Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?T.S Eliot, The Rock
For example, I love the navigation scheme at the top of each page, with the little wandering dot that moves with your cursor. It looks like a horizontal linear table of contents, but lets you move rapidly back and forth from any part of the document to any other part. Of course, Shedroff’s design also includes conventional forward-moving and back-to-the-beginning navigation cues at the bottom of each page.
Among many other topics, Shedroff introduces the so-called “Information Hierarchy” that flows from data, to information, to knowledge, to wisdom. I like that he restrains himself from describing how to acquire wisdom, choosing instead to approach with humility:
We cannot create wisdom like we can data and information, and we cannot share it with others like we can with knowledge. We can only create experiences that offer opportunities and describe processes.
I also appreciate the question mark after his final heading: Conclusion?
Have a gander at Bad Human Designs: A scrapbook of illustrated examples of things that are hard to use because they do not follow human factors principles, by Michael J. Darnell.
Such fun! Clicking through the bad designs can provide insight for writers, who might profitably think of themselves as “word designers,” and who also often fiddle with graphic layouts, instruction manuals, etc.
Some bad designs have to do with words and their associated images:
A confusing automobile titleAn airport parking lot coding scheme
Dreadful airport concourse signage
Self-serve parking attendant Yikes!
Demon photocopier (Don’t you have one in your office?)
Note what they all have in common: The designers mindlessly failed to consider the needs of users/readers, and the contexts of use. The simplest way to avoid the most egregious design errors: Ask real people to interact with the instructions (or your written texts) and give you straight feedback on their experience. Cheap and easy.
This handy acronym will help you remember the four the core principles of good graphic design: contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity.
Get a quick overview of these (and other) design principles from The Non-Designer's Design Book, Second Edition, by Robin Williams (no, not the actor). Every county office should own a copy. Even a quick read-through will improve your next brochure, newsletter, poster, or other self-designed publication—guaranteed!
For an expanded virtual textbook of research-based design information, visit Web Design for Instruction, a comprehensive design guide by Bonnie Skaalid of the University of Saskatchewan. I find the site’s title a bit misleading; the site actually incorporates a comprehensive review of design theory and principles, as well as tutorials on Web page and other multimedia design.
Segments worth perusing:
Classic Design Theory
Gestalt Principles of Perception (overcoming “atomism”)
Web Page Design
I found much to ponder in a column entitled Innovation Through Design Thinking, from the Poynter Institute’s “Design Desk.” Interesting comments, too.
Although written for practicing or aspiring journalists, the “design desk” columns apply equally well to educators who put words on paper or online for a purpose. In some sense or other, all written work ends up as a visual display, a “design.” We writers have more power over the ultimate design than most of us realize.
Take a look at this IDESIGN resource, a site for “anyone interested in teaching children and young adults the creative and critical thinking skills they need to cope with any subject or situation.” I found the site's navigation design and text display as exciting as the information it offers.
I also found myself drawn to the SPARC concept that originated at the renowned Mayo Clinic:
The idea of the SPARC (see, plan, act, refine and communicate) lab is to get healthcare providers thinking more like designers. The lab “operates like a design shop that specializes in the ‘patient experience.’” “Doctors, nurses and other staffers do what designers do: They interview, shadow, and observe customers (in this case patients) to uncover their needs, brainstorm with abandon, and engage in rapid prototyping.” Since SPARC lab began it has implemented ideas that are now used throughout the Mayo system.
What a concept! Interview, shadow and observe "clientele" in the settings where they make use of what educators "teach."
Try replacing the references to physicians and other clinicians with your own professional peers interacting with client populations. What sorts of information design might emerge?
Poynter Institute’s Ron Reason has posted a good piece about dealing with the tension that often arises between writers and designers.
As you read it, forget the word “newsroom” and try to apply Reason’s reasoning to any disagreements that arise between writers and the folks who set up their words for display or select graphic elements to accompany them. I think the advice even applies well to documents you both write and design.
After dispensing with various “unhelpful” remarks on the part of both writers and designers, Reason gets at what he considers “focused, fair questions to ask” when critiquing a graphic idea:
• Does it live up to the requirements of our accepted design or stylebook?
• Does it accurately reflect the PRECISE content, tone, meaning, and spirit of the story? Or, if it's not a literal reinforcement of the message in the text, is it compelling enough to stand on its own, or does it complement the text in an appropriate way?
• Is there anything in here that's offensive, incomplete, or confusing in any way?
• Does it HELP THE READER? (My favorite! A negative or unconvincing reply shoots down lots of dumb visual ideas, especially design gimmicks and doodads.)
I agree with Reason. The answer to the question “Does it help [or hinder] the reader?” trumps any other consideration.
Charts, tables, and other graphics often deliver complex information more effectively than words. But bad graphics, or merely decorative graphics that convey no essential information, can annoy or confuse readers, and sometimes even deliver information that diametrically opposes what the writer intended.
Take a look at these exceptionally fine displays of quantitative information (by way of Guy Kawasaki’s blog).
Some other examples of graphic brilliance (from Edward Tufte's site):
Princeton University acceptance letter (Note: Even text serves as “graphics.”
Take special care adding graphics to online documents, where readers have much less context from which to construct meaning.Remember that every element of a print or online document that your readers see functions as a graphic element, not only charts, tables, photos, and “art,” but also text itself (font shape, size, color, bold/italic/underlined, number of fonts on a single page, special features such as shadow, inverse, etc.), organization of white space (margin size and justification, length of words and sentences, manner of indicating a new paragraph), and color.
Think of text as graphic elements on the page. Writers typically don’t have much say in the design and format of the publications in which their work appears, but they do control the shapes and patterns created by their flow of their words.
A reader's eye scans the page and receives many messages before the words begin to register their intended (or unintended) meanings. A dense block of long words, long sentences and long paragraphs intimidates the eye and paralyzes the mind.
White space creates a restful, inviting visual environment. It helps determine the pace and rhythm of your work. Create white space mindfully as you revise and edit.
Offer generous page margins. Keep most of your words, sentences and paragraphs short. Rather than indenting paragraphs in your document, keep your text flush left and leave vertical extra space between your paragraphs. (Exceptions: adacemic or journal style guides that specify indented paragraphs.)
Two cautions:
Don’t leave too much white space. Readers may interpret too much emptiness as a sign you don’t have much to say.Vary the lengths of words, sentences and paragraphs to avoid a choppy, childish style most readers find annoying.