What is information design ?
"The field of information design applies traditional and evolving design principles to the process of translating complex, unorganized, or unstructured data into valuable, meaningful information. The practice of information design requires an interdisciplinary approach which combines skills in graphic design, writing and editing, instructional design, human performance technology, and human factors." stcsig.or
“Information design is the integrator that brings other disciplines together to create excellent information solutions.” Dirk Knemeyer
The Role of The Information Design
1. Information design as integrator
v information design is the integrator that brings other disciplines together to create excellent information solutions.
v Information design serves as a resource for other disciplines engaged in the creation of better understanding and the building of human knowledge.
Techniques and Principles in Information Design
v Information only has value when it is successfully communicated.
v Identify and stay true to the goals that your information is intended to support.
v Be mindful of how you create and disseminate information during development
v Understand how the information you are creating will be experienced or communicated by the users.
v Understand the information domain.
v Seek out the information that you need.
v Make certain the information promotes understanding. Be sure that, as much as possible, it is:
1. Relevant
2. Clear
3. Memorable
Turning Information into Experience by:
1. Give users clear guidance and options (motivating users)
2. Creating an interesting journey or clear path through the information
3. Users can controls so that they can go where they want and do what they want.(giving users controls)
4. Making the experience as easy and intuitive as possible.
What is Interactivity?
The user controls the sequence, the pace and most importantly, what to look and what to ignore.
Information to Interaction
Designing interaction turns the information design into a storyboard which shows navigation pathways, media inclusions and controls.
3 basic elements in Interaction Design.
1. Organization – How the information will be organized on the pages ?
1. Navigation – How people will find their way around your web site ?
Effective navigation provides enough location information (Orientation) to let users
answer the following question:
1. Where am I? ‐ let the user know their current page.
2. Where can I go? – let users know where they are.
3. How do I get there? – provide consistent, easy to understand link.
4. How do I get back to where I started? – provide alternatives to the browser’s
back button to let users return to their starting point.
Nielsen suggests these ways a designer can aid their users with navigation:
v include a site identifier on every page.
v make it easy to go to landmark pages.
v emphasize the structure of your site by making each page show which sub site it belongs to.
v do not change the default colors for links and visited links.
v draw a sitemap or use some other orienting devices to illustrate the relationships between main areas of your site.
Sources : Nielsendesign
Orientation
Ø In order to navigate effectively, users need to know where they are in the context of the overallsite structure.
Ø One way to help users orient themselves is by reinforcing placement, or position.
a) Site Map
v It provides direct links, or shortcuts, to all of the content pages on a site.
v It illustrates how content relates to the overall site structure.
b) Topic Paths
v Bread‐crumb trails, or topic paths, which consist of clickable links that show how the current page fits into the overall hierarchy of the site.
