Coates, K: Introduction to Information Design

Chapter 1. What is Information design? This chapter looks at dispelling some of the preconceptions about the subject of information design. Chapter 2. Information design for specific audiences This chapter explores the issues of usability and the audience. CASE STUDY: LetterLab Exhibition, Graphic Design Museum, Holland. Design by Strange Attractors (Netherlands) Chapter 3. Structuring information This chapter will demonstrate practical ways in which to give designs structure and also will give visual examples of poor structure and hierarchy to use as a comparison and benchmark. CASE STUDY: Grid structure: Finnish Institute Annual Review. Design by Emmi Salonen, Studio EMMI (Finland) Chapter 4. Legibility and readability This chapter looks at how information is communicated through the various design elements using typography, fonts, colour, contrast, weight and scale, graphic elements and imagery. CASE STUDIES: Illustration in information design: Good Magazine, 'Animals in the House'. Design by Heavy Meta (USA) / Graphics in information design: Victoria Alliance Health and Safety Program. Design by Grant Alexander(New Zealand) Chapter 5. Realising the design through appropriate media This chapter will explore exhibition design and print processes along with media for environmental consideration. CASE STUDY: Andy Brockie, The Guardian newspaper (UK) Chapter 6. Experimentation and inspiration for the design process This chapter will show how designers have tried out several routes to visualise information before deciding on what they believe to be the best answer to the design brief. CASE STUDY: Alison Barnes and visual mapping (UK) Chapter 7. Information design in practice: print, interactive and environmental This chapter will look at examples of information design for print, interactive and environmental and explore the key skills involved in progressing the ideas, identifying the problems, defining the proposal and finding the solution and final outcomes. CASE

Kathryn Coates was the Art Editor for The Times Higher Education. She is currently Senior Lecturer in Graphic Design at Nottingham Trent University. Andy Ellison is a Senior Lecturer in Graphic Design at Nottingham Trent University. He is a member of the Typographic Circle, the Sign Design Society and the International Institute for Information Design.