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Designing Information: Human Factors and Common Sense in Information Design
"The book itself is a diagram of clarification, containing hundreds of examples of work by those who favor the communication of information over style and academic postulation―and those who don't. Many blurbs such as this are written without a thorough reading of the book. Not so in this case. I read it and love it. I suggest you do the same."
―Richard Saul Wurman "This handsome, clearly organized book is itself a prime example of the effective presentation of complex visual information."
―eg magazine "It is a dream book, we were waiting for…on the field of information. On top of the incredible amount of presented knowledge this is also a beautifully designed piece, very easy to follow…"
―Krzysztof Lenk , author of Mapping Websites: Digital Media Design "Making complicated information understandable is becoming the crucial task facing designers in the 21st century. With Designing Information , Joel Katz has created what will surely be an indispensable textbook on the subject."
― Michael Bierut "Having had the pleasure of a sneak preview, I can only say that this is a magnificent achievement: a combination of intelligent text, fascinating insights and - oh yes - graphics. Congratulations to Joel."
―Judith Harris , author of Pompeii Awakened: A Story of Rediscovery Designing Information shows designers in all fields - from user-interface design to architecture and engineering - how to design complex data and information for meaning, relevance, and clarity. Written by a worldwide authority on the visualization of complex information, this full-color, heavily illustrated guide provides real-life problems and examples as well as hypothetical and historical examples, demonstrating the conceptual and pragmatic aspects of human factors-driven information design. Both successful and failed design examples are included to help readers understand the principles under discussion.
―Richard Saul Wurman "This handsome, clearly organized book is itself a prime example of the effective presentation of complex visual information."
―eg magazine "It is a dream book, we were waiting for…on the field of information. On top of the incredible amount of presented knowledge this is also a beautifully designed piece, very easy to follow…"
―Krzysztof Lenk , author of Mapping Websites: Digital Media Design "Making complicated information understandable is becoming the crucial task facing designers in the 21st century. With Designing Information , Joel Katz has created what will surely be an indispensable textbook on the subject."
― Michael Bierut "Having had the pleasure of a sneak preview, I can only say that this is a magnificent achievement: a combination of intelligent text, fascinating insights and - oh yes - graphics. Congratulations to Joel."
―Judith Harris , author of Pompeii Awakened: A Story of Rediscovery Designing Information shows designers in all fields - from user-interface design to architecture and engineering - how to design complex data and information for meaning, relevance, and clarity. Written by a worldwide authority on the visualization of complex information, this full-color, heavily illustrated guide provides real-life problems and examples as well as hypothetical and historical examples, demonstrating the conceptual and pragmatic aspects of human factors-driven information design. Both successful and failed design examples are included to help readers understand the principles under discussion.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 17, 2014
Katz puts together a compendium that is the information design equivalent to Universal Principles of Design. The benefit is that he marches through the common problems in (print/physical) information design and offers interesting reflections and considerations on each.
At times the medium of the hard bound book betrays the topic as the author tries to discuss with great intricacy relatively high fidelity representations that are slightly bigger than two thumbnail images.
Katz does cause for great reflection, highlighting a key theme: some times you have to lie to clarify (lie about scale, or about the anatomically correct design to communicate the function).
To read Katz's book is to get an overview of the topic of information design, but each author in the field seems to have his or her own Monkey's Puzzle/Trap (a prize the author holds on to to the detriment of some of the larger goal). For Tufte the puzzle is obvious-- his loathe for PowerPoint and appreciation of high fidelity data maps. For Katz it's probably his love for maps overall, where the author spends much of the book discussing way finding systems (only a blip of the total information design space and very little time on digital considerations or on the topics of human factors and research implied in the title.
Overall this book remained a valuable read.
At times the medium of the hard bound book betrays the topic as the author tries to discuss with great intricacy relatively high fidelity representations that are slightly bigger than two thumbnail images.
Katz does cause for great reflection, highlighting a key theme: some times you have to lie to clarify (lie about scale, or about the anatomically correct design to communicate the function).
To read Katz's book is to get an overview of the topic of information design, but each author in the field seems to have his or her own Monkey's Puzzle/Trap (a prize the author holds on to to the detriment of some of the larger goal). For Tufte the puzzle is obvious-- his loathe for PowerPoint and appreciation of high fidelity data maps. For Katz it's probably his love for maps overall, where the author spends much of the book discussing way finding systems (only a blip of the total information design space and very little time on digital considerations or on the topics of human factors and research implied in the title.
Overall this book remained a valuable read.
May 11, 2016
I agree that the book is full of examples of infographics and humour.
It's also full of typos, spelling mistakes, syntax and expression problems, and editing errors making it difficult to read. The layout and presentation of the information was also frustrating - which is ironic considering the subject matter.
I don't blame the author Joel Katz. Him and his team of collaborators are clearly experts in the topic (although, I think they rushed the production of this book).
The fault lies entirely with the publisher Wiley and the editorial team. As a lay person, I constantly spotted errors, which makes you distrust the information and makes it all the more difficult to read.
I've come across much better reference books for visual information design, completed to a higher standard, that are much easier to use and clearer.
This is a good book if your only intention is to skim through the pages.
It's also full of typos, spelling mistakes, syntax and expression problems, and editing errors making it difficult to read. The layout and presentation of the information was also frustrating - which is ironic considering the subject matter.
I don't blame the author Joel Katz. Him and his team of collaborators are clearly experts in the topic (although, I think they rushed the production of this book).
The fault lies entirely with the publisher Wiley and the editorial team. As a lay person, I constantly spotted errors, which makes you distrust the information and makes it all the more difficult to read.
I've come across much better reference books for visual information design, completed to a higher standard, that are much easier to use and clearer.
This is a good book if your only intention is to skim through the pages.
August 6, 2016
I plan to keep this volume close to hand for reference. I can’t say enough about this book being a great teaching tool that is accessible and engaging for anyone interested in information design at any level. It is written with humor, ease and great attention to detail and organization. Visual references and captions are useful even without reading the text and references for further reading and research are generously peppered throughout.
March 27, 2017
My first book in the field of Information Design.
What I did like:
-Many examples, where the lion's share covers various types of map designs in one way or another. Fortunantly, I love maps.
-Aesthetically pleasing to browse through. This author knows how to use his fonts.
What I did not like so much:
-Didn't feel that the book lived up to its purpose of "providing a description of issues that confront designers". If I was to adapt its purpose to what I actually read, it would be something along the lines of "this book will cover a bunch of examples on how information has been designed in the past and present".
-Ironically, the information layout in the book is somewhat confusing to a novice in the field like myself. Why are the pictures not numbered? Why is the book constantly breaking gestalt principles, e.g. placing picture descriptions away from the pictures. Did the readability have to give way for the aesthetics?
What I did like:
-Many examples, where the lion's share covers various types of map designs in one way or another. Fortunantly, I love maps.
-Aesthetically pleasing to browse through. This author knows how to use his fonts.
What I did not like so much:
-Didn't feel that the book lived up to its purpose of "providing a description of issues that confront designers". If I was to adapt its purpose to what I actually read, it would be something along the lines of "this book will cover a bunch of examples on how information has been designed in the past and present".
-Ironically, the information layout in the book is somewhat confusing to a novice in the field like myself. Why are the pictures not numbered? Why is the book constantly breaking gestalt principles, e.g. placing picture descriptions away from the pictures. Did the readability have to give way for the aesthetics?
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews