Global Information Design: A New Framework for Understanding Data Visualization
Part 1 in a multi-part series exploring Global Information Design
Patterns of Lines
Information designers and dataviz practitioners today face a daily challenge: what technique, method, software, or code library to use for their next project. Practitioners look both forward and backward, trying to keep up with the latest software tools and at the same time find more examples from the past — “classic” examples that can teach us something today.
I was invited to give a talk on Information Design History to a scientific research institute, where I presented visualization examples from many time periods and many cultures. I received a critique of my talk from a colleague. His message was “fewer examples, more commentary on why a specific design is successful.” He had a good point. To emphasize the breadth of information design, I spent more time showing examples than I did singling out why and how each example succeeded. Then he added “I wanted to learn more about the wooden navigation device! It really reminded me of the train schedule visualization” and he attached the image above.
