This article discusses how the use of multiple windows affects online information design by examining key concepts and presenting a set of design principles based on research and the authors' experience designing online information.
Corbin Nichols, Michelle and Robert R. Berry. Technical Communication Online (1996). Design>Information Design>Rhetoric>Visual Rhetoric
La tragedia del 11 de Marzo en Madrid ha creado una catarata de informaciones (y de emociones) algunas de las cuales se han convertido en representaciones visuales que nos acercan al qué y al cómo de lo que ha pasado en estos días horribles.
Dursteler, Juan Carlos. InfoVis (2004). (Spanish) Design>Information Design>Visual Rhetoric
Monitoring Order: Visual Desire, the Organization of Web Pages, and Teaching the Rules of Design 
Monitoring Order looks at two potential sources -- writings about book design and writings about visual arrangement in painting -- for helping teachers of writing think about teaching visual composition for Web pages; both sources are problematic but suggest directions for further study.
Wysocki, Anne Frances. Kairos (1998). Articles>Web Design>Information Design>Visual Rhetoric
Query By Attention: Visually Searchable Information Maps 
This paper explores how the design of information spaces might be grounded in knowledge of human visual processing, notably what kinds of visual selection are most efficient. Information maps spatially array graphical symbols representing items of information and their attributes. Ideally, their users should be able to do query by attention: answer questions about the information quickly by controlling visual attention (i.e., through spatial selection and visual search), instead of manipulating an interface. I propose a preliminary method for designing visually searchable maps based on experimental results about what kinds of visual search are easy. The hope is that the resulting maps will better employ the perceptual capabilities of their viewers when they search. An example information map of recent movies illustrates the approach.
Foltz, Mark and Randall Davis. MIT (2001). Design>Information Design>Search>Visual Rhetoric
Rethinking the Design of Presentation Slides
Summary, models, and templates of a new design of slides for technical presentations. This design is fully documented in Chapter 4 of The Craft of Scientific Presentations (Springer, 2003).
Alley, Michael. Penn State University (2004). Articles>Presentations>Information Design>Visual Rhetoric
The study of visual communication is a multi-disciplinary, multi-dimensional effort. People who write on this topic come from mass communication (including photography, advertising, and news editorial areas), film and cinema studies, education, art and aesthetics, anthropology, psychology, philosophy, linguistics, semiotics, architecture and even archaeology. This rich melange of viewpoints is an asset because of the insights that come from cross-fertilization, however it causes some problems academically for those of us who teach visual communication because of a lack of any sense of common theory. This is not to suggest that there is or should be a central of core theory that organizes the field, however, it would be easier to order a curriculum, as well as a graduate program of study, if there were some notion of at least the important theories and scholars from the various disciplines that need to be covered. This project looks at the body of literature and the categories that emerge from the writings to develop a taxonomy of topics and some sense of the location of the most important, or at least the most frequently written about, areas of study. The objective is to collect the scholarly writing on the most central visual communication topics (mental imagery, visual thinking, the language metaphor, psychology), as well as peripheral topics that interweave with visual communication, such as sociology, anthropology, archaeology and architecture.
Moriarty, Sandra and Keith Kenney. International Visual Literacy Association. Resources>Bibliographies>Information Design>Visual Rhetoric
Based on an interpretive study, this article focuses on visual composition within the workforce as perceived by individuals who use visuals to instruct, persuade, or inform while speaking to an intended audience. Tabulated and evaluated responses to survey statements relate the presenter's perception of a visual's function, the presenter's sensitivity to and the use of the audience perspective in visual composition, and training received in researching an audience. Data also provides a comparative analysis among respective organizations categorized by career interests: administrative or managerial positions within product-oriented business, people-oriented business, and educational institutions. Survey statements reflect the frames of reference that regulate visual design: the color spectrum, gender, cultural sensitivity, structural organization, semantics, and adherence to ethics when applying technological enhancements.
Caricato, Josephine A. Technical Communication Online (2000). Design>Information Design>Visual>Visual Rhetoric
Review: What Excellence Looks Like
Comments on the magnificent Envisioning Information by Edward R. Tufte.
West, Mike. MBWest.com (2006). Articles>Reviews>Visual Rhetoric>Information Design
Perceiving Hierarchy Through Intrinsic Color Structure

Color is an intrinsic visual attribute of form that functions as language and message. The purpose of this study was to investigate objectively structured color combinations as a means to communicate visual order for the purpose of reinforcing information hierarchy. Controlling the visual relationships of hue, value and chroma contrast can significantly assist a person's cognitive ability to assign importance and dominance to a controlled color structure. This research study provided significant findings supporting the hypothesis that intrinsic color structures can be formulated objectively; represent a visual hierarchy; and be perceived in an understandable order. Chi-square analysis for 99 participants was calculated for task effectiveness. To analyze task efficiency, three distinct ANOVA calculations were made for time variations. The documented findings of this study presented explicit evidence that addresses specific mechanisms for objective color ordering. The natural inferences of the study support the proposition that there is a natural relationship between objective color ordering principles and human perception.
Puhalla, Dennis M. Visual Communication (2008). Design>Information Design>Visual Rhetoric>Color
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