What is Information Design?

Information Design, the art and science of translating complex, structured data into useful information that can be used with efficiency and effectiveness. The discipline is always addressed to a broad target group and is mostly concerned with public and mass communication. It does not depend on certain media and involves a multidisciplinary, inter-disciplinary and often systematic approach to communication, combining skills from graphic design, web design, 3D design, psychology, cognitive science, information theory and cultural studies. The forms of ‘visual journalism’ that visually report on current affairs also belong to information design. These representations of information have an educational and informative function and require a combination of editorial, visual and topical approaches.

Another term which expresses a concept for understanding complex information is ‘information architecture.’ This term was coined by Richard Saul Wurman in 1975 with the aim to name a discipline which makes huge amounts of information understandable. Today the term ‘information architecture’ is appropriated by web design experts and applied to high-complexity websites, whereas the term information design does not depend on certain media.

Excerpt from: The World as Flatland – Report 1, Designing Universal Knowledge,by Gerlinde Schuller