Categories
Design Inspiration

Watch PBS’ “Off Book” on Typography

Typeface designers Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones outline the importance of selecting the right font to convey a particular feeling. Graphic designer Paula Scher talks about building identity in messaging, while Eddie Opara uses texture to create reaction. Infographic designers Julia Vakser and Deroy Peraza map complicated data sets into digestible imagery, mixing color, graphics and type […]

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Design Innovation Readings

Watch David McCandless’ “Information is Beautiful” talk

At CreativeMornings/London, David Mccandless shares the process behind his stunning visualizations and the role journalism has played in pursuit of making sure that Information is beautiful and meaningful […]

Categories
Inspiration

Remembering Massimo Vignelli

One of the world’s great designers, Massimo Vignelli, is very ill and will be spending his last days at home. His son Luca would like all those for whom Vignelli was either an influence or an inspiration to write him a letter […]

Categories
Information Design Talks & Workshops

Information Design: Crossing Borders

This is the presentation I’ve recently done at the Creative Drive In event in Heerlem, The Netherlands. In this presentation we discuss: What is information Design? We also cover some Information Design “Bloopers”, and finally talk about Structure, Context and Presentation of Data and Information helps create clear communication.

Categories
Design Readings

Watch Aris Venetikidis’ “Making sense of maps” talk at TED

Map designer Aris Venetikidis is fascinated by the maps we draw in our minds as we move around a city — less like street maps, more like schematics or wiring diagrams, abstract images of relationships between places. How can we learn from these mental maps to make better real ones? As a test case, he remakes the notorious Dublin bus map

Categories
Design Economics Information Technology Trend Watching

Watch David McCandless’ “The beauty of data visualization” talk at TED

David McCandless turns complex data sets (like worldwide military spending, media buzz, Facebook status updates) into beautiful, simple diagrams that tease out unseen patterns and connections. Good design, he suggests, is the best way to navigate information glut — and it may just change the way we see the world […]

Categories
Design Innovation Inspiration

Watch Tom Wujec’s “Build a tower, build a team” talk at TED

Tom Wujec presents some surprisingly deep research into the “marshmallow problem” — a simple team-building exercise that involves dry spaghetti, one yard of tape and a marshmallow. Who can build the tallest tower with these ingredients? And why does a surprising group always beat the average? […]

Categories
Design Information Technology Innovation

Tom Wujec demos the 13th-century astrolabe at TED

Rather than demo another new technology, Tom Wujec reaches back to one of our earliest but most ingenious devices — the astrolabe. With thousands of uses, from telling time to mapping the night sky, this old tech reminds us that the ancient can be as brilliant as the brand-new […]

Categories
Design Software

Watch Tom Wujec’s “3 ways the brain creates meaning” talk at TED

Information designer Tom Wujec talks through three areas of the brain that help us understand words, images, feelings, connections. In this short talk from TEDU, he asks: How can we best engage our brains to help us better understand big ideas? […]