IIID Conversation: Design for Emergency Management, 18 January 2024, 17:00 UTC

This time we delve into the emerging discipline of Design for Emergency Management, where the application of design takes on a comprehensive role in preventing and addressing disasters.

This time we delve into the emerging discipline of Design for Emergency Management, where the application of design takes on a comprehensive role in preventing and addressing disasters.

This talk will discuss the distinctions between this emerging discipline and traditional design, and showcase how design methods bring innovative evidence-based perspectives to the complex challenges presented by natural hazards such as earthquakes, hurricanes, flooding, and wildfires. This role extends far beyond aesthetics, and the discussion will underscore the imperative for collaborative endeavors that encompass a variety of stakeholders and ensure inclusive representation.

Saskia and Claudine together with Tingyi S. Lin, Klaus Kremer, Rodrigo Ramírez created the book ‘Design for Emergency Management’ that highlights the design research for change.

From the publisher: ‘This book highlights the urgency of ensuring that a wide range of stakeholders and a diverse representation of the public comes together to work towards preventing disasters. It contributes methods to actively engage communities in managing and minimizing disaster risk such as earthquakes, hurricanes, flooding and (wild) fires.’

Editors: Saskia van Manen, Claudine Jaenichen, Tingyi S. Lin, Klaus Kremer, Rodrigo Ramírez
Publisher: Routledge
Book site

Booking for the IIID Conversation: Eventbrite

Saskia van Manen is co-founder of Design for Emergency Management. She is also a visiting research fellow at the Open University (UK). Saskia has always been fascinated by the power of nature, and volcanoes in particular. As disasters only occur at the interface between nature and society, she has increasingly worked across discipline boundaries. Her interest is in facilitating sustainable and inclusive community-led action on disaster risk reduction, resilience strengthening and climate adaptation through Earth-centered and evidence-based design. She holds a PhD in Volcanology, an MA in Product Design and Innovation and an M.Sci. in Geophysics.

Claudine Jaenichen
Claudine Jaenichen

Claudine Jaenichen specializes in information design, focusing on the interplay between design, cognition, and situational design for cognitively demanding events. She advocates for inclusivity in design, particularly in evacuation information and public information projects, using participatory design and benchmarking to measure success and audience communication. Claudine is actively involved in international design communities, serving on the Executive Board of Directors for the Design Network for Emergency Management and as Vice President of the International Institute of Information Design (IIID). Her work spans various fields including humanities, government, social sciences, and sciences, reflecting her commitment to interdisciplinary engagement and design advocacy.

AI Unleashed: 27 to 29 November 2023 (hybrid)

Exploring the Frontiers of Artificial Intelligence: An excellent opportunity for creative professionals to acquire the most up-to-date AI knowledge.

Exploring the Frontiers of Artificial Intelligence,
Asian Convergence 2023

An excellent opportunity for creative professionals to acquire the most up-to-date AI knowledge. The programme will include keynote presentations, seminars and roundtables, exhibition and sharing programmes with young designers and students.

Jointly organised by The Hong Kong Federation of Design and Creative Industries (FHKDCI), The Design Alliance Asia (tDA Asia) and Hong Kong Design Institute (HKDI).

For details of the event and registration

The event is free of charge.

IIID Conversation with Sheila Pontis, 7 December 2023, 16:00 UTC

Sheila Pontis will introduce and talk about her new book.

Join us for the next in our series of IIID Conversations. Sheila Pontis will discuss her new book, Information Design Unbound. It’s an important new resource about the theory and practice of information design.

As the complexity of problems facing people, organizations, and the planet grows, the role of information design is more important than ever. Infographics, data visualizations, and other well-known artifacts are part of a broader suite of information design interventions that help promote clarity and understanding.

For designers to realize the full potential of information design in the face of new and ambiguous challenges, they need to build on traditional practices as well as integrate emerging approaches.

Sheila saysAs the complexity of problems facing people, organizations, and the planet grows, the role of information design is more important than ever. Infographics, data visualizations, and other well-known artifacts are part of a broader suite of information design interventions that help promote clarity and understanding.’

Information Design Unbound: Key Concepts and Skills for Making Sense in a Changing World’ provides a comprehensive introduction to the field. The emphasis is on developing essential strategic thinking and visual problem-solving capabilities. It is written and designed with students’ needs in mind. This book brings information design fundamentals to life. It includes exercises to allow students to put lessons directly into practice. Many case studies demonstrate how information designers think and work, and generous illustrations clarify concepts in a visually engaging way.

Authors: Sheila Pontis & Michael Babwahsingh
Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2023.

[Website about the book].

Booking for the IIID Conversation: Eventbrite

Sheila Pontis is an information designer, researcher, educator, and partner at Sense Information Design. With more than 20 years in higher education, her courses and research blend information design, cognitive science, and field research with creative thinking to help people reconnect with their imagination, envision new realities, and feel empowered to lead change — in their own lives and in society. .

Her research has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals and presented at multiple conferences. She is author of Making Sense of Field Research: A Practical Guide for Information Designers (Routledge, 2018) and coauthor of Communicating Knowledge Visually: Will Burtin’s Scientific Approach to Information Design with R. Roger Remington (RIT Press, 2021). Sheila has a degree in Graphic Design from the University of Buenos Aires, Postgraduate and MPhil degrees from the University of Barcelona, and a PhD from the University of the Arts London.

Visualizing Complexity Science Workshop

Visualizing Complexity Science Workshop by Paul Kahn and Liuhuaying Yang (Vienna, August 28- September 1)

Paul Kahn and Liuhuaying Yang offer a 5-day workshop on Visualising Complexity Science.

The Visualizing Complexity Science Workshop brings together multiple perspectives in information design and data visualization to create complexity science visualizations. Teams will combine researchers together with data visualization designers, data journalists, and data artists engaged in advanced visualization projects.

The program is designed to be diverse, creative and inspiring, offering a mix of lectures by the hosts, invited guest speakers from the international data journalism and visualization community, group discussions, and hands-on working sessions engaging with complexity science research datasets.

Location: Complexity Science Hub, Vienna, Austria

Dates: Monday August 28 – Friday September 1, 2023

Registration deadline: May 20, 2023

More details and registration: Visualizing Complexity Science Workshop Website

Summer School preview, 14 March 14:00 UTC

Thinking of coming to the Information Design Summer School this May? To help you decide, join our free taster session on 14 March.

Thinking of coming to the Information Design Summer School this May? To help you decide, join our free taster session on 14 March at 1400 (UTC time zone).

The preview session will include a short introduction to the summer school programme, and a demonstration exercise – we will critique some real life examples of good and bad design, to show how we use design theory and design patterns to diagnose problems and find solutions. The tutors will all be there to introduce themselves and answer your questions. You will be able to feel the atmosphere of the summer school and understand the approach we take.

The Information Design Summer School will be held face-to-face, 22-24 May in Vienna. It’s organised by the Simplification Centre in partnership with IIID. You can find out more at www.simplificationcentre.org.uk/summer-school

Registration for Summer School preview

VK23 – Visualizing Knowledge conference, 16 June 2023 in Aalto, Finland

Drawing from the best minds and voices in the information design field from across the globe, Visualizing Knowledge is a one day data visualization conference held at Aalto University, Finland.

Visualizing Uncertainty: Call for speakers and student showcase now open

JOIN THE SHOWCASE!
Student Projects of Information Design and Data Visualization

Visualizing Knowledge is seeking for engaging and compelling student projects to be part of the showcase exhibited online and on the conference day, 16th June 2023, at Aalto University. This year’s theme is Visualizing Uncertainty. How can we point out new perspectives and approaches that can bring a hopeful and optimistic future which hasn’t been set yet? How do we visualize the complexity of the world we’re living in?

Entries can be design and data work in a variety of formats – digital, web, interactive art, installation and print etc.

Selected entrants will have the opportunity to attend the conference for free.

Information Design Summer School: 3 days in Vienna, 22-24 May

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

Conversation with Will Stahl-Timmins, 6 October 2022 at 1500 UTC

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.

A picture of health: Visualising medical information for doctors

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.

Grid of 16 colourful Infographics, none of them are readable in detail.

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.

Registration

Conversation with Alex Tyers, 3 May 2022 at 1300 UTC

Information design for financial communications

The next in our series of IIID Conversations is with Alex Tyers of Transmission Design, one of Australia’s leading information designers. With over 20 years experience of every variety of information design, he is an expert in instructional design, forms, customer communications and plain language.

During this session I will be talking about information design for financial communications. Most people I talk to express surprise that a bank statement, form or insurance letter is even designed at all, maybe because they are often so bad. However, I can confirm that – yes – financial communication design is a thing. I will be discussing how financial comms can be improved, and what can hold this back. I will be showing examples from projects I have worked on for financial organisations and highlighting some of the things I have learned. I look forward to chatting to you soon.

Registration

Alex Tyers is one of Australia’s leading information designers. With over 20 years experience of every variety of information design, he is an expert in instructional design, forms, customer communications and plain language.

Transmission Design

Shi Ji: Design Education. Part 1

She Ji, the journal for Design, Economics and Innovation, has published its issue 6/1, dedicated to design education and guest-edited by Guillermina Noël.

Cover page of Shi Ji 6.1

She Ji, the journal for Design, Economics and Innovation, has published its issue 6/1, dedicated to design education and guest-edited by Guillermina Noël.

The journal is open source, you can download the whole issue or select articles of your choice under this link:

Shi Ji: Design Education. Part 1

Authors are:

  • Ken Friedman Tongji University, Shanghai;
  • Guillermina Noël University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Lucerne, Switzerland;
  • Michael Meyer and Donald Norman, University of California at San Diego, USA;
  • Peter Jan Stappers et al, Deft Technological University, Netherlands;
  • Gjoko Muratovski, Ullman School of Design, University of Cincinnati, USA;
  • Johan Redström, Umea Institute of Design, Sweden;
  • Gunnar Swanson, California State University, USA;
  • Jorge Frascara, Formerly University of Alberta, Canada, and now University of Applied Design and Art, Lucerne, Switzerland. He interviews Richard Buchanan, Meredith Davis, Ken Friedman, Willard McCarty, Ezio Manzini, Donald Norman, Sharon Poggenpohl, and Saskia Sassen.

Summer school

Information Design Summer School

Tutors Rob Waller, Clive Richards and Karel van der Waarde

It’s an intense and exciting introduction to the field, and attracts many people who are not from an information design background, but who have problems they think information design can solve. 
We’ve had medical people, lawyers, technical writers and government administrators, for example.

The summer school is taking a break in 2020 but get in touch to find out about our future plans.