This book applies information design to the understanding of woodcuts. Free download.
This book applies insights from information design to the interpretation of images in woodcut-illustrations.
The study by Andrea van Leerdam shows how woodcuts in vernacular books on medicine and astrology fulfilled important rhetorical functions in knowledge communication. These images guide readers’ perceptions of the organisation, visualisation, and reliability of knowledge.
From the introduction: ‘I draw on ideas on visual rhetoric from the field of information design studies, as outlined below. This field shares with book history the foundational assumption that materiality affects meaning. Choices in design always reflect assumptions held implicitly or explicitly by the designers on how a message can be conveyed effectively.’
Page 35: ‘Ideas from information design studies contribute to a more systematic understanding of the concept. The practical outlook of this field – which design solutions work well under what circumstances, and why? – is instrumental for book historians to work the other way around, as we might say: to reconstruct the possible ways in which early modern book design made meaning.’
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 says ‘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.’
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.
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.
A new book about the critical role and relationship between design and emergencies.
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.
From the publisher: ‘Between 1947 and 1953, the Austrian-born, Bauhaus-trained artist Herbert Bayer (1900–1985) oversaw the design and production of the World Geo-Graphic Atlas, a landmark work of graphic design and data visualization. Benjamin Benus tells the story behind this work’s creation. Benus’s account reconstructs the working methods and intellectual exchanges through which Bayer and his circle of scientific collaborators realized this remarkable work.
A new book by Sheila Pontis and Michael Babwahsingh can be pre-ordered.
Sheila Pontis and Michael Babwahsingh wrote ‘Information Design Unbound. Key Concepts and Skills for Making Sense in a Changing World.’
The publisher states: ‘Information Design Unbound helps beginning designers build the mindset and skillset to navigate visual communication challenges wherever they may arise.
Written and designed with students’ needs in mind, this book brings information design fundamentals to life: exercises allow students to put lessons directly into practice, case studies demonstrate how information designers think and work, and generous illustrations clarify concepts in a visually engaging way.’
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.’
Conference proceedings of the 2022 HCI virtual conference (June 16-July 1, 2022).
Sakae Yamamoto and Hirohiko Mori edited these conference proceedings of the virtual HCI International Conference 2022. It contains 39 articles.
Part 1 focuses on human-centered design approaches, information design and quality, visual design, visualization and big data, and information, cognition and learning.
In their new book, “Communicating Knowledge Visually: Will Burtin’s Scientific Approach to Information Design”, R. Roger Remington and Sheila Pontis, reveal the life, work, and mindset of Will Burtin.
This book presents a timely, in-depth examination of Will Burtin, a pioneer of information design. Using a methodical approach, the authors, R. Roger Remington and Sheila Pontis, analyze Burtin’s way of working, and nine of his seminal projects, including his exhibitions for The Upjohn Company, and diagrams for their SCOPE magazine.
Excerpts taken from Burtin’s unpublished writing offer insight into his thinking process and explain how he transformed complex scientific information into easy, accessible visual forms. Scientists, designers, educators and students will gain valuable knowledge from Burtin’s unique design approach in meeting the current challenges of communicating complexity in their respective fields.
