A Unified Theory of Information Design: Visuals, Text and Ethics

Communicative visuals, including written text, have a diverse range of forms and purposes. In this volume, the authors show that it is possible to both describe and explain the major properties of diverse visual-communication forms and purposes within a common theoretical framework of information design and ethics. For those unaccustomed to thinking of written text as a visual form belonging to the same general class as other visual forms (colour, texture, shape, imagery, etc.), consider how a text's readability suffers if we remove all white space and punctuation, which can be identified as visual signals of the same subtype as grid lines and bullet points, dividing and calling attention to adjacent information. The authors identify deep connections between foundational visual design elements and the grammar of language itself.

No physicist or chemist today questions the value of a single theory that describes and explains a wide variety of phenomena, but oddly enough, the authors have frequently been asked why they are interested in advancing a unified theory of visual communication. The simplest answer is: to treat visual communication as a science, and seeking unified theories is just what science does. In more practical terms, a unified approach to visual communication allows us to teach visual design students relatively few things that will enable them to do relatively many things.

"1110957140"
A Unified Theory of Information Design: Visuals, Text and Ethics

Communicative visuals, including written text, have a diverse range of forms and purposes. In this volume, the authors show that it is possible to both describe and explain the major properties of diverse visual-communication forms and purposes within a common theoretical framework of information design and ethics. For those unaccustomed to thinking of written text as a visual form belonging to the same general class as other visual forms (colour, texture, shape, imagery, etc.), consider how a text's readability suffers if we remove all white space and punctuation, which can be identified as visual signals of the same subtype as grid lines and bullet points, dividing and calling attention to adjacent information. The authors identify deep connections between foundational visual design elements and the grammar of language itself.

No physicist or chemist today questions the value of a single theory that describes and explains a wide variety of phenomena, but oddly enough, the authors have frequently been asked why they are interested in advancing a unified theory of visual communication. The simplest answer is: to treat visual communication as a science, and seeking unified theories is just what science does. In more practical terms, a unified approach to visual communication allows us to teach visual design students relatively few things that will enable them to do relatively many things.

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A Unified Theory of Information Design: Visuals, Text and Ethics

A Unified Theory of Information Design: Visuals, Text and Ethics

A Unified Theory of Information Design: Visuals, Text and Ethics

A Unified Theory of Information Design: Visuals, Text and Ethics

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Overview

Communicative visuals, including written text, have a diverse range of forms and purposes. In this volume, the authors show that it is possible to both describe and explain the major properties of diverse visual-communication forms and purposes within a common theoretical framework of information design and ethics. For those unaccustomed to thinking of written text as a visual form belonging to the same general class as other visual forms (colour, texture, shape, imagery, etc.), consider how a text's readability suffers if we remove all white space and punctuation, which can be identified as visual signals of the same subtype as grid lines and bullet points, dividing and calling attention to adjacent information. The authors identify deep connections between foundational visual design elements and the grammar of language itself.

No physicist or chemist today questions the value of a single theory that describes and explains a wide variety of phenomena, but oddly enough, the authors have frequently been asked why they are interested in advancing a unified theory of visual communication. The simplest answer is: to treat visual communication as a science, and seeking unified theories is just what science does. In more practical terms, a unified approach to visual communication allows us to teach visual design students relatively few things that will enable them to do relatively many things.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781351868938
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Publication date: 11/03/2016
Series: Baywood's Technical Communications
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 215
File size: 9 MB

About the Author

Amare, Nicole; Manning, Alan

Table of Contents

Chapter 1
 DECORATIVES

 Chapter 2
 IMAGES

 Chapter 3
 DIAGRAMS

 Chapter 4
 INDICATIVES

 Chapter 5
 INFORMATIVE INDICES

 Chapter 6
 WORDS, SENTENCES, AND TEXT

 Chapter 7
 TOWARD A UNIVERSAL TERMINOLOGY AND GRAMMAR OF VISUAL TYPES

 REFERENCES
 INDEX

What People are Saying About This

Kim Sydow Campbell

Wow! Amare and Manning are not afraid to tackle the big questions in information design: What is a visual? What is information? What is ethical information design practice? They have created a kind of periodic table for information design. And, just like the periodic table, their typology provides far more than a simple list of categories. It is a thoughtfully constructed theory of principles relating to those categories—a real science of information design. Their ambitious work should be studied by everyone with an intellectual interest in information design. - Kim Sydow Campbell, PhD, Professor and Derrell Thomas Faculty Fellow, Culverhouse College of Commerce at The University of Alabama

Suguru Ishizaki

This is the first book-length theoretical treatment of information design to encompass the interpretive, aesthetic, and ethical aspects of communication artifacts. Drawing on Peirce's theory of signs, Amare and Manning successfully engage us in analyzing visual-verbal design choices with a rich descriptive framework with elegant simplicity. This foundational work is a significant contribution to the scholarly discourse on the rhetoric of information design. Practitioners and educators will also find a fresh new approach to examining information design. - Suguru Ishizaki, Associate Professor of Rhetoric & Visual Communication, Department of English, Carnegie Mellon University

Jean-luc Doumont

Communication in general, and visual communication in particular, is often taught anecdotally: instructors offer myriads of seemingly unrelated guidelines, perhaps useful individually but barely memorable as a whole. In this book, Nicole Amare and Alan Manning nicely attempt to provide the missing reference frame, with an exceptional attention to coherence. Their triangle should help generations of students structure their thoughts about visual design - Jean-luc Doumont, PhD, Founding partner, Principiae

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