Topics in Design: Information Design

The goal of this course is to develop the skills to translate information from its clinical definition of ‘facts provided’ to being a source of knowledge that is engaging and understandable. We will look at a myriad of historic and modern examples of how design has helped distill raw information into clear, coherent forms. We will study the information display typologies that have evolved and develop the skills and visual vocabulary to make sense of and effectively communicate information. The students will identify an information problem to tackle visually and produce a visual narrative from it.

This seven week course will break down each week as follows: 1: History of information 2: Perception and how we process visual information 3: Information display typologies 4: Data and information narratives 5: Practical applications and identifying information opportunities 6: The relationship between information and visual design 7: Final projects review