20 Information Design Milestones

Throughout the history key movements, people, schools, organisations and publications have contributed to the development, evolution and consolidation of the information design discipline. Here it is a non-exhaustive personal selection of 20 of them:

1. Pre-cuneiform tablets (3000 bc). First ways of visual communication developed in Sumer, a region of Mesopotamia. These tablets can be seen as one of the first attempts of information design. The way pictograms and signs were engraved in these types of tablets had a logic, and followed a rationale to organise information and improve understanding.

Clay tablets (Meggs, 2006)

2. Early cartographic examples. The first map of the world was a simple illustration where the world is synthesised in a circle, containing three continents: Asia, Europe and Africa. It was created in Turkey (about 550 BCE) by Anaximander. While, the first route map (366 BCE) represents the road system of the Roman Empire. Much later, in 1375 a world atlas was made, which was a complete visual work of cosmography, along with a perpetual calendar and a thematic representation of the known world. The Atlas was commissioned by Charles the Fifth of France and made by Catalonian Abraham Cresques.

First map of the world (550 BCE). Simple illustration of three continents: Asia, Europe and Africa.

Visual Atlas (1375) known as 'Most complete atlas of visual geographical knowledge of the late Middle Ages' (Friendly)

3. The Gutenberg Bible (1456). This was the first major book printed with a movable type printing press marking the start of the ‘Gutenberg Revolution’ and the age of the printed book. This book has superb typographic legibility, and a sense of visual organisation, defining a hierarchical structure of the information.

Double-spread of the Gutenberg Bible

4. Charts and Graphs (1770-80s). Joseph Priestley created the first recorded graph of time depicted as a timeline, which was published in 1765. While in 1786 William Playfair published a great collection of graphics in his Atlas, The Commercial and Political Atlas (London), representing information about economics. The importance of Playfair’s study was the creation of a new graphic language that offered an alternative to the tabular presentation of information used prior to that date. Playfair said that: “Graphics are preferable to tables because graphics show data from a comparative perspective”

Timeline-graphic created by Priestley in 1765

Statistical graphic created by Playfair published in The Commercial and Political Atlas (London)

5. The Rose Diagram (1858). Diagram created by the nurse Florence Nightingale to show the poor sanitary conditions of hospitals under which the British army was exposed during the Crimean War (1853-1856). Nightingale’s diagram was part of her report about the soldiers’ causes of mortality in hospitals during the war aimed to change UK’s attitude to hospitals care. Nightingale believed that diagrams could be more effective ways of communication than only written words.

Diagram created by Nightingale to explain the causes of death during the Crimean War

6. Carté Figurative (1869). Also worthy of mention is the graphic created by the French engineer Charles Joseph Minard, who added statistical diagrams and bar graphs to cartographic maps. His work displays a great amount of information carefully organised and visually coded.

Graphic created by Minard to explain the journey of Napoleon's army to Russia in the XIX century

7. Periodic Table (1871). Mendeleev presented a classification of the elements according to their chemical properties, noticing patterns that led him to develop his periodic table. Thanks to the clear organisation of the elements, Mendeleev predicted several new elements that would complete the table. The periodic table was later a piece of inspiration for organisation and classification of complex information for disciplines not related to experimental sciences.

Mendeleev's table showing the periodicity of the elements

8. The Bauhaus School (1919-1933). Ideas from all advanced art and design movements were explored, combined, and applied to problems of functional design and machine production at the German design school, the Bauhaus, founded in 1919 in Weimar, Germany. The aims of the school were to create a functional and rational idea of design, and bridge the gap between art and industry, becoming the antithesis of the Arts and Crafts movement. Mass production was increasing every day, and the machine aesthetic demanded reduction to essentials, exclusion of the sentimental choices and visual distractions.

The Bauhaus style was functional with non-decorative elements

9. EL Lissitzky (1920s). Among other works, he designed three books which could be considered a key contribution to information design. In these books, he introduced the concept of visual programme and functional design, working with shapes and colours purposefully organised and creating a visual unity throughout the pages. In addition, he achieved visual clarity and understanding as a consequence of well-structured ways of organising both typographic and visual information.

Pages from 'The Story of Two Squares' (El Lissitzky, 1922)

10. The New typography (Berlin, 1920s). The essence of the new typography was clarity, not simply beauty; its objective was to develop form from the functions of the text. Similarly to the Bauhaus, this movement stressed utilitarian aspects in design, claiming that a thing becomes beautiful only when and because it serves a practical purpose, denying any attempts to artificially ‘adorn’ it.

11. Isotype language (1930s). This important movement towards developing a ‘world with out words’ began in the 1920s, continued into the 1940s, and still has important influences today.  The Isotype concept involves the use of elementary pictographs to convey information. The originator of this language was Otto Neurath, inspired by how the Egyptians and diagrams visualise ideas and factual information. Neurath felt that the social and economic changes following the First World War demanded clear communication to assist public understanding of important social issues relating to housing, health and economics. He developed a system of elementary pictographs to present complex data.

Visualisation of the story of Malaria, using the Isotype language

12. London Underground Diagram (1933). The invention of the LUD is another important contribution to the development of the information design discipline in the twentieth century. The difference between Henry Beck’s and other underground diagrammatic maps is that Beck defined and strictly followed a set of fundamental design rules to produce a usable and effective piece of design.

First underground diagrammatic map created by Henry Beck in 1933 for the London Underground

13. Ladislav Sutnar (1940s). He is considered the progenitor of the information design discipline, as he stated the importance of functionality over aesthetics in graphic design projects and the need to control and organise information in order to effectively communicate it.

14. The International Style (1950s). This style was a synthetic graphic language, based on a mathematical grid and the used of sans-serif typefaces. Its main characteristics were unity of design achieved by asymmetrical organisation of design elements on a mathematically constructed grid; objective photography and copy that present visual and verbal information in clear and factual manner, free from the exaggerated claims of propaganda and commercial advertising of the previous decades.

Müller-Brockmann mathematical grid system helps to organise information and elements in a clear way

15. Semiology of Graphics (1963). Jacques Bertin published Semiologie Graphique, which became the essential book for organising visual and perceptual elements in accordance with information characteristics and relations. Bertin’s work created the foundations of the principles of graphic semiotics, developing a theory of graphic symbols and representational modes.

Value and Shape: two of the 7 visual variables proposed by Bertin to code information

16. Visual programme (1964). Karl Gerstner introduced the concept of visual programme to the graphic design discipline, presenting a design method called the ‘morphological box of the typogram’. Gerstner created a systematic method, merging art and science, that is capable of generating a broad range of design solutions in which results are not fixed and the form should and must take its shape in obedience to an order or formula.

17. Organisations, Publications and Conferences (1980s). An interest for researching, sharing and learning about information design emerged during the last decades of the xx century. First PhD investigations about design started to appear in the 80s. Associations such as SND (1979), IIID (1986) and IDA (1991), and design publications such as Information Design Journal (1979) and Visible Language (1967) were also ‘born’ during those years.

18. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (1983). Edward Tufte’s first book introduced the idea that effectiveness is not related to beauty or technology but to appropriate organisation of information. His books display old-fashioned, but clear diagrams over cluttered, flat modern ones.

19. Understanding is everything (1989). Richard S. Wurman explains that for effective organisation, understanding the problem is essential. Wurman devotes most of his books to explaining the meaning and importance of ‘understanding’. He points out that it is essential for the graphic designer, information architect or information designer to acknowledge the power of organisation to increase understanding and to have in their repertoire an efficient method of organising.

Wurman's project focussed on better understanding population's effects regarding urban and business planning and its impact on consumers around the world

20. Malofiej (1993-2012). In 1993, the first edition of the annual, international competition for print and online information graphics, named for Argentinean infographer Alejandro Malofiej, was launched. Conferences and workshops have been also part of the programme of this event. In addition, it brings together a great number of specialists, students, professionals and researchers of the field, creating a rich space for discussions, learning and sharing. Undeniable, this event has been an invaluable key contributor and essential reference for the development and consolidation of information graphics, and thus information design.

This year Malofiej is 20 years old

The above 20-milestone list makes evident the essence of information design: understanding and information organisation. That’s why I would like to conclude with Wurman’s (2004) words: ‘There is only one God that I serve and that is the God of Understanding. If you serve that God, all the others will be taken care of. My quote is: “The only way to communicate is to understand what it is like not to understand.” It is at that moment that you can make something understandable.’

Some references
- 19.20.21 Project
- Bertin, J., 1983. Semiology of graphics, diagrams, networks, maps. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press.
- Friendly, Michael. Denis, Daniel J. Milestones in the History of Thematic Cartography, Statistical Graphics, and Data Visualization. York University, Canada.
- Funkhouser, H. G. Historical Development of the Graphical Representation of Statistical Data. Osiris, Vol. 3. 1937, P. 272-464
- Garland, K., 1969. The design of the London Underground diagram. The Penrose Annual, 62, pp.68-82.
- Gerstner, K., 2007. Designing programmes: instead of solutions for problems, programmes for solutions. 3^rd ed. Baden: Lars Muller Publishers.
- Meggs, P.B., 2006. Meggs’ history of graphic design. Chichester: John Wiley.
- Mijksenaar, P., 1997. Visual function: an introduction to information design. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers.
- Müller-Brockmann, J., 1996. Grid systems in graphic design: a visual communication manual for graphic designers, typographers and three dimensional designers. Niederteufen: Arthur Niggli.

Think First, Design Latter

(From Malofiej20 Blog)

Germany has a long design tradition. Just having a quick look into the history of design, both the Bauhaus and the ULM Schools are still the most influential schools of design. In addition, German designers, such as Lucian Bernhard, Otl Aicher, Jan Tschichold, and Erik Spiekermann among others, have been pioneers in different areas of design throughout the xx century. Particularly in terms of information design, effective projects have been developed in this same country. A well-know example would be the design of the wayfinding system of Berlin transportation network and its diagrammatic map. However what amazes me most, it is that (well-defined) information design examples could be found all around the country. Today I would like to share a lovely map I encountered last week in Berlin in my way to Weimar.

I had quite a long journey ahead when I left London that morning: first I had to fly to Berlin, then get the bus to Berlin and finally take two trains to Weimar. So, once I got to Berlin Hauptbahnhof (central train station), I went to double-check that I was in the correct station (you never know!), and then look for the appropriate platform. While waiting for my train, a group of posters next to me caught my attention. From the distance, they seemed to be timetables, but one of them in particular had a complex and too colourful layout to be displaying only textual information. So, I went to check it out. On closer inspection, I realised that that poster wasn’t (only) a timetable but a floor map of the ground-floor platforms.

Timetable of arriving and departing trains from Berlin main train station (Berlin, 2011)

Zoom-in of the timetable-map (Berlin, 2011)

So, let’s have a proper look to this floor map. First, the map shows departure and arrival times and destinations, route numbers, and directions of each train which gets into this level of the station (Berlin Hauptbahnhof has four floors). After this, the quantity of carriages of each train, and where in the platform each train will stop can also be seen in the map. At the same time, each carriage is colour-coded according to its class and function, e.g. green for second class, yellow for first class, and red for the restaurant carriage. This is complemented with a series of icons, which indicates the facilities of each carriage, e.g. WC, seats for less-able travellers, information spots. Each platform is divided in zones: A, B, C and D, and, of course, these zones are marked in the map. Finally, a red circle points out the zone where you are standing in the platform. Four of these posters are located along each platform, one per zone to help travellers to easily find their seats. On the bottom part of the map, a reference box explains each of the icons, colours, and acronyms that have been used to code the information.

In short, what makes this map to be extremely interesting for me is that it visualises a great amount of information organised into a cohesive whole, creating a clear layout. To be able to achieve this level of visual clarity, it is necessary to have a complete understanding of the content that will be used to create the infographic or information design project, before start designing.

PS: Thanks to Gregor’s comment I would like to clarify that this map is not a floor-map, as ‘the map does not show each train which gets into a certain level of the station (of which, as pointed out correctly, Berlin main station has four). Instead there’s a unique map for every platform of the station, of which Berlin main station has more than 20. So it’s not a floor map (which would be very useful, indeed) but a timetable of all trains you would see if you would stand on that particular platform for 24 hours.’

2011 > 2012

Hope the 2012 will be full of happiness, sunshine, smiles, adventures, peace and health!

Cariló - Arg 2011

Have a great start of the new year everyone!!

-

Design research: Zoom out – Zoom in

The end of November was quite a busy time. First I travelled all the way to Covilhã, a small city in the North of Portugal to attend and present my research work at the DESIGNA Conference organised by the Universidade da Beira Interior. This design conference invited art and design researchers and students to present their work having at the central point the idea introduced for Tomás Maldonado about ‘The Projectual Hope.’ Maldonado’s work emphases the rational and scientific side of design, understanding the design process as a systematic methodology. During the conference, the lectures tackled a wide range of approaches and theories to design research, explaining the current role of design, and its relationship with society as well as its changes over time. Overall, the conference was a very intense and interesting 2-day experience, which gave an overview of current design research projects from different design disciplines, such as product, fashion and graphic design.

Universidade da Beira Interior - Covilhã, Portugal

Then, I flew to Weimar (technically I flew to Berlin first), Germany to attend to another conference. The Practice-Based Research in Art & Design (PBR in A&D) Conference at the Bauhaus-University Weimar presented ongoing and completed PhD research projects combined with lectures and workshops from the art and design fields. One of the keynote speakers was Klaus Krippendorff, who has vastly written about design research and the need to bridge theory and practice by conducting practice-led or based investigations. Another interesting fact to point out is that the conference was mostly organised for the students of the PhD programme at that University in order to learn and exchange information about other PhD programmes structures, tools, techniques, and theoretical frameworks. I was surprised to know that design research is a relatively new discipline in Germany, and that the Bauhaus University was the only one, which offers a 3-year doctoral programme. During the three days the emphasis was mostly on the methodological strategies and methods use in different art and design research project. In addition, different models for practice-led and based research, and the definition of their boundaries were also key elements of discussion.

Bauhaus University - Weimar, Germany

On the one hand, the DESIGNA conference offered a broad picture of design research in which most lectures approached design form different aspects, including a wide range of research projects. On the other hand, the PBR in A&D conference presented a more narrow view of the same subject (design research), particularly focusing on projects which could give new methodological and practice-led and based research techniques insights.

I would like to personally thank the organising committees of both DESIGNA and PBR in A&D conferences for giving me the opportunity to present my work and learn from the many (art and) design research projects which are being conducted at different universities all around Europe. In addition, I loved the experience of getting to know the building of the Bauhaus School, as I would always be full of admiration of the work done during the three stages of the school, and its constant influence on the design discipline.

Looking forward to next year editions!

Towards Visual programme & Functional design

Often, Ladislav Sutnar is described as the ‘progenitor’ of information design. However, before him there was another great designer to whom this discipline should be grateful. He was the Russian artist, designer, photographer and typographer Lazar Markovich Lissitzky, more commonly referred as EL Lissitzky. During the early 1920s, he designed three books which could be now considered as the early stages of information design. In these books, he introduced the concept of visual programme and functional design, working with shapes and colours purposefully organised and creating a visual unity throughout the pages. In addition, he achieved visual clarity and understanding as a consequence of well-structured ways of organising both typographic and visual information. Below these three books are explained in more detailed.

The Story of Two Squares (1922). First, EL Lissitzky designed the book  The Story of Two Squares, in which the main story was a symbolic narrative ‘starring’ by a red square and a black square. When this book was first published in Berlin in 1922, about 2 [Squares] presented a radical rethinking of what a book was, demonstrating a new way of organising typography on a page and relating it to visual images. Colour application was a key element in this book, introducing the idea of colour-coding information.

The Story of Two Squares (El Lissitzky, 1922)

For the Voice (1923). Later in 1923, El Lissitzky created a visual book using a collection of Vladimir Mayakovsky’s poems as the main source of information. In this book the 13 most often quoted poems in speeches from supporters of the Russian revolution (1917), were visually presented. The way the information was organised within each page, and how it was coded throughout the whole book could be considered a first step towards functional design. Each poem was synthetically visualised with an icon on the right-bottom side of the page, helping the viewer to know which poem was coming before and after.

For the Voice (EL Lissitzky, 1922-1923)

The Isms of Art (1925). EL Lissitzky and Hans Arp designed the book The Isms of Art, composed of 8 pages with 76 illustrations, and information in three languages (German, French and English). In it, a high amount of typographic and visual information was organised into a cohesive whole based on structural relationships, creating a clear layout. This book was one of the first steps towards the concept of visual programme for organising information.

The Isms in Art (El Lissitzky & Hans Arp, 1925)

The three-column horizontal grid structure used for the title page, the three-column vertical grid structure used for text, and the two-column structure of the contents page became an architectural framework for organising information. Asymmetrical balance, and skilful use of white space are other important design considerations of this work. In addition, he used large, bold san-serif numbers to link the pictures to captions listed earlier in the contents page, thus these numbers became compositional elements.

More recently, Karl Gerstner (1964) introduced the concept of graphic programme to the graphic design discipline, presenting a design method called the ‘morphological box of the typogram’. Gerstner created a systematic method, merging art and science, that is capable of generating a broad range of design solutions in which results are not fixed and the form should and must take its shape in obedience to an order or formula. The method (graphic programme) sets the rules about combining the elements in order to create a design formula. The more exact and complete the formula is, the more creative the work becomes. Beyond the design discipline, the importance of Gerstner’s programme is its conceptual applicability to other disciplines.

Josef Müller Brockmann’s work constitutes another key contribution to functional design, but it deserves a post for its own.

- Gerstner, K., 1964. Designing programmes. In: H. Armstrong, ed. 2009. Graphic Design Theory, reading from the field. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, pp.58-61.
- Gerstner, K., 1968. Designing programmes, four essays and an introduction. 1^st ed. London: Tiranti.
- Meggs, P.B., 2006. Meggs’ history of graphic design. Chichester: John Wiley.

The older the better?

Last week I have been ‘diving’ into the history of graphic design and I found amazing works dated from long time ago. Particularly the image below caught my attention, as it is one of the first ways of visual communication developed around 3000 bc.

Pre-cuneiform tablet (Musée du Louvre - Paris)

This graphic writing tablet belongs to the Mesopotamian civilization and it is referred as pre-cuneiform writing. At the beginning, the writing system was logographic and ideographic, which means that signs represented a word or an idea. Signs could be grouped into four categories:

- Pictograms that represent all or part of a designated object;
- Realistic or abstract symbols, that transcribed a concept or an idea whose figurative meaning was not immediately recognisable;
- Numerical signs composed of notches or circles impressed in the soft clay with a round stylus;
- Complex signs formed by adding or combining two signs in order to convey elaborate pieces of information

In addition to the writing system, this tablet can be seen as one of the first attempts of information design. Yes! The way pictograms and signs were engraved in these type of tablets had a logic, and followed a rationale to organise information and improve understanding.
Mostly, these tablets were created with a specific purpose, such as store records or inventory lists, document earnings and expenses, entries and exits of merchandise (foodstuffs, fabric, cattle). In addition, some tablets documented how to raise cattle, others showed how to calculate surfaces and how to tend the fields. It is interesting to see how the different types of information have been organised without an alphabetic writing system. For this, the surface of the tablet was divided into columns and cells, each one containing a single piece of information. Finally, a number indicated by a notch, followed by the name of a person, an animal or a commodity designated by a drawing pictogram completed the information. Pre-cuneiform tablets were part of a sophisticated archive system in which each item of information was meant to supplement another. This means that we need to have a ‘how-to-read-pre-cuneiform-tablets’ manual to have a complete understanding and decipher each tablet. In other words, not a single notch seemed to have been done arbitrary.

The second image I found fascinating is a double-spread of The Gutenberg Bible (1456). This was the first major book printed with a movable type printing press marking the start of the ‘Gutenberg Revolution’ and the age of the printed book. It is undeniable the effort and work that this work conveyed. Just imagine that a single complete copy of The Gutenberg Bible has 1,272 pages, from which most of them were lately coloured by hand. However, apart from its high aesthetic and artistic qualities, the book has superb typographic legibility, a sense of organising information and defining a hierarchical structure of the information.

Double-spread page. The Gutenberg Bible (1456)

Close up. The Gutenberg Bible (1456)

The most valuable factor of these works (and others from similar periods) is that they have been done without advance technologies, but with long hours of dedication and a strong idea. To some extent, I will always think that technology and (even more) digital tools have cheapened our (design) thinking.

Info design in the centre of contention

As Tufte has written in one of his books: ‘when everything is emphasised, nothing is emphasised’. This happens to me with the massive volume of blog posts, and online discussion platforms. There are so many articles/notes being published in a day, that at the end I rarely read them or comment. However, I am very lucky to have lovely friends who pass along some links about information design. I have noticed that in the last six months the number of articles and posts about info design has increased considerable. Everyone seems to have something to say about this subject. So, in this post I won’t write about how to do or don’t do an information design project, or which colour palettes would be more or less appropriate. Instead, I will write down some general thoughts about the current state of information design and its community.

It seems to be a bit of confusion in the air. Some articles try to define what information design means (1), many posts give tips to create information graphics, and analyse which they considered the ‘bad’ ones (2); while others open discussions about defining information design ‘universal’ terminologies (3).

(1) Defining Info Design
Often, most (print) magazine articles approach info design from an historical point of view and link the discipline with the development of information graphics.
Here arises my first question: why information design tends to be associated with the creation of information graphics most of the time? The boundaries of the info design discipline go far beyond the development of infographics. Richard Wurman’s projects are clear examples of this. I have also explained the many possible projects in which info designers could be involved in one of my articles.

Moving on to my second: what is information design?
In previous posts, I have answered to this question from an academic point of view, but in this post I would like to answer it with an informal and easy-to-understand definition. So, I just did a quick search in wikipedia:

‘Information design is the skill and practice of preparing information so people can use it with efficiency and effectiveness. Where the data is complex or unstructured, a visual representation can express its meaning more clearly to the viewer.’

The above definition describes the aim of the discipline. Please note that it does not specify that infographics are the only and ultimate outcome of info design projects. So, again, why does information design tend to be only associated with information graphics?

(2) Visualising information
How to create effective information graphics? I don’t have the answer to this question, because there too many factors involved in the creative process to give aesthetic prescriptions. Just to mention a couple of factors: audience, project requirements, subject, information sources… From the context of graphic journalism Juan Antonio Giner and Alberto Cairo have defined a set of standards to create reliable information graphics, which is entirely focussed on content:

1. An infographic is, by definition, a visual display of facts and data. Therefore, no infographic can be produced in the absence of reliable information.
2. No infographic should include elements that are not based on known facts and available evidence.
3. No infographic should be presented as being factual when it is fictional or based on unverified assumptions.
4. No infographic should be published without crediting its source(s) of information.
5. Information graphics professionals should refuse to produce any visual presentation that includes imaginary components designed to make it more “appealing” or “spectacular”. Editors must refrain from asking for graphics that don’t stick to available evidence.
6. Infographics are neither illustrations nor “art”. Infographics are visual journalism and must be governed by the same ethical standards that apply to other areas of the profession.

My advice to visualise information would be to follow the above points, to consider all factors involved in each project, and, above all, to have always present that the fact that information design is not concerned with beauty but to effective communication and undertanding.
This leads to my third question: what about the other info design projects which are less ‘visual’ than infographics?

(3) Need of clarity
Although info design has been around for more than 60 years now, it is still a young discipline (yes, I am using the controversial word ‘discipline’ on purpose). If we think about design, it has been defined as a discipline at the end of the XIX century, and discussions towards its aims, terminologies, and problem-solving processes are still alive. So, going back to info design, there is a long journey to go. On the one hand there is lack of educational programmes specifically about info design. Information designers have mostly learnt by experience and everyday practice. Consequently, those who are teaching info design might not be info designers. On the other hand, boundaries and aims of the discipline have not been strictly defined yet. The idX group have published an info design education programme proposal in 2007 in which objectives of the discipline and practitioners’ tasks were well defined, but it hasn’t seemed to have been adopted at University levels.

Too many big question marks still need answers before investing energy in smaller aspects. The definition of universal terminologies and the creation of more effective information graphics are relevant subjects of discussion, but first the emphasis should be towards clearly defining the info design boundaries, aims, and areas of application. If not, how can we ensure that what we are arguing would be valid? The development of strong education programmes to properly train next generations of info designers and set the base of the discipline would be a step forward.

A closer view to Conceptual Design

Some information design projects often have a deep level of complexity and deal with high amounts of information. The creation of one or more documents to aid (information) designers in the process before they begin with prototype design is highly necessary. Conceptual design is the stage where these documents are created, as it is when the skeletal framework of a design solution (i.e. information graphic, diagram, map) is defined. These documents are often different types of diagrams.

This post is not intended to display a taxonomy of these types of diagrams, but to explain the relevance and function of two types of them—map-type diagrams and wireframes—, which are the outputs of different phases of the conceptual design stage: the information design process and the deveolpment of draft proposals. These types of diagrams can be created in a wide range of layouts. The key is to know why they are important and how to create them properly.

Conceptual design stage (CDS)

In a previous post, I wrote about the relevance of the IAM for the development of effective draft proposals (content skeleton) of information design projects. This post discusses in more detail key outputs of the conceptual design stage.

At the beginning of the CDS design briefs are read and understood, initial research is being conducted to collect necessary data, information sources are analysed, meeting with clients are being arranged, and intended audiences studied. At the end of these tasks we have loads of information from different sources, sometimes languages, terminologies, which address to one or other part of the design problem we have to solve. The next steps should be towards the creation of the IAM. This model involves actions to organise that amount of information in a clear, understandable and usable way for the intended purposes of a project, which will enable to develop effective initial draft proposals. The first tasks, involved in the creation of the IAM, are synthesis and classification. Information coming from different sources should be ‘sifted out’ according to the requirements of the project, until the necessary information is identified. The next step is the definition of a hierarchical structure (levels of importance) of each type of information previously identified. Finally, following tasks are focused on more detailed sketches or maps of a possible final piece, which can be seen as initial draft proposals.

IAMs and draft proposals are visualised through diagrams, referred as map-type diagrams and wireframes respectively. The next part of the post describes both types of outputs, and explains their aims and relevance in the information design process.

Map-type diagrams
Map-type diagrams are a way to visualise the IAM. In other words, this is a way to show how information has been broken down into types of information and arrange according to a rationale specific to each project. As a result, a hierarchical structure, based on that organisation rationale, is displayed as a map-type diagram, in which each type of information is well differentiated and connections to other types are highlighted.

Layouts of map-type diagrams

Layout: In these types of diagrams the main topic is generally placed centrally and all sub-topics radiate out from that main topic or flow in one direction. Depending of the IAM, the underlying structure could be hierarchical, in which connection lines are often used to suggest associations between types of information other than main / additional ones (parent / child categories). Another possible structure could be when most types of information are interrelated. In this case, each type of information can connect to another and relationships are not just given as lines, resulting in layouts similar to a net. In both cases, types of information could appear as nodes that could be circles, ellipses, rectangles or other shapes. These types of diagrams could be also referred as mind maps, tree maps, isomaps, logic diagrams and conceptual maps.

Wireframes
The next step after the definition of the IAM is to display how the content that should be included the final piece could be distributed. This involves the organisation of types of information into a possible visual skeleton in which hierarchies should be highlighted. The types of diagram used to present visual skeletons are wireframes. Often, they are most associated with information architecture or web design, however these types of diagrams are also highly used by information designers. Wireframes give a ‘detailed guideline for layout and functionality within the information design piece’, providing details for each component (i.e. type of information, connections, hierarchies). Wireframes must be created before start coding and creating a design prototype, as they map out which visual elements ‘are most and least important to determine the focal points to the design of the final information piece’ (Baer, 2008:70). In addition, wireframes are a tool for communication and discussion between the parties involved in the design process, including (information) designers, clients, and end-users. A well-defined wireframe could be key to avoid mayor changes at the end of the prototyping stage, thus reducing costs and time.

Often wireframes focus on the following categories:

- The types of information to be displayed
- The connections between types of information
- The hierarchical structures of the information and functions
- Information components such as title, commissioner’s name, technical data, information sources
- Possible visual languages to be used
- Possible layouts, formats, grid systems
- Notes that indicate specific visual elements that should be considered

Layouts of wireframes

Layout. Basically, wireframes are a set of schematic drawings that show general aspects of a system implemented but they do not specify choices about shape or colour. Wireframes could be sketches, drawings or draft diagrams showing information organised and catalogued in layout form. These types of diagrams could be also referred as Low fidelity prototypes, storyboard, Schematics, Page Architecture and Blueprints.

Both types of diagrams: map-type and wireframes, are key outputs particularly of the conceptual design stage of information design projects, but they could be used to enhance the problem-solving process in a wide range of design problems.

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Website_wireframe
- http://techtastico.com/post/wireframes/
- Baer, K., 2008. Information design workbook: graphic approaches, solutions, and inspiration + 30 case studies. Beverly (Mass): Rockport.
– Costa, J. & Moles, A., 1992. Imagen didáctica. 2^nd ed. Barcelona: Ed. CEAC.
– Moles, A. & Costa, J., 1990. Grafismo funcional. Barcelona: Ed. CEAC.

Applied information design: Foreign languages

This summer I have been around the UK and Europe. One of my destinations was Helsinki, first time in Finland. Immediately I noticed the language. I do have a notion of Swedish (I know basic words such as ‘street’, ‘hello’, ‘exit’), but Finnish was a totally new world for me! The funny part is that most information in the city is in both Finnish and Swedish, even the street names, but not English. So we had to trust on maps, icons and other signs to move around the city and didn’t get lost or miss flights. This shows the importance of having well-design wayfinding systems in a city, and the power of visual language (again, I can’t ensure a positive understanding for Eastern cultures).

As I said, I’ve also been around the UK, to the South-West (lovely place by the way!). Although I do understand English, once again I was fascinated for the diverse of icons and visuals to summarise specific information that I found all around Polzeath. Mostly, British tourism goes to Polzeath, but even if you were from a foreign country, you could easily understand the rules for surfing and so on.

Below some images of both Helsinki and Cornwall in which, thanks to different systems of icons and visuals, a foreigner can avoid getting (too) lost. (I do have a story with the Finnish tube system though, but it will have to wait until another post!)

Wayfing systems in Suomenlinna Island (Helsinki)

Ferry icons (left). Street wayfing signs (Right) - Helsinki

Beach sign systems - Polzeath Beach (Cornwall, UK)

Information design in Politics 2

In a previous post, it has already been highlighted the importance of information design in political issues related to economic advice and the visualisation of polling results. Similarly, this post discusses different aspects in which information design principles could benefit a voting system.

In Argentina, since May, local elections have been taken place in each different province. The interesting factor of the last ones, which took place in Santa Fe (a province in the North of Buenos Aires), was the adoption of a different voting system, referred as the single ballot (in Spanish as Boleta única). For Argentina, this system has been completely new; voters and authorities had to learn it from scratch. Both how-to-vote manuals for different audiences and new ballot layouts had to be designed, among other new pieces of information (i.e. how-to-do videos, websites, merchandising).
It is interesting to analyse some of those pieces of information and how information design principles had been key for their appropriate understanding and satisfactory election procedures.

The single ballot (Boleta única)
A difference from previous voting systems, this one replaces the traditional long list by a single ballot as big as a legal sheet of paper. In a single ballot, all candidates for each electoral category are indicated in one sheet of paper and identified by name, surname, political party and a picture. Voters must mark with a cross (or any other type of clear sign), their choice. This box could be on the left or right hand of each candidate’s information, depending on the layout.

Traditional ballot in list format used in Argentina.

Last May, people had to vote five categories: governor and vice-governor, senators, representatives, mayor and councillors. To facilitate the identification of each category, a different colour was attached to each category. As a result, each voter had to complete a set of five ballots.

A different colour is attached to each category. Green for governor and vice-governor (G); blue for senators (S); orange for representatives (D); red for mayor (I) and yellow for councillors (C). (Image from the manual of CIPPEC-Gobierno Santa Fe. Secretaría Electoral)

In each single ballot, in addition to the box for each candidate, a ‘blank vote’ box is located after the last candidate’s name. Voters must tick on that box if they would like to vote in blank; otherwise, if they do not mark that box, their vote will be void and null.

Consequently, in each polling station, sets of five colour-coded ballot boxes are placed in which voters have to introduce their marked ballots into the appropriate colour. Voting authorities are the people responsible to give the set of new ballots and a pencil to each voter, and control the voting process. Moreover, each authority must sign each ballot before handing it to the voters.

Once the voter has made his/her decision, each ballot should be folded twice (according to the dot lines in the back) before being introduced into the corresponding ballot box to keep the vote anonymous and secret.

On the back of each ballot there is space for each authorities' signature and two dot lines indicating the place the ballot should be folded. (Official single ballot used during the elections of May 2011 - Santa Fe)

Information design principles
Efficacy. The single ballot is introduced as a system which greatly decreases time in two ways. First, it improves the time spent to vote. More than one person can vote at the same time as many voting cubicles are placed in each polling station. Moreover, voters do not have to waste time cutting and paying attention to select the correct part of the ballot and include all the corresponding candidates in the envelope.
Second, once the election is completed, it also improves authorities’ time for counting the votes as ballots are already organised by category. In case, a ballot would be in the incorrect ballot box, it would be easily recognised as it would have a different colour than that of the rest ballots.

Information organisation. The information architecture model for the single ballot should be different and more complex than that of the traditional ballot. Among other changes, the single ballot has a highly complex function, setting an interactive relationship with the voters, and needing new types of information. Therefore, traditional types of information are adapted and rearranged to its new needs.
The order of candidates within each ballot is determined by lot, the internal lists of each political party will be preceded by the number of their political party in the general drawing, followed by the order number that corresponded to the list. Thus, the new terminology will be 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 to identify each candidate, in which “1″ is the political party, and “3″, the level of importance on the list.

Consequently, the organisation rationale will also respond to different types of information. As a result, the single ballot should have different hierarchies of information and an overall structure rearranged according to those variables. In visual terms, the name/title of each list, like ‘Vote list 109’ is not the main information anymore, but the identification numbers of each candidate (see Understanding section).

The overall structure should cluster in a clear way all the information related to each candidate and political party (i.e. other members of the list). As can be seen in the images above and below, single ballots group candidates’ information in horizontal blocks. A single ballot should include a space on the back of the ballot for the signature of each authority (see image above), data that before were included in a polling envelope.

Example of horizontal information blocks. Each block groups information about a specific candidate.

Understanding. In Argentina, the single ballot  system was easily understood for a high percent of the voters. According to the Perfil newspaper, more than 80% of people who used this system in the past elections found it ‘easy’ to use. To make this possible, Santa Fe’s government launched ‘How-to-vote’ guides and websites, including videos and online advice to explain the new process of voting with single ballots.

Guide designed for the Government of Santa Fé to introduce and inform voters about the new voting system

Guide designed for the Government of Santa Fé to introduce and inform voters about the new voting system

Infographic guide designed for El Litoral newspaper of Santa Fe

The single ballot gives voters a clear overview of all lists and candidates of a same category. The new terminology noted above was also easily comprehended and adopted as slogans changed from: vote list “X”, to vote the candidate “1.2″.
In addition, the colour-coded greatly facilitated voters to distinguish each category and to speed up their decision-making processes.

Information design layout
Based on the above principles and variables,  designing single ballots can have a wide range of different layouts. However, all of them should have a similar content distribution, which clearly emphasise each political party and its candidates in a block, identified with the candidate’s number, and corresponding sub-numbers. The boxes in which an individual marks his or her votes should be close enough to the appropriate candidate’s information and be in an appropriate size to be seen for all voters, and with enough space to write the cross or sign. The colour attached to each category should be different enough from that of the other categories.
A single ballot should be synthetic and well structure, no containing additional information at all.

Previous model of single ballots (2005)

Previous model of single ballot (2007)

The design of a single ballot should also contemplate some people’s special needs, such as that of blind people and people with sight difficulties. The ballot information written in Braille could be a possible solution.

A good understanding
Based on voters’ opinions and comments, the single ballot system can be described as effective and efficient, and classified as highly satisfactory for almost all voters in Argentina. The influence of information design principles can be seen in the infographic guides and ballot designs. It’s not the aim of this post to judge if the ballot designs were nice or not, but to point out the importance of a robust previous analysis to organise ideas and clarify understandings to be able to properly explain that (complex) information to third parties. In this case, through infographics and interactive guides.
Hopefully a next step will be to adopt this voting system in national elections.

Some references
http://www.ellitoral.com/index.php/diarios/2011/02/13/politica/POLI-05.html
http://www.boletaunicacba.com.ar/index.html
http://www.perfil.com/contenidos/2011/08/07/noticia_0020.html