March 17, 2006
Information Design Watch
From Dynamic Diagrams
Consultants in Visual Logic
In This Issue:
INFORMATION DESIGN
- What is Information Design, Again?
- The PowerPoint Minimalist (It's not Bill Gates)
VISUAL EXPLANATION
- The iPod XP?
BUSINESS
- Digital Talent Scouts
DYNAMIC DIAGRAMS NEWS
- Kim Looney Joins Dynamic Diagrams
- Experienced Information Architect Needed
INFORMATION DESIGN
What is Information Design, Again?
The Design Council, a UK organization that advocates good design, provides a lot of cross-disciplinary information on its sprawling Web site. If you need to reaquaint yourself with the meaning of information design or explain it to colleagues, take a look at Sue Walker and Mark Barratt's About: Information Design article. For example, here the two explain the relationship between information design and information architecture:
"Information designers order and structure information on behalf of users. The information architect -- a new role created by large websites and information systems -- is part information designer, part information scientist, part information systems professional. They create the order, taxonomies and navigation interfaces that allow us to use today's million-page websites efficiently."
With sections like "Why it matters to business," "Why it matters to public," "Examples," "Facts and Quotes," and so forth, the article offers a number of entry points for different audiences.
Our own white paper Information Architecture for Web Sites can be found here:
The PowerPoint Minimalist (It's Not Bill Gates)
We recently came across Garr Reynolds
Presentation Zen, a superb blog on presentation design. With entries like "Learning from the World of Judo" and "2-D or not 2-D? (That is the question)", Reynolds offers a wealth of quirky but eminently usable advice.
As his blog title suggests, Reynolds is an advocate of clarity and restraint. In one of his popular posts, "What is good PowerPoint design?" he examines how simplicity in design must be driven by context, not formula:
"Simplicity is often used as a means to greater clarity. However, simplicity can also be viewed as a consequence. A consequence, that is, of our careful efforts to craft a story and create supporting visuals that focus on our audience's needs in a clear and meaningful way."
In another post, Reynolds contrasts the presentation styles of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, in amusing form:
"Mr. Gates needs to read Cliff Atkinson's Beyond Bullet Points, ironically published by Microsoft Press..."
VISUAL EXPLANATION
The iPod XP?
In related form to Garr Reynolds' comments on Bill Gates' presentation style (above) is this spoof video Microsoft Re-Designs the Ipod Packaging. What we really like about this piece, besides the soundtrack (can you identify the source?) is the sophistication of the design treatments. Despite their exaggerations, they are internally logical and appear to adhere to Microsoft's own branding guidelines.
The video draws some interesting commentary (amid the chatter) on Microsoft's
Channel 9 site and Robert Scoble's
Scobleizer blog. Scoble reports, in his comments, that the video "was done by Microsoft marketing for an internal meeting with its designers."
BUSINESS
Digital Talent Scouts
From garage bands to garage film-makers, the output of "do it yourself" outsiders is drawing mainstream media attention:
"Increasingly, the new, new thing in media is getting paid for the homemade. Reflecting the surge in the popularity of user-created material, both online and traditional media companies are opening their wallets to make sure that the best of it finds its way onto their television shows and Web sites."
So far, the best DIY examples on the Web are found where authorship is compartmentalized. Film clips uploaded to a site like
YouTube.com are self-contained, making them easy to classify and rank. Most successful blogs are driven by the expertise or energy of individual authors. Extracting valid content from communities isn't impossible, as witness
Amazon.com's reader reviews and the adventure in learning that is
Wikipedia. However, one gets the sense that the buzz has jumped ahead of the business. Jerry Yang, talking about Yahoo's cartoonish new
Answers portal, says:
"I think ultimately we're trying to field a community where people feel comfortable and productive, and that with every investment on Yahoo, they're getting more back. How we reward, and how we implement that, I think, is still very early."
DYNAMIC DIAGRAMS NEWS
Kim Looney Joins Dynamic Diagrams
We're pleased to announce the hiring of Kim Looney as a Junior Information Designer. A recent graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, Kim will support our information and Web design engagements with analysis and design skills.
Experienced Information Architect Needed
Join the Dynamic Diagrams team and help create new ways to visualize complex information! We have a full-time, permanent position available in our studio for an experienced information architect or an individual with a comparable and proven research or user experience background.
For details, please read the full job description on our Web site:
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