Graphics 2 information graphics 2

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Graphics 2information graphics 2
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introduction

• presenting quantitive information with graphic
  representations Edward Tufte
• developing the relationship between typography
  and information graphics Eric Spiekerman
• information graphics for the benefit of society
• pictorial languages pictograms in medicine

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Edward Tufte

• US statistician, Emeritus Professor at Yale
• taught political economy and data analysis at
  Princeton, 1968
• developed a course on statistics and prepared
  seminars on statistical graphics, working with
  John Tukey (pioneer in information graphics)
• 1982 mortgaged his home and financed his book
  The Visual Display of Quantitative Information

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Edward Tufte - chartjunk

• coined the term chartjunk for information
  graphics
• any part of the graphic that does not provide
  useful information
• anything that distracts the viewer from the
  information that is important
• chartjunk undermines the purpose of the display
• the display should be used to provide information
• elements in the display that do not provide
  information compete for the viewers attention
  with elements that do
• the appearance of the display should never take
  precedence over its function
• gradient shading, heavy lines, colours, elaborate
  text, backgrounds, etc
• a good graphic is one that minimises
  non-data-ink or redundant data-ink (Tufte, 1983)

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Edward Tufte - Sparkline

• Tufte advocates data rich displays that contain
  as much information as possible (eg Minards
  Russian Campaign chart)
• provide a single source for a variety of related
  information
• offer the user the opportunity to spot
  correlations and trends that might not otherwise
  be apparent
• the sparkline was proposed by Tufte as an
  alternative to a full graphic representation set
  aside from the main text
• "data-intense, design-simple, word-sized
  graphics (Tufte, 2006)
• designed to be memorable and nearly as easily
  understood as the words in the sentence
• below is an extract from wikipedia illustrating
  the use of a sparkline

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Edward Tufte - presentations

• highly critical of Powerpoint and its successors
• The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint the affect
  of using Powepoints built in styles, templates
  and wizards
• PowerPoint Does Rocket Science analysis of
  the slides used by Boeing to explain to NASA
  management the risk to Columbia
• main criticisms relate to the way Powerpoint
  discourages effective presentations
• too many levels, eg each of the NASA slides
  contained four to six levels of hierarchy!
• default layouts lead presenters to work around
  images, rather than place them where they are
  needed
• charts and graphs are simplistic and lack
  resolution - misleading
• aimed at the presenter rather than the audience
  35mm and overhead projectors provided
  information, not autocue

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information graphics and pictograms

• the work of Kapitzki, Neurath, Tufte and others
  suggest principles that might guide pictogram
  design
• dont add more to the display than is necessary
  for meaning
• meaning comes from differences dont add
  differences unless you want to add meaning
• hierarchies are easily perceived
• information that is low in the hierarchy is
  prescribed less importance
• how have these principles been applied?
• Colgne / Bonn Airport harmonising typeface and
  pictogram
• Eric Spiekerman merging type and pictogram
• pictograms for complex instructions medicine
• going to extremes pictograms that are language

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Cologne / Bonn Airport

• effort to harmonise pictorial information with
  textual information
• considered the sign as whole, rather than the
  pictogram and text as separate components
• same grid and line thicknesses used throughout
• typeface reduced to fourteen elements
• two dots
• two lines
• 10 arcs

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Cologne / Bonn Airport

• graphic elements used for typeface were then used
  to create the pictograms
• in addition, some highly iconic figure
  silhouettes were also designed for use with the
  pictograms in brochures, leaflets, etc

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Eric Spiekermann

• German typographer, professor at the University
  of the Arts Bremen
• founded MetaDesign in 1979 where he developed
  many important information graphics projects
• his typefaces (and those that he inspired) are
  the most used in information graphics
• the clean, uncluttered character of his work has
  influenced many areas of graphic design,
  including computer interfaces

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Eric Spiekermann

• an architectural historian, began by running a
  hot-metal press in his basement to fund himself
  through university
• spent 7 years as a freelance graphic designer in
  London before starting Meta Design
• has designed for Audi, The Economist, Bosch,
  Volkswagen and many public bodies around the
  world
• is passionate about information design, but also
  pragmatic
• I would love to only do work that is for the
  social good improve social security applications
  and signage for the underground
• if you work for the council or similar, five
  people come to a meeting and they just keep
  kicking each other
• If I had my choice I would always design bus
  schedules for public clients but I know they
  public bodies will take me more seriously
  because Ive been successful at business.
• (all from Baldwin and Roberts, 2006)

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Eric Spiekermann

• FF Meta, designed 1985
• originally designed for the German Post Office
• to be easy to read at small font sizes
  postage-stamp size
• to be easy to read at an angle
• to also work for post-boxes, buildings and
  vehicle livery, ie very large sizes
• German Post Office did not use it, but has been
  used widely since, and adapted for serif face,
  Cyrillic alphabet and computer use

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Eric Spiekermann

• FF Info, 1997
• designed for Düsseldorf International Airport
  signage
• highly legible heavier than FF Meta
• no need for small-font legibility
• the pictograms used are based on the typeface

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Eric Spiekermann

• Nokia Sans, 2002
• based on bitmap images of phone screens
• designed to make the most of low-resolution
  display

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Eric Spiekermann Berlin Transport Services

• five substrate colours used to categorise the
  signs
• implemented as a computer font rather than
  graphics
• each pictogram based on a gridded square
• vector description generated (ie just as you
  would for Illustrator)
• font editor used to import vector format and
  convert to font format such as Truetype or
  Postscript
• font installed on computer system and pictograms
  sent straight for rendering on output device

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Dusseldorf Airport

• developed the pictograms used for the Berlin
  Transport Services project for use at airports
• constrained by existing Association of German
  Airports signs
• branding was an issue the style had to be
  consistent within and between signs
• based the new pictograms on the FF Info typeface

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Sto AG

• 1997 Meta Design asked to create pictograms for
  packaging for Sto AG
• major builders merchant
• visual research led to a collection of over 1,000
  existing labels
• customer researched revealed importance of
  non-linguistic communication
• not all users literate
• large migrant workforce
• cultural aspects of storage and use of product

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pictograms for complex instructions - medicines
US Pharmacopeia - USP
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pictograms for complex instructions - medicines
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pictograms for complex instructions - medicines

• i

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pictograms for complex instructions - medicines

• physical or pathological states are represented
• colour indicates moment the state occurs
• shape indicates physical (circle) or pathological
  (square)
• pictogram represents area of enquiry
• combination of primitive graphic elements conveys
  concepts and procedures

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pictorial language Jochen Gros

• an attempt to construct a written language with
  pictograms
• http//www.icon-language.com
• available as opentype fonts to download
• everything possible with alphabetic characters
  is possible also with these icon-fonts

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conclusion

• information graphics was pioneered in areas where
  quantifying and visualising information were
  important, eg Tufte
• graphic designers have drawn on the principles
  used in diagrams, cartograms and iconograms
• conveying everyday information graphically
• using semiotic principles to optimise design
  (something thats different and can be
  substituted, something thats the same and can be
  compared)
• The most successful information graphics
  designers have changed the way we provide
  information Herbert Kapitzki, Otl Aicher, Eric
  Speikermann
• In doing so they have had a tremendous influence
  on all of graphic design
• the move away from art and towards uniformity
• pursuing excellence in simplicity, allowing
  minimal representations to convey maximum
  information

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sources

• Tufte, Edward R (1983) The visual display of
  quantitative information, Graphics Press.
• The Work of Edward Tufte and Graphics Press,
  online Available from http//www.edwardtufte.co
  m/tufte/ (Accessed 10 March 2009).
• Baldwin, Jonathan and Roberts, Lucienne (2006)
  Visual Communication From Theory to Practice,
  AVA Publishing.  
• Lamy, Jean-Baptiste, Duclos, Catherine, Bar-Hen,
  Avner, Ouvrard, Patrick and Venot, Alain An
  iconic language for the graphical representation
  of medical concepts, online Available from
  http//www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6947/8/16
  (Accessed 17 March 2009).
• http//www.usp.org/audiences/consumers/pictograms
• Tufte, Edward R. (1990) Envisioning Information,
  Graphics Press USA.  519.530222 TUF/X
• Abdullah, Rayan and Habner, Roger (2006)
  Pictograms, Icons Signs A Guide to Information
  Graphics, illustrated edition. Thames Hudson.  
• http//www.icon-language.net/english/project.html