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from: The MIT Press
List Price: $30.00Amazon.com's Price: $24.92 You Save: $5.08 (17%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 302.2
EAN: 9780262600354
ISBN: 0262600358
Label: The MIT Press
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 376
Publication Date: August 28, 2000
Publisher: The MIT Press
Sales Rank: 377560
Studio: The MIT Press
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Information design is the newest of the design disciplines. As a sign of our times, when the crafting of messages and meaning is so central to our lives, information design is not only important—it is essential. Contemporary information designers seek to edify more than to persuade, to exchange more than to foist upon. With ever more powerful technologies of communication, we have learned that the issuer of designed information is as likely as the intended recipient to be changed by it, for better or worse.
The contributors to this book are both cautionary and hopeful as they offer visions of how information design can be practiced diligently and ethically, for the benefit of information consumers as well as producers. They present various methods that seem to work, such as sense-making and way-finding. They make recommendations and serve as guides to a still young but extraordinarily pervasive—and persuasive—field.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - No use for Technical Communicators
I bought this book because it was on the reading list for Sheffield Hallam University's MA in Technical Communications. If I ever take the course I'm going to ask them why they bothered to put this book on the list, because it has very little to do with what is commonly accepted as 'Technical Communication'.
This book is basically a collection of essays by people who are trying to answer the question "What is information design?". Most of the articles are concerned with such things ... Read More
Rating:  - Heavy reading
This book consists of a series of cross-disciplinary articles on information design. In the concluding chapter of the book, Jeff Raskin summarizes the volume by saying "I find that [the articles] accurately represent the diversity of the field - - from fuzzy New Age touchy-feely rantings to thoughtful studies." I'm inclined to agree, but fortunately, the thoughtful studies outnumber the rantings. I was fascinated most by Whitehouse's article on architectural signposting for the blind. However, ... Read More
Rating:  - Illustrates Why Info Design Is More Than Just Flowcharts
I am a professional Information Architect; However, I picked up the book without any preconcieved notions or superficial expectations. I found especially illuminating (and actually empathisized with) the comparisons between IAs conceptualizing Information Design and Traditional Architects conceptualizing "wayfinding" through building structures. For those of you who are looking for a Home Deopt style "How-To" manual on creating intuitive interface design for software applications; you simply have ... Read More
Rating:  - mixed bag
This is a mixed-bag of articles on (of course) information design, in which every author defines the field differently. It would have been nice if the editor had set up a single definition and had authors work within that. But you'll end up skipping whole chapters which discuss left-field topics. I'm also amazed that a bunch of people writing about information design can't produce clearer illustrations.
The best of the bunch is by Nathan Shedrof, who comes up with a decent definition and ... Read More
Rating: - into the minds of others
Its like hanging out with an interesting group of people. They speak from experience, some talk too much, some don't talk enough. Great book for getting exposed to ideas rooted in a variety of experiences (much better than a one-author book)
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