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03: What is Information Design?

Generally, information design seeks to explain how design works to improve various communication mediums and how it can be made more effective. It draws from cognitive science, psychology, multiple design professions, educational philosophy, and art history. Here, however, information design is a fundamental course which expands the notion of the history and practice of visual communication as a critical part of information design. There is a good deal of tension between graphic designers and technical communicators, professionals and amateurs. The field itself is rising from the development of a new language which couples words, images and shapes and location into cohesive communication units in every field. There is a close identity between the theories of architecture and information design as both seek to democratize and simplify our interactions with one another in our conceptual, physical, and virtual environments.

Information Design Definitions, University of Oslo

SDSU: Encyclopedia of Educational Technology

Rochester Institute of Technology Design Archive Online

STC Information Design

InfoDesign - Newsflashes

ACM Interactions Journal

The Yale Style Guide

Information Interaction Design: A Unified Field Theory

The Information Design Special Interest Group

The Information Design Journal
(This is a journal that "provides a forum for theoretical discussions, research findings, and practical applications of information design.)

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