International Institute for Information Design
After two years online, the Information Design Summer School is face-to-face again – for three intensive days of expert talks, discussion and practical work.
After two years online, the Information Design Summer School is face-to-face again – for three intensive days of expert talks, discussion and practical work in Vienna, just before Vision Plus XIX. There are sessions on design critiquing, visualisation, typography, language and design, iconography, and user testing.
It costs £250, and there are various discounts available. You can find out more at: The Simplification Centre
The IIIDawards are a showroom for professional information design with international exposure in many different categories of information design applications.
The IIIDawards are a showroom for professional information design with international exposure in many different categories of information design applications. In addition to receiving an award, all submissions are presented online. The best of each category are included in the IIIDaward book and will go on tour as part of the exhibition.
Early bird submissions until 31 January 2023
We’re marking the 90 year anniversary of the London Underground network diagram with a talk by Maxwell Roberts, who is the pre-eminent expert on the diagram and author of several books on it.
It’s exactly 90 years since the launch of Henry Beck’s 1933 London Underground network diagram, which has become an iconic example of information design . We’re marking this with a talk by Maxwell Roberts who is the pre-eminent expert on the diagram and author of several books on it.
Max says: “It was a remarkable work of elegant compromise, effortlessly balancing conflicting priorities and presenting passengers with a design that simplified reality in a useful way. In this talk I will highlight these priorities and consider recent findings in usability testing that show the importance of attending to them.”
Maxwell Roberts lectures in psychology at the University of Essex, UK, with BSc and PhD degrees from the University of Nottingham. His research interests have included reasoning and intelligence, but now focus on information design and, in particular, schematic maps, creating challenging designs and testing their usability and aesthetics. He has authored four books and several academic papers on this topic and co-chairs the Schematic Mapping Workshop. His personal web page is www.tubemapcentral.com.
New book by Maria dos Santos Lonsdale about ‘Information Visualisation’.
The publisher states: ‘In a world of information overload, this book will help you to cut through the noise and communicate information with clear, efficient, and engaging visualisations.
This book:
• Explains the principles behind information visualisation, including the science of visual perception and cognition
• Provides guidelines that bring research and best practice together
• Showcases a range of examples, and outlines the do’s and don’ts of different approaches
• Shows how to use research methods to design with and for your target audience.
From an expert with years of experience researching, teaching, and doing information visualisation, learn how to make better and informed decisions around visualisation design that are appropriate for both your data and audience.’
Foreword written by Prof. Dr. Rune Pettersson.
Website: Sage Publishing. Sample pages: Preview.
Rodrigo Ramírez will talk about “Visual Tools: Information design as a way to manage crises and emergencies.”
Rodrigo Ramírez specialises in information design for emergencies, including the immediate needs in an emergency as well as the communication and management of risk. He will discuss the Guemil icons project, with testing through participatory workshops in communities.
Rodrigo is Associate Professor at the School of Design, UC Chile (Diseño UC). He is also a researcher at the Chilean National Research Center for Integrated Disaster Management, CIGIDEN. He was design leader for the Guemil Icons project, an open source set of symbols for crises and emergencies (guemil.info). Rodrigo has an MA Information Design from Reading University, UK. His interests are typography and information design, crossing both practice and research. He has collaborated in information and type design research and designed for brands, public organizations, and publications.
Looking for contributors.
In 1933, Henry Beck’s original design for representing the London Underground was published, schematising the entire network for the first time using only horizontal, vertical and 45-degree diagonal lines and distorting topography to enhance clarity. The London Underground has been depicted using these techniques ever since and cartographers and designers worldwide have been influenced by its success.
To mark this anniversary and Beck’s contribution, The Cartographic Journal will publish a multidisciplinary Special Issue exploring the foundations and future prospects for transport cartography in which schematisation forms an important element of design.
We welcome full contributions of up to 8,000 words (Refereed paper – substantive research – with double-blind peer review) or shorter manuscripts of up to 4,000 words (Observation paper – brief reports of preliminary findings or theoretical remarks – with editorial review) that either focus on Beck’s work and its legacy or take a wider perspective.
Website: The Cartographic Journal
Deadline: Abstracts on January 13, 2023. First submissions on April 9, 2023.
Issue 19.3 of the Revista Brasileira de Design da Informação contains 4 English articles about health and wellbeing.
The Brazilian journal InfoDesign has just published a special issue on Health and Wellbeing. Issue 19.3 of the Revista Brasileira de Design da Informação / Brazilian Journal of Information Design contains five articles in English. PDFs of these articles can be downloaded for free from the InfoDesign website.
Issue 19.3 includes the following articles:
Editorial. Sara Goldchmit, Daniel Raposo: Editorial: Information Design for Health and Wellbeing.
Article 1. Letícia Maria Muniz Lobo, Ana Carolina Garcia Ribeiro, Maria Isabelle Silveira da Silva, Nicole Kareen Conceição Mendes, Livia Flávia de Albuquerque Campos: Desenvolvimento de infográfico como alerta para a prevenção do câncer de pênis no Maranhão [Development of infographic as a warning for the prevention of penile cancer in Maranhão.]
Article 2. Grace Sampaio, Carla Spinillo: Considerações sobre o design da informação em artefatos gráficos do processo de prescrição de dietas: Um estudo do fluxo de informações em um hospital público universitário [Information design considerations in graphic artifacts of the diet prescription process: On the information flow in a public university hospital.]
Article 3. Emanuele König, Patricia Raquel Bohn, Cláudia de Souza Libânio: Barreiras informacionais e recomendações para a inclusão de pacientes em um serviço oncológico ambulatorial brasileiro. [Informational barriers and recommendations for patient inclusion in a Brazilian outpatient oncological service.]
Article 4. Laís Alpi Landim, Maria José Vicentini Jorente: Recursos gráficos para visualização de informações de saúde no contexto da Covid-19. [Graphic resources for health information visualization in the context of Covid-19.]
Hong Kong Polytechnic University is looking for a Principal Teaching Fellow.
The School of Design of Hong Kong Polytechnic University is restructuring its academic programmes for 2022/23. The Principal Teaching Fellow will take up a role for the teaching and learning activities related to the new scheme-based undergraduate programme BA (Hons) in Design. This covers the areas of Interior Design, Environment Design, Advertising Design, Information Design, Media Design, Product Design, Interaction Design, Social Design and Service Design.
Consideration of applications will commence on 12 December 2022 until the position is filled.
Website: School of Design.
Public participation is crucial in the present-day context of increasing complex scenario of data-driven approaches in various domains. I will discuss the challenges and exploration of information design approaches …
Public participation is crucial in the present-day context of increasingly complex scenarios of data-driven approaches in various domains. I will discuss the challenges and exploration of information design approaches through case examples from my teaching and practice-based design research projects at Aalto University.
Case examples: Information design for Elections, Air Quality, Health, Public transport.
Rupesh Vyas is an associate professor at Aalto University, responsible for the information design focus area within the Visual Communication Design major. He is also leading the practice-based Design research projects in information design at the Department of Art and Media.
Rupesh teaches information design courses and is engaged in collaborative design research with many public sector organizations in Finland. He led the collaborative project with city of Helsinki to create an interactive visualisation of Air Quality data for eliciting public participation. He is the driving force behind the collaborative design research projects with FINNGEN for creating future tools of visualizing genetic data for scientific discoveries.
Rupesh is also involved in organizing the Visualizing Knowledge conference, the biennial conference held at Aalto University, focused on various topics of Information Design and Data Visualization, where student work, as well as ongoing research is presented along with talks by international experts.
Previously, he was a senior faculty at the National Institute of Design, India, responsible for developing and teaching information and interaction design research and education. He has contributed significantly to some of the major projects with national importance in India, which includes the Design for Census of India 2011, Design of Population Register, Design of Multipurpose National Identity Card and unifying Information and visual design standards for Driver’s License.
The New Zealand Parliament approved a ‘Plain Language Bill’.
On 19 October, the New Zealand Parliament approved a ‘Plain Language Bill’. The Bill was announced and its contents was made public.
Section 7 of this legislation mentions a need for guidance. There will be Plain Language officers who check documents and spoken texts. The ISO-standard on Plain Language – IIID contributed to this standard – might become directly applicable.
As the name suggests, they are conversations as much as talks. The speakers make short presentations of their work or ideas, then the conversation will open out to include everyone.
IIID Conversations is a series of informal events. As the name suggests, they are conversations as much as talks. The speakers make short presentations of their work or ideas, then interview them and the conversation will open out to include everyone.
In 2021 we consulted our members on what they would like to see. Their answer was ‘community’ – most wanted to feel more connected to others in their profession, to gain insight about practice, and to gain new knowledge about the various different types of work information designers do.
IIID Conversations is free for IIID members, and €5 for non-members.
Coming up:
1 December at 1500 UTC
Rupesh Vyas Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland
5 January 2023 at 1500 UTC
Rodrigo Ramírez, Information Designer, Associate Professor at School of Design, UC Chile (Diseño UC).
Previous Conversations:
Carlos Rosa, IADE – Faculty of Design, Technology and Communication, Lisbon, Portugal: Moving Pictograms
Will Stahl-Timmins, Data Graphics Designer at The Britisch Medical Journal: A picture of health: Visualising medical information for doctors.
Rob Waller (Simplification Centre, UK), discussing the Information Design Summer School – how it works, who comes and how it links theory and practice through critiquing and practical projects.
Oliver Tomlinson (TDL Creative, UK). Oliver uses information design and visualisation in the construction industry, and will talk about the contribution information graphics makes to successful bid documents.
Alex Tyers (Transmission Design, Australia). Alex’s practice includes financial information, medicines information, forms and other complex information.
The introduction of motion is an important contribution to facilitate the interpretation of pictograms and to enable them to develop in other ways,
The introduction of motion is an important contribution to facilitate the interpretation of pictograms and to enable them to develop in other ways, for example, to encourage civic behaviour, enhance the content of a message and to create emotional ties.
Carlos Rosa, with colleague Maria Diaz, won an IIID Award in 2020 for their fascinating work on moving pictograms. For years we’ve assumed pictograms are static, but digital channels allow them to move. The introduction of motion makes pictograms easier to interpret, and also encourages compliance with their message, and creates emotional ties. Carlos will present this project, and data that demonstrates significant improvements in comprehension.
Carlos Rosa is an independent designer, researcher, and design professor. He is Director of IADE, the largest and most reputed creative school in Portugal. His research project explores the knowledge in the exercise of design applied to universal communication systems. He has received a Portuguese Design Award, and he was described as “Design Icon” by Computer Arts magazine. Carlos writes and illustrates regularly for Portuguese newspapers. He is father of Simão and Joana, has written a book and has also planted a tree!
Carlos Rosa Design
Chapman University is looking for an Assistant Professor
The Design Program, within Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, at Chapman University in Orange County, California invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Design, beginning August 2023.
Please direct inquiries to Jeanie Randazzo, Manager, Department of Art, at randazzo@chapman.edu
Application review begins December 1 and continues until the position is filled.
Website: Wilkinson College of Arts, Chapman University in Orange County, California.
At the BMJ we use infographics and data visualisations to convey the information we publish to busy health professionals in an efficient and engaging way.
At The BMJ (British Medical Journal) we use infographics and data visualisations to convey the information we publish to busy health professionals in an efficient and engaging way. In my talk I’ll introduce the kinds of graphics we make, including full page “visual summaries”, interactive graphics, and visual abstracts.
Registration link to be updated shortly
Will Stahl-Timmins is Data Graphics Designer at The BMJ. His background is in graphic design. He holds a PhD in the use of information graphics in health technology assessment from Exeter Medical School. Outside work, he spends a lot of time playing with his daughter (currently age 2), cooking, gardening, and playing board games with anyone who he can get to the table.
Prof. Dr. Rune Pettersson updates his series of 12 books on Information Design. Download these for free.
Rune Pettersson has updated his series of twelve books on Information Design. This series gives an excellent up-to-date overview of the literature.
All twelve books can be downloaded for free from:
