Author: Robert Egger

Emily Carr University
Vancouver, Canada

Associate Dean, Master of Design and Associate Professor, Communication Design

What is the motivation to work in information design?

Information design is at the core of my interests as a design practitioner, researcher and educator. Encompassing principles of accessibility and clear communication alongside ethical and social motivations, I believe that information design techniques and approaches can be generatively applied in various work contexts and in daily life.

What are you working on at the moment?

I am currently managing the graduate programs in interdisciplinary and interaction design at Emily Carr, and working on future program development. I am also working on a number of design and publication projects through the Occasional Press, a publishing research initiative at Emily Carr

What is a project you consider a great example of information design?

I appreciate a good taxonomy or meta-representation of collections or systems relevant to the practice of design itself, for example for types of diagrams (datavizproject,  and datavizcatalogue.com for example), or cognitive biases.

The work of Studio Joost Grootens.

What is your dream project?

• Any project involving multiple modalities (publication, UX, exhibition, etc) for a project in education, the cultural sector, climate justice and allied fields, in which I would be involved as a designer from the very beginning. 

• Some time to study the archives, notebooks and other documents of the creator of the Sankey diagram, M.H.P.R. Sankey (who was my great-great-grandfather). 

Germany

Finland

Chile

Australia

Koponen + Hildén
Helsinki, Finland

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

What is the motivation to work in information 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.

What are you working 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.

What is a project you consider a great example of information 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

What is your 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

What is the motivation to work in information design?

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

What are you working on at the moment?

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

What is a project you consider a great example of information design?

Nate Silver’s interactive sections on fivethirtyeight.com

What is your dream project?

Re-designing an air traffic control platform.

Mexico City, Mexico

Building human & interdisciplinary teams in the field of information design, technology, maps and data.

What is your motivation to work in information design?

For more than 10 years I dedicated my work to editorial design and that was a job I enjoyed a lot. However, it was not until I completed my master’s degree with a project on Central American migrants who crossed Mexico, that I realized that information design applied to social affairs was my real passion (sort, rank, analyze, and transform data into information to generate knowledge to better understand the world). Being part of projects that can truly have a social impact: that is my motivation.

What are you working on at the moment?

In 2023 I am working for the Mexican government at the National Council of Science and Technology where I am the Head of Data Analysis and Geographic Information Systems within the Repositories, Research and Foresight Coordination. In this role, I lead interdisciplinary open science projects that use information design, data analysis, Geographical Information Systems and technology on issues such as health, food sovereignty, education, violence, climate change, polluting processes, culture, among others.

What is a 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 one below, the author expresses the relative distances 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 necessary in our information consumption. Sometimes with 3 words and two lines we can explain complex processes and that allow us to better understand our world.

What is your dream project?

After several years working in different contexts I think the process is as important as the project. That’s why I want to be part of healthy teams that bring together different profiles and expertises to create impactful projects regardless of whether they are very local or on a large scale. Building ethically, collectively, with gender perspective, and caring for others and our environment.

Professor of Design, Chapman University,
California, USA

Executive Board of Directors, Design Network for Emergency Management
IIID Executive Board

What is the motivation to work in information design?

Advocacy trough based evidence-based practice and principles.

What are you working on at the moment?

I am working with Design Network for Emergency Management creating tsunami and wildfire evacuation communication guidelines for emergency management for the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Management.

What is a project you consider a great example of information design?

A Better A&E led by PearsonLloyd, Medicine for People initiative led by David Sless and the Communication Research Institute, NYC Live Subway Map by Gary Hustwit/Work & Co., and Simple Action reports led by Rob Waller and the Simplification Centre.

What is your dream project?

To develop a federal committee dedicated to ensuring that evidence-design practices and principles are leveraged into policy and standards for  public communication for emergency preparedness and response.

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Thinking Machines Data Science
Quezon City, Philippines

Consultant

What is the motivation to work in information 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.

What are you working on at the moment?

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

What is a project you consider a great example of information design?

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

What is your 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)

What is the motivation to work in information design?

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

What are you working on at the moment?

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

What is a project you consider a great example of information design?

waiting for its coming.

What is your 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

What is the motivation to work in information design?

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

What are you 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).

What is a project you consider a great example of information design?

Claudine Jaenichen’s designs for tsunami evacuation in California.

What is your dream project?

Anything related to healthcare emergencies.

BMJ Publishing, Inc.
London, United Kingdom

Data Graphics Designer
Information Design Association Committee

What is the motivation to work in information design?

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

What are you working on at the moment?

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

What is a project you consider a great example of information design?

Old favourites of mine include the work of the Isotype Institute, London transport, Captain Sankey and Minard. I’ve also been really enjoying the work of Mark Belan recently for Visual Capitalist. He has a really great visual style.

What is your 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.

Studio Fundi
London & Johannesburg
Founder, Human-Centred Designer, Strategist

What is the motivation to work in information design?

Coming from South Africa, where we have 11 official languages and the lowest global functional literacy rate, I am acutely aware of design’s role in communication. I work in information design because of the potential to make an impact on the way individuals and groups make decisions and the potential to change their behaviour to improve their health, well-being, safety and security.

What are you working on at the moment?

In 2021 I founded Studio Fundi, a small human-centred design consultancy. Under the umbrella of the company, I design, develop and launch products and services that offer tangible solutions to real problems. I specialise in creating work at the intersection of Visual Communication and Behavioural Science. I also continue to customise, market and sell FebriSol, the company’s flagship product aimed at helping patients adhere to chronic medication.

What is a project you consider a great example of information design?

My favourite project at the moment is Aravrit, a typographic system that combines Hebrew and Arabic (https://www.aravrit.com). I’m also a huge fan of the wayfinding system at the Barbican Centre in London.

What is your dream project?

FebriSol, which I continue to work on, feels a lot like a dream project as it has the potential to tangibly affect the lives of those living with HIV and other chronic conditions. That said, I am fascinated by the role of design in behavioural medicine so any project in which I could combine those two interests would be very challenging and exciting.

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