May 22, 2007
Information Design Watch
From Dynamic Diagrams
Design for Understanding

All of these articles first appeared on our Information Design Watch blog. Please visit the blog to view additional entries not included in the newsletter. You also can register and comment on most posts.

In This Issue:

VISUAL EXPLANATION
-  Hyperbolic Views: Mapping the Blogosphere
-  Visual Tool at the Gonzales Hearing
-  The Reasoning of "I'm Hot"

TYPOGRAPHY
-  The Art of Mexican Blackletter

DYNAMIC DIAGRAMS NEWS
-  St Andrews Relaunches Web Site with Information Architecture by Dynamic Diagrams -  Information Architect Needed

 
VISUAL EXPLANATION

Hyperbolic Views: Mapping the Blogosphere
Posted by Mac McBurney

Discover Magazine discusses a series of maps of the blogosphere created by Matthew Hurst.

Discussion of the pros and cons will have to wait for another day. Until then, here are two more hyperbolic tree visualization examples:

Interactive Tree View of the LexisNexis Directory of Online Sources
National Science Digital Library

Tell us what you think on the blog.

 
Visual Tool at the Gonzales Hearing
Posted by Lisa Agustin

During last month's hearing on the U.S. Attorneys firing scandal, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales just couldn't seem to produce the proof needed to convince the Senate Judiciary Committee that the dismissals were anything but politically motivated. In contrast, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) managed to put together some convincing evidence in the form of a chart detailing the protocol for contact between the Bush White House and the Department of Justice. According to Slate magazine's Dahlia Lithwick:

One of the finest moments comes when Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of R.I., busts out a big, big chart. Which happens after almost everyone has gone home. The chart compares the Clinton protocol for appropriate contacts between the White House and the DoJ on pending criminal cases with the Bush protocol. According to Whitehouse, the Clinton protocol authorized just four folks at the White House to chat with three folks at Justice. The chart had four boxes talking to three boxes. Out comes the Bush protocol, and now 417 different people at the White House have contacts about pending criminal cases with 30-some people at Justice. You can just see zillions of small boxes nattering back and forth. It seems that just about everyone in the White House, including the guys in the mailroom, had a vote on ongoing criminal matters.

See Senator Whitehouse's presentation of the chart on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iibnQfK-2ho

 
The Reasoning of "I'm Hot"
Posted by Henry Woodbury

Rob Harvilla in the Village Voice has a brilliant send-up of the breakout rap single "I'm Hot" and pseudo-scientific reasoning all in one music review. Consider this "proof" by Venn chart:

Mims is hot because he's fly. But it raises the question: Does being hot guarantee one's being fly? "You ain't 'cause you not" would seem to clear that up:

 
TYPOGRAPHY

The Art of Mexican Blackletter
Posted by Lisa Agustin

If you've seen a bottle of Corona beer, you've already seen a sample of the Mexican Blackletter font. With origins that can be traced back to the Blackletter or Gothic miniscule from 12th century Europe, this font conveys a sense of history and religious tradition. But while it may bring to mind reverential or scholarly images, its use as a multipurpose typeface for everything from shop signs to tattoos makes it a part of contemporary life in Mexico, says Cristina Paoli in her book Mexican Blackletter. Perhaps most interesting is the idea that Mexican Blackletter does not have a fixed appearance, since most of the time it is drawn by hand, usually by someone who is not experienced in typography. As Paoli noted in a recent interview on NPR's The World:

Most of the time its drawn by hand. And this really has a tremendous impact on the actual shape of the letter. So it makes the whole letter form and its ornaments much more soft and loose. More times than not it's made by the inexperienced hand of just ordinary people. The outcome is a typographical creation release from the rules and constraints of typography.

To read/listen to the NPR interview: http://www.theworld.org/?q=taxonomy_by_date/2/20070423

To read an excerpt adapted from the book: http://www.graphics.com/modules.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=476

 
DYNAMIC DIAGRAMS NEWS

St Andrews Relaunches Web Site with Information Architecture by Dynamic Diagrams
Posted by Mac McBurney

Our collaboration with the University of St Andrews was an important reminder about organizations and their information: Good information architecture is necessary, but it is not sufficient. Copious, heterogeneous, complex information tends to come from organizations of similar description, so improving the web site--especially the public web site--means getting intimate with the culture and politics of the organization.

Luckily, our colleagues at St Andrews understood their new information architecture as a process, not an event. They involved people from across the university, took the time to understand the reasons behind our recommendations, and called on us to help educate stakeholders about our plans. The project was part town meeting, part information architecture crash course, not to mention figuring out where to put all those web pages.

Structurally, the relaunched web site is a radical departure from the old. (The 404 error page gives a hint.) Previously, the university's many administrative offices had each looked after their own presence on the web, and the site became--for good and understandable reasons--a daunting, overgrown web-site-as-org-chart. The new information architecture makes two important changes. First, the site represents the character and vitality of the institution as a whole, not just the individual parts. Second, no prior knowledge of the university's bureaucracy is required. Content is organized according to its audience, not its author. The home page and its subsidiaries are tailored for outside audiences and infrequent visitors. Alternate home pages, a completely separate system of categories, and different navigation and interface designs are provided for current students and staff.

To see photos of a sunny day in Scotland and read about our presentation last June (and other tales) from someone on the client's side, check out Gareth Saunders' personal blog, View from the Potting Shed.

 
Information Architect Needed

Join the Dynamic Diagrams team and help create new ways to visualize complex information! We have a full-time, permanent position open for an information design professional with proven experience in information architecture, usability, and communications. For details, see our Careers page:

http://www.dynamicdiagrams.com/about/careers.html

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