotype Institute, London Transport, Captain Sankey and Minard. I also love this visualisation of drone strikes: www.drones.pitchinteractive.com, Moritz Stefaner’s data cuisine (data-cuisine.net) and there was an interesting visualisation in Nature recently by Jan Willem Tulp summarising and crowdfunding cancer research data.

dream project?

While I love working on the BMJ infographics, I’ve been interested in data sculpture and physical infographics recently. I’d love to work on some exhibition projects one day, that blend the virtual space of dataviz with physical objects.

Ricky Stoch Design
South Africa

MA Visual Design Communication at the Royal College of Art

motivation to work in info design?

Coming from South Africa, where we have one of the lowest rates of functional literacy in the world, I became obsessed with information design and visual communication as a solution to helping individuals take medication, engage in politics and the law.

working on at the moment?

At the moment I am working on a sticker that can be added to the packaging of the antiretrovirals with the aim of adhering to the medication. The design is based on the same theory that increased adherence to oral contraceptives when their packaging was redesigned in the 1960s.

project you consider a great example of info design?

NYC Subway Map, Massimo Vignelli

dream project?

The project I am currentyl working on feels al lot like a dream project as it has the potential to tangibly affect the lives of those living with HIV, as well as impacting the way in which we deal with the control and the management of the disease. That said, my research up till now has been in visual communication as a tool for behavioural change so any project where I can apply that theory would be inspiring, challenging and exciting.

Showcase

Graphic Design – Research
Elewijt, Belgium

Professor Visual Communication, Swinburne University of Technology
IIID Vice President, Education & Research

motivation to work in info design?

Multi-faceted profession: it is essential to deal with a wide variety of people and organizations. Making sure that the people who have to deal with complex information can actually handle it without noticing how complex it really is remains a continuous challenge.

working on at the moment?

Information about medicines for patients, doctors, pharmacists and nurses.

project you consider a great example of info design?

Google maps – including some apps related to it. They really make life easier when I’m at a specific location looking for something. (And I don’t have to know how complex the underlying structure is: it simply provides answers).

dream project?

An information design strategy for a therapy that is based on the needs of patients. Right from the first recognition of symptoms and diagnosis all the way to health management. Information about medicines is just a part of this. The strategy needs to be based on ‘a variety of patients’ looking at ‘a variety of things’ in different contexts and at different times of treatment.

University of Alberta
Edmonton, Canada

Assistant Professor of Design Studies
President of Edmonton Wayfinding Society

motivation to work in info design?

I’m drawn to systems and complexity. I like helping people find solutions to complex issues through research. The idea that design can save lives motivates me.

working on at the moment?

Designing a participatory urban mapping and wayfinding event for Edmonton Design Week in September; researching different ways to explain the patient intake process at hospital emergency rooms; researching how people use instructions in medical/emergency situations.

projects you consider a great example of info design?

The London Underground Map – one early example of how to represent information spatially, rather than geographically; Isotype for children’s publications, A Better A & E, PearsonLloyd; Legible London, Bristol Legible City; and Applied’s work internationally on wayfinding.

dream project?

The design of an educational package to be given out to children in schools that taught systems thinking to school age children;
redesign of an early medical intervention instructions to prevent overdose and death; branding exhibition design, and wayfinding in a children’s museum.