What's So Great About Information Design?

It's an odd name for a profession. Sort of vague and simultaneously too broad to really mean anything. "Designing information" is like "eating food". But I love the title for exactly this reason.

Data visualization is too specific - making visuals out of data. What I do is much more than that. It includes concept visualization, information hierarchy and organization, process and flow diagrams, etc. And yes, data visualization.

Think about "flatten the curve". Is there a better example of an idea being expressed through thoughtful design in a way that captured the zeitgeist better? It's data visualization, technically, but really it's concept visualization.

A classic example of information design that encapsulates data visualization and much more, is Powers of Ten, a short film by the famous design duo Charles and Ray Eames. As described on the Eames Office website, "It begins with a close-up shot of a man sleeping near the lakeside in Chicago, viewed from one meter away. The landscape steadily moves out until it reveals the edge of the known universe. Then, at a rate of 10-to-the-tenth meters per second, the film takes us towards Earth again, continuing back to the sleeping man’s hand and eventually down to the level of a carbon atom."

It is an inspiring exploration of scale - explaining the very largest of concepts (the known universe) and the very smallest (at the time–atoms) and every incremental step in between. It is information, designed. And while I may have seen it as a kid (I was 9 when it was released), I don't remember it. If I had, I'm pretty sure that would be the moment I might point to to say "that's why I got into information design." Instead, I point to other triggers throughout my life, such as:

1. The books and articles I saw as a kid with exploded illustrations explaining how complex machines were made
2. National Geographic illustrations and maps that I would devour and revisit repeatedly
3. Learning to read treble clef sheet music and yet being self-consciously befuddled by bass clef, and never internalizing that slight variant in the visual code, nor understanding why it had to be shown that way
4. High school chemistry class, where we were exposed to chemical equations, which are essentially flow charts, but no one ever explained WHY they worked, and that always bothered me
5. James Niehues ski maps
6. Early Wired infographics–some were better than others–but all got me thinking
7. Hans Rosling TED talks

What's so great about information design? It's the way we make information relatable. How we connect human beings to knowledge in a way that maximizes impact. And every human does it constantly. Your first and most important job in life is communications. Communications is the sharing of information. When you type an email, create a graphic, or construct a PowerPoint slide, you're "designing" that information.

Internalize this idea. Be thoughtful and conscious of your "design" efforts, and you will do a better job getting your ideas across.

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