I’ve been doing a few interviews to promote my book, The Visual Miscellaneum, and a question keeps coming up. “What makes good information design?â€
This is the point where I go a bit glassy. To be honest, I don’t know. I am unschooled in both information (I was a college dropout) and design (I am a self-taught designer). I’ve never really thought about it.
So, I made a nice cup of tea and had a think and came up with this.
To me, these seem like the key components of a good infographic / data visualisation / piece of information design.
- Information needs to be interesting (meaningful & relevant) and have integrity (accuracy, consistency).
- Design needs to have form (beauty & structure) and function (it has to work and be easy to use).
You may disagree. I welcome your input. I may not have got it right.
Something surprised me about doing this though.
In information design, it seems, if you have just two elements, you get something tolerable and cool. i.e.
- integrity + form = eye candy
- interestingness + function = experiment
(I’m not entirely sure about these combos)
But if you combine three elements without the fourth, things suddenly FAIL:
- interesting subject, solid information, looks great, but is hard to use = useless.
- amazing data, well designed, very easy to read but isn’t that interesting = boring
What do you think? This is a work in progress. Can you help me shape this a bit? Have I missed anything?
65 Comments
Hi, I was wondering if you could look into ICESAVE and the debt the icelanders are supposed to pay the brithish and dutch governments in relation to BNP, capita etc and publish it on your site ?
I think you have grasped the essence of publishing data in an interesting , fun and easy to grasp way. Unique.
Nice post & nice blog. I love both.
As our culture continues to shift and especially of the age of social media, wouldn’t “fun” be an increasingly important ingredient?
Hi it is me.
Sorry, but:
Online casino promotion bonus. Biggest casino bonus Play Online casino promotion bonus. Biggest casino bonus UK blackjack Online casino match bonus. Online casino signup bonus Play Online casino match bonus. Online casino signup bonus EURO poker Online casino with bonus. Free bonus money for online casino Play Online casino with bonus. Free bonus money for online casino USA Jackpot No deposit bonuses from online casino. Online casino bonus code games No deposit bonuses from online casino. Online casino bonus code US poker Good day
Ркак на блоге можно заработать? У Ð¼ÐµÐ½Ñ ÐµÑÑ‚ÑŒ блог о игре на гитаре. Правда там народа в день не много ходит…человек 20. Можно Ñ Ð½ÐµÐ³Ð¾ что то заработать?
I love this, it’s a complete paradox.
It’s an interpretation, on how to interpret information with people’s interpretations of the interpretation underneath.
The clarity of the design and the ambiguousness of the labels lead to some interesting comments on how its been received. It’s a logical point of view. My favourite label being ‘Successful’. it tricks me see the graphic objectively and and subjectively in same thought.
Further complexity in meaning comes from the circles/definitions which are widely regarded as dualities ‘form’ and ‘function’ as they placed adjacent and also overlap creating ‘or’ & ‘and’ rules which further interpreted.
Does the shortfall of one component in a design is rendered insignificant? Is this due disappointment resulting in all promise and potential but the absence of one the key ‘great information design’ components (as illustrated)?
I disagree with @adamnieman that “Raw data is pregnant with meaning.” meaning or narrative is not inherent in data. ‘Great’ Infographics provide a clear narrative to discourses, adding value even if you personally refute it’s conclusions.
Personally, I think that these could be the two exceptions to David’s common sense.
http://www.craigslist.org and http://www.berkshirehathaway.com
instead of “rubbish” I would put “misleading” or “deceptive”.
Well desinged idea on design
I think it’s a very good framework, and can be applied in many useful ways. I would immediately make this into a far more subtler and sophisticated Feedback Tool, build cool controls for the dimensions, and bury the form-filling feedback industry. And that’s just for starters. Good job!
I think you pretty much got it.
Having used something similar in design I found this version very interesting. To quote, ” the point where I go a bit glassy” loved that line. Me too.
The design leads to interesting thoughts on how its been seen. Lovee the ugly quadrent…so true.
I really like this stuff
David, you are obviously quite talented and have a keen eye for designs that “work”. No need to be a phd candidate for this. It’s something innate and a true gift.
You have managed to portray what I have been seeking to understand. Thanks
Thanks for putting this together. Students are always asking “what makes a good piece of information design?”
The term interestingness seems open to interpretation to me. If you are referring to visual interest, then my issue is that the term interestingness overlaps with the term form. If by interestingness, you are referring to semiotics, concepts, ideas, maybe consider the term concept instead?
It would be helpful to be more specific or distinctive with the terms “ugly” “rubbish” “useless” and “boring.” These terms can be easily interchangeable right now. Maybe if you had a list of definition to contextualize or exemplify the terms. Right now, the general sense being evoked by the terms is negative.
Looking forward to what all comes next! Thanks for sparking this conversation.
Standin ovation.
22 Trackbacks
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by jemillo, Instant QuoteStore. Instant QuoteStore said: Interesting, Easy, Beautiful, True? http://bit.ly/3QopH [...]
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by QuoteStore: Interesting, Easy, Beautiful, True? http://bit.ly/3QopH...
[...] via Information is Beautiful [...]
[...] Tweets about this great post on TwittLink.com [...]
[...] Interesting, Easy, Beautiful, True? | Information Is Beautiful [...]
[...] Shared Interesting, Easy, Beautiful, True?. [...]
[...] November 10, 2009 This makes good Information Design Posted by sophievdw under e-learning, social media, technology, visuals | Tags: e-learning, social media, technology, visualizations | Leave a Comment Dave from Information is Beautiful posted a new infographic on What makes Good Information Design: [...]
[...] dizainą? Jei kada nors uždavėte sau tokį ar panašų klausimą – Jums turėtų padėti šis, Information is beautiful sudarytas, [...]
[...] McCandless over at the fantastic blog Information Is Beautiful provides this visual attempt at defining the qualities of good information [...]
[...] McCandless of Information is Beautiful has posted a work in progress pondering the nature of successful information design as the intersection of accuracy, relevance, usefulness, and [...]
[...] Interesting, Easy, Beautiful, True? | Information Is Beautiful [...]
[...] Interesting, Easy, Beautiful, True? | Information Is Beautiful. Related News & Resources Matthias Shapiro’s Effective Information Visualization [...]
[...] has many visualizations of information which are pretty great, graph and companion write up here: http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2009/interesting-easy-beautiful-true/ Possibly related posts: [...]
[...] What makes good information design ‘Interesting, Easy, Beautiful, true?’ [...]
[...] Information is Beautiful recently took on the same question on their blog. Their visual approach tries to show–with a venn diagram-in-progress–what information is; what design is; and what happens when these overlap. Not every product of the two entities is a win: some are useless, some are ugly, and some are boring. But, there is a sweet spot where interestingness + function + form + integrity = successful information design. [...]
[...] Interesting, Easy, Beautiful, True? | Information Is Beautiful [...]
[...] Is Beautiful (about graphics and data visualization) and in particular to a very nice piece on What Makes Good Information Design? – in particular the key dimensions of Interestingness, Integrity, Function and Form. Obvious [...]
[...] Information Is Beautiful: “Interesting, Easy, Beautiful, True?” [...]
[...] Information Is Beautiful: “Interesting, Easy, Beautiful, True?†[...]
[...] Read the article @ Informationisbeautiful.net [...]
[...] McCandless posted a pretty cool and useful venn diagram at Information is Beautiful called What Makes Good Information Design? that gives a good perspective on some of the necessary ingredients for a universally loved piece: [...]
[...] Original post: http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2009/interesting-easy-beautiful-true/ [...]