Information Competitive Analysis: Achieving Best-in-Class Design  

This paper examines a method used to help information designers gather and incorporate best-in-class practices and customer requirements into their documentation development processes Competitive Analysis - a method for systematically reviewing and benchmarking competing products and information - provides information developers with rich design data.

Murphy, Debra-Jo. STC Proceedings (1996). Design>Information Design

Review: Information Dashboard Design

Stephen Few's Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data defines the state-of-the-art of information dashboard design. Few, who is an expert in data visualization for the communication and analysis of quantitative business information has provided a complete, practical, and illuminating guide to dashboard design. If you are designing front-ends for executive information systems for Business Performance Management (BPM) or for monitoring and analyzing the performance of sales, marketing, or information systems, Information Dashboard Design provides all you need to know to ensure your dashboards communicate efficiently and effectively.

Gabriel-Petit, Pabini. UXmatters (2007). Articles>Reviews>Information Design>Web Design

Information Design and Becoming a Business Partner  

The information age provides great opportunity--and threat--to technical communicators. By understanding more about the general domain--specifically the relationship between communication and information design--we have the opportunity to become valued business partners to our employers and clients.

Knemeyer, Dirk. STC Proceedings (2004). Careers>Information Design>TC

The Information Design Association

The Information Design Association (IDA) was founded in the UK in 1991, to bring together practitioners, users and anyone else with an interest in information design.

IDA. Organizations>Information Design>Regional>United Kingdom

Information Design Exercises  

Study the target audience – who are your users? Identify various information elements. Study the user’s work flow. Layout the various information elements based on their characteristics. Highlight critical information. Think visually.

Deshpande, Shashank. STC India (2003). Presentations>Information Design>Education

Information Design for Beginners  

Learning about information design begins with understanding its definitions and exploring its key disciplines: technical writing, design, and usability. Information designers seek to combine skills in these broad fields to make complex information easier to understand. Specialists in the different fields often work together as a team to produce complex products. Stephan Boyd Davis, who teaches at Middlesex University in the United Kingdom, elaborates: “I take design to include fulfilling the practical needs of the intended users and incorporating an element of affect in the user’s experience, often pleasurable and including surprise, delight, satisfaction, and other responses.”

Taylor, Cheri W. STC Proceedings (2000). Presentations>Information Design

Information Design for the Small-Screen Interface: An Overview of Web Design Issues for Personal Digital Assistants    

If the experts are on the mark, very soon handheld computer technology—--also known as the personal digital assistants (PDA)—--will supplant the desktop computer as ubiquitous technology on campuses and in the workplace (Weiser 1998; Chen 1999). In 1998, Gaston Bastien, vice president and general manager for the Personal Interactive Electronics Division of Apple Computer, noted that the handheld computer market 'could potentially grow larger than today's computer industry,' partly because of the capability of dynamic, modular design, and partly because its utility spills over to diverse communities of users. In 2001, Gartner Research (Bloomberg News 2001) predicted a 260% increase in unit sales, from 9.39 million units in 2000, to 33.7 million units in 2004.

Albers, Michael J. and Loel Kim. Technical Communication Online (2002). Design>Information Design>Web Design>User Interface

Information Design for Web Sites Which Support Complex Decision Making  

Most web site designs tend to focus on optimizing for simple information retrieval, “Find the value of X.” Yet, in decision making, the user’s information needs are much greater. As a minimum, they must understand and compare the value of X with respect to Y. Of course, in a realistic situation, several values must be considered. The information design problems involved in effectively addressing complex decision making has not been adequately researched. This research examines web sites to determine which design factors support complex decision making. It also develops guidelines for designing web sites which support complex decision making.

Albers, Michael J. STC Proceedings (2000). Presentations>Information Design>Web Design

The Information Design of Community-Building

What turns a Web space into a virtual community or community network? Sandra Maddox writes an introduction to the subject.

Maddox, Sandra. EServer (2001). Design>Information Design>Community Building

Information Design Process  

Covers the stages in the information design process of: discovery, analysis, prototyping and review.

Deshpande, Shashank. STC India (2003). Presentations>Information Design>Workflow

Information Design Progression  

The Information Design Progression will focus on exploring several diverse topics in the evolving field of information design, including graphic communication, design principles, usability, and information design in teams and in the community. The topics provide practical techniques, examples of information design in action, and useful information that can improve your own projects and skill set.

Taylor, Cheri W. STC Proceedings (1999). Presentations>Information Design

Information Design Resources

A collection of links to information design resources.

STC Information Design SIG. Resources>Directories>Information Design

Information Design SIG of the STC

The Information Design SIG assists members interested in acquiring the necessary skills to practice information design. Information Design SIG activities include publishing Design Matters (the SIG's quarterly newsletter). This SIG also encourages and makes available information design research findings, success stories, educational programs, and other resources.

STC Information Design SIG. Organizations>Information Design

An Information Design Timeline

a detailed history of information design.

STC Information Design SIG. Resources>Information Design>History

Information Design: A Bibliography    

This bibliography consists of two parts, an annotated list of 17 essential works on information design chosen by members of the InfoDesign e-mail list, and a longer, unannotated, classified bibliography of additional works.

Albers, Michael J. and Beth Conney Lisberg. Technical Communication Online (2000). Resources>Bibliographies>Information Design

Information Design: A European Perspective    

This commentary briefly outlines the evolution of information design in Europe, notes the differences between approaches to information design in Europe and the U. S., and speculates on reasons for those differences. Ultimately, however, those who are information designers seek to improve the quality of communication, respecting and improving the lives of others.

Taylor, Conrad. Technical Communication Online (2000). Design>Information Design>Regional>Europe

Information Design: An Introduction to This Special Section    

This article defines information design as being closely related to Kolstenick and Roberts's construct of extra-textual and supra-textual levels, which discuss how the page looks and how text appears on the page, without worrying about the text itself. It includes the white space, the rules, the font choices, use of special typefaces, the placement and ordering of data, and so forth. The actual text sits below this level and is not a part of information design. The author also summarizes the content of this special section's two commentaries, three articles, and bibliography.

Albers, Michael J. Technical Communication Online (2000). Design>Information Design

Information Design: The Key to Reuse  

Discusses the problems with poor information design: no consistent suite of information, no consistent structure, or idea how customers use their information.

Hedlund, Tina. ComTech Services (2002). Articles>Information Design

Information Design: The Understanding Discipline

There is not consensus on exactly what information design is. Definitions of the discipline from stakeholders who associate themselves with the field are consistent only in that they are typically high level, not very concrete and do not offer much in the way of direct practical application.

Knemeyer, Dirk. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Information Design

An Information Development Methodology for the World Wide Web    

Technical communicators are asked more and more to develop information for delivery on the Internet's World Wide Web. To develop this information, technical communicators need to pay close attention to the characteristics and qualities of the Web as a medium for communication so that they don't merely duplicate practices intended for paper or other media. Technical communicators can, however, draw on many existing concepts from technical communication and software engineering practices. This article describes a process-oriented methodology for Web information development that takes into account the characteristics and qualities of the World Wide Web.

December, John A. Technical Communication Online (1996). Design>Information Design>Online

Information Ecologies

I want to try to explain how I came to think about technology and people ecologically through my interactions with reference librarians. And I want to mention some of the touchstones that led to the concept of information ecologies. In looking at the library, what struck me as an outsider and anthropologist studying the work practices of reference librarians, was first, the very congenial mix of human and technical resources. Second, I was very impressed with the way libraries are run through a very clear application of values. So, for example, values such as service to clients, cost effectiveness, the timely delivery of information, open access to information. And finally, I was really struck by the attention that reference librarians pay to the specifics of clients' situations and needs.

Nardi, Bonnie A. Library of Congress (1998). Articles>Information Design>Cultural Theory

Information Engineering for the 21st Century  

Bowie urges technical communicators to spend less time creating documentation and more time designing products that people can use intuitively.

Bowie, John S. Intercom (2003). Articles>Information Design>User Centered Design>Usability

Information Engineering: A New Approach to Technical Communication  

Information Engineering (IE) is a revolutionary new methodology for designing and delivering information to users of technical products. To provide services that truly add value to their organizations and to their users, technical communicators must transcend the mundane tasks of creating manuals, online help systems, and training. Information Engineering replaces these activities with more proactive methods that measure, minimize, and optimize the delivery of information.

Bowie, John S. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Information Design