Design Principles For Visual Communication

Discussion

Background

This publication discusses the effectiveness of particular design principles when conveying difficult-to-understand information.

The Good

From an HCI standpoint, this article was a good summation of how complicated information can be relayed to the end user through the use of various techniques like cutaways, exploded diagrams, and oversimplified maps. Infographics are becoming very popular nowadays and I think this article reflected that notion. It takes a lot of skill and knowledge to construct a a clear-cut and coherent infographic, so the article did a good job at identifying the importance of careful design.

The Bad

Automating the process of creating infographics is a great idea because they can take weeks to complete by hand, but I don't see them being nearly as explicit as hand-designed diagrams. Much goes into the creation of a design, and expecting an algorithm to outline the manipulation of a picture in Photoshop effectively is unrealistic. The computer does not necessarily know what stages are more difficult to understand or most important.

Rating

This article was a very interesting study, because the use of infographics is becoming ever more prevalent. It also gives some recognition to designers, because what they do isn't easy. They should be paid more.