Nigel Holmes: On Information Design

by Steven Heller

Born 1942 in England M.A. degree in illustration from the Royal College of Art, London, 1966. He worked for Time Magazine from 1978 to 1994 in New York City as Executive Art Director: charts, covers, administration and Graphics Director his work has appeared in important magazines and publications such as American Health; American Lawyer; Amicus Journal; Attaché (USAir magazine); Details; Discover; Business 2.0 (formerly eCompanyNow) (visual columnist); Encyclopaedia Britannica; Esquire; Fortune; GQ; George Magazin; Harper's; House & Garden; How; IBM Think Magazine; Industry Standard; Information Week; Mens Health; Modern Maturity; Money; The New Yorker; New York Times; Print; Reader's Digest; Self (Contributing Editor); Sports Illustrated; Sports Illustrated for Women; Time; Time for Kids; Encyclopaedia of 20th Century; World Business. His projects include work for AARP; Apple; Associated Press; Banker's Trust; Bristol Myers Squibb; CNN.com; Escape Sailboats; Estée Lauder; Fortune Conference Division (animated films); GE Capital; Gillette; GM; IBM; Nike; The Planet Project; Random House; Sony; Time Education Program; United Healthcare; Visa. He has received various Awards such as Gold awards from the Society of Newspaper Designers, AIGA; Art Directors Club of New York; Creativity; D&AD, Silver Medal (London); DESI; Malofiej Information Graphics Awards (Silver Medal); Print Magazine; National Magazine Awards; Society of Illustrators; Society of Publication Designers He is the Author of: Designer's Guide to Creating Charts and Diagrams 1984 (Watson-Guptill, NY). Paperback, 1990 Designing Pictorial Symbols 1985 (Watson-Guptill, NY). Paperback edition, 1991 Pictorial Maps 1991 (Watson-Guptill, NY) The Best in Diagrammatic Graphics, 1994 (Quarto/Batsford, London, UK) and Wordless Diagrams, Bloomsbury Press 2005. From 1980 he annually teaches at The Stanford Professional Publishing Course, Stanford University, California and from 1983 at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, St Petersburg, Florida. He also lecture extensively in the US and abroad.

Genres: Design

140 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Steven Heller writes a monthly column on graphic design books for The New York Times Book Review and is co-chair of MFA Design at the School of Visual Arts. He has written more than 100 books on graphic design, illustration and political art, including Paul Rand, Merz to Emigre and Beyond: Avant Garde Magazine Design of the Twentieth Century, Design Literacy: Understanding Graphic Design Second Edition, Handwritten: Expressive Lettering in the Digital Age, Graphic Design History, Citizen Designer, Seymour Chwast: The Left Handed Designer, The Push Pin Graphic: Twenty Five Years of Design and Illustration, Stylepedia: A Guide to Graphic Design Mannerisms, Quirks, and Conceits, The Anatomy of Design: Uncovering the Influences and Inspirations in Modern Graphic Design. He edits VOICE: The AIGA Online Journal of Graphic Design, and writes for Baseline, Design Observer, Eye, Grafik, I.D., Metropolis, Print, and Step. Steven is the recipient of the Art Directors Club Special Educators Award, the AIGA Medal for Lifetime Achievement, and the School of Visual Arts' Masters Series Award.

Reviews

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mostly know Holmes as ‘that guy that Tufte uses for examples of bad data viz’, so I was apprehensive – but this is an approachable and engaging read from a practitioner with a vast amount of experience. The emphasis on the importance of words, writing, and visualisations as a form of writing was especially interesting. A lot of Holmes’ output isn’t ‘my sort’ of data viz, but he makes a good case for the social context of use. This is an excellent book, thoroughly recommended for all design students.

One caveat: despite the clear title, this is not a book on information design. It’s a book about data viz, info graphics, and diagrams (IA is briefly mentioned).

[Mauricio Villamayor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book sharing Holmes' experiences solving data visualisation problems as well as infographica. One of the bad things is that constantly is refering to Holmes previous projects without showing it, so the reader has to be comstantly looking online to find the references. I would say that's a big minus for a book about information design.