Author: sheilapontis
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Visual thinking tools
Information designers often use visual thinking tools to enhance understanding of complex projects, and manage high amounts of data. Visual thinking or visual perception is defined as thinking through visual processing and using the part of the brain that is emotional and creative to organise information in an intuitive and simultaneous way. This visual approach…
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Research methods for information design
Information design is a user-centered discipline. In the context of this discipline, the user (i.e., target audience, users) is someone who uses an (information) object, a service or a system in the framework of an activity in order to carry out a task. This means that conceptual and design decisions should be made according to…
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Function first, form second
It took me a bit longer than I have initially planned but I would like to share three key points that emerged from Malofiej 20. In my last post I delineated the relationship between information design and information graphics. Now I will go further into that, presenting three aspects from information graphics that could be…
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Start with the basics
‘We need to starts with the basics’ repeats one of my good friends quite often. Although she says this quote in a complete different context (she is not related to design at all), I found that these words summarise the approach of my practice and my research work. Many times I have the feeling that…
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A week full of information graphics
This year I was pleased to attend the Malofiej Infographic World Summit and conferences. It was an honour to have been invited as judge and speaker to this special 20th edition. Overall six intense days, thousand of stories, crazy weather, tones of food, amazing people, loads of learning experiences and reflections. I will share some…
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Diagramming/Mapping (complex) information
In the current information age there is a boom for visualising data, there is no doubt about that. Almost everything which is produced, it is visualised. Infographics, information design, diagrammatic representations, diagramming, data visualisation, mapping, these terms have become commonplace in the last decade or so. However, many of them ”˜were born’ years ago, but…
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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 field. 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…
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Think First, Design Later
(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…
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2011 > 2012
Hope the 2012 will be full of happiness, sunshine, smiles, adventures, peace and health! Have a great start of the new year everyone!! –
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Design research: Zoom out – Zoom in
The end of November was quite a busy time. First I travelled all the way to Covilhí£, 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…
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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…
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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. This graphic writing tablet belongs to the Mesopotamian civilization and it…
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