Module 4 - The Tools of Information Design I

There are many tools and applications of information design that can be used in any graphic project or business analysis, even in the field of education. One graphic design tool that is taking classrooms by storm is the use of the smart board.

“The smart board is an interactive whiteboard that uses touch detection for user input (Smart Board).” Through its software interface based on a PC either in the class room or a connected laptop displayed with a projector, students and teachers have the ability to interact and create a more visual learning experience. 

Visual learning in my opinion is one of the fundamental ways in which people can learn. During preverbal development, children communicate with sounds, gestures, and images by use of pencils, crayons, and paints. Even in early school years, children continue to express ideas by drawing that teachers and parents label as art (Jacobson 197). Jacobson goes onto write that words are not the only means to convey information, in fact he states that words can impede understanding (198).

Through the use of graphics people have the ability to think visually and conceptualize ideas from basic thought processes. Every day we use our eyes to look and see, which allows us to use our mind’s eye to imagine and express or show what we have visually imagined. Now some may say that looking and seeing are the same thing. In fact they are two separate entities in that looking is the open process of collecting information visually, where seeing is the process of narrowing and putting pieces together in order to make sense of them (Roam 68). 

Now one part of this assignment is to show use of an information design tool on my blog. In my earlier posts I have used pictures to convey information that I wrote in words graphically. My blog uses shapes which represent different basic concepts or functions. Just as words make up sentences on this page, combining the use of different graphic tools capture the formation of ideas and thoughts. For example, most of my blog uses square or rectangles with right-angle corners. These graphics can be used to represent a container of information, facts, etc. Their function on my blog is to contain text and describe relationships between elements, mainly the headers of each module which shows the progression of my blog (Jacobson 211).

The use of these page headers, as well as on the main page with more rectangles containing text shows a visual learning graphic essentially a timeline. By adding to each rectangle over and over there is a progression of information either forward or backward. By combining these multiple graphic tools as well as the use of visual thinking elements, I believe the concept of information design is alive and well in my personal blog space. 

-AP

Jacobson, Robert E. Information Design. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2000. Print.

Roam, Dan. The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures. New York: Portfolio, 2009. Print.

"Smart Board." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Nov. 2013. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.