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‘There are plenty of visual stylists or illustrators who appropriate the aesthetic of information design to give their work authority.’
‘...the design media focus on celebrity designers, who rarely have the level of insight to match the column inches required.’
Read on...
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‘There are plenty of visual stylists or illustrators who appropriate the aesthetic of information design to give their work authority.’
‘...the design media focus on celebrity designers, who rarely have the level of insight to match the column inches required.’
Read on...
Max Gadney is an information designer specialising in data visualisation. In the mid 2010s he organised a brilliant series of conferences called The Design of Understanding.
This opinion piece in Eye magazine set out some brutal truths about graphic design education, at a time when data visualisation was a bandwagon people were jumping on.
There are plenty of visual stylists or illustrators who appropriate the aesthetic of information design to give their work authority. Many books on the subject are little more than visually appealing data-art masquerading as purposeful and understandable communication. The air of integrity sought by these faux ‘infographics’ is like ‘the science bit’ in shampoo commercials. This work seduces with allusions to purpose and process, like a child busily crayoning a piece of paper from top to bottom.
As a result, students frequently find it hard to think past the visual layer. It is quite common for students to see ‘design research’ as a trip to the library to look for rare patterns or visual devices. If it does not occur to them that they do not understand the audiences, context or business goals behind briefs – don’t blame them, blame lazy teaching and directionless briefs.
And pity the poor tutor trying to encourage interest in proper design role-models when the design media focus on celebrity designers, who rarely have the level of insight to match the column inches required. Visions of singular genius are not helpful to those who will need to collaborate with many. Anecdotal and subjective musings inspire only egos, where instead insight is required to encourage the intellect of impressionable students.
Max Gadney, ’Understand, visualise, survive‘, Eye no. 78 vol. 20, 2010