Data Design: Visualising Quantities, Locations, Connections

Description

Data Design: Visualising quantities, locations, connections is a lively and comprehensive introduction to data visualisation, illustrated with 199 instructive data displays. The book is for designers, journalists, editors, writers and anyone concerned with presenting factual information in a clear and effective way. Data Design highlights the key qualities of good data visualisation: accuracy, simplicity, and clarity. In this spirit, Per Mollerup discusses information design with great clarity. The proposed data displays are as simple as possible, and every graphic element is there to convey meaning. This book is not about data decoration. Data Design can be read from cover to cover, but it doesn't have to be. It can also serve as a reference guide. Each of the data displays included is explained in such a way as to clarify the problems to be addressed and the method by which to address them, enabling the reader to develop the skills with which to improve their data visualisation designs.

Per Mollerup is Professor of Communication Design at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. He previously edited and published Mobilia Design Magazine and Tools Design Journal in Copenhagen, Denmark. From 1984-2009 he was the owner and principal of Designlab in Copenhagen, an award-winning design consultancy specialising in wayshowing and branding. He is the author of several books on design, including Marks of Excellence: The History and Taxonomy of Trademarks (1997, 2013); Collapsibles: A Design Album of Space-Saving Objects (2002); Brandbook: Branding, Feelings, Reason (2008) (in Danish); PowerNotes: Slide Presentations Reconsidered (2011) and Wayshowing>Wayfinding: Basic & Interactive (2013).

Data Design makes a strong and clear attempt to describe the principles and practices of data visualisation needed to make data easily perceptible ... The book is very practical, no specialist tools are required ... also supports critical thinking ... A useful reference guide ... both parsimonious and comprehensive. * She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation * This book is intelligent and wise, clear and beautiful, stimulating and useful. It distills and presents in one place a mountain of research results and tried-and-true best practices. It is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in visual communication. -- Stephen M. Kosslyn, Minerva School of Arts and Sciences at the Keck Graduate Institute, USA I love the economy of expression in Per Mollerup's writing. He applies the classic Danish design approach (modern but human) to the explanation of design, isolating the essence of a topic, then explaining it simply. This book joins his seminal 'Wayshowing' as an essential text. -- Rob Waller, Simplification Centre, UK With the key words communicate, record and understand, Mollerup guides the reader in how to design complex data to facilitate the interpretation act. Generous well-designed visualizations and explanations work together as useful guidelines for anyone that frequently presents quantities, locations and connections. -- Yvonne Eriksson, Malardalen University, Sweden