Information Architects - Hardcover

Wurman, Richard Saul

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0823064557 ISBN 13: 9780823064557

Publisher: UNKNO, 1996

Synopsis

There is a tsunami of data that is crashing onto the beaches of the civilized world. This is a tidal wave of unrelated, growing data formed in bits and bytes, coming in an unorganized, uncontrolled, incoherent cacophony of foam. None of it is easily related, none of it comes with any organization methodology.
Now for the good news: There is a dune on the beach. There is a breakwater in the ocean that is clearly emerging in these last fleeting moments of the 20th century. The breakwater is indeed breaking up the tsunami of data and focusing it in a more organized way to answer our questions and concerns. There is a new breed of graphic designers, exhibition designers, illustrators and photographers, whose passion it is to make the complex clear. I call this new breed of talented thinkers Information Architects and this book was created to help celebrate and understand the importance of their work - a work which inspires hope that as we expand our capabilities to inform and communicate that we will value, with equal enthusiasm, the design of understanding.

About this title

Review:

Frankly, I have found most books about graphics in the information age to be riddled with hyperbole, poorly designed, and vastly overpriced. After looking at many of these books, I typically pull out my dog-eared copy of Edward Tufte's Visual Display of Quantitative Information to clear my visual and conceptual palettes. However, Information Architects, edited by Richard Saul Wurman with contributions by 20 masters in the visual display of information deserves to be on the same shelf as Tufte's masterpieces. Nor does this book shout a simplistic "Cyberspace über alles!": there's great material in here about the importance of informational design in physical spaces and virtual interfaces, and train tracks and track balls. Very highly recommended.

About this edition

• Publisher: UNKNO
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0823064557
• ISBN 13: 9780823064557
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 235
• Editor: Bradford Peter