3 Powerful Lessons I have learnt as an Information Designer
By: Angela Morelli
Tags: Information Design, Data Visualization, Science Communication

Designer Nathan Shedroff writes that Information design addresses the organization and presentation of data, its transformation into valuable, meaningful information.

This transformation is a complex process discussed by theorists, philosophers, designers such as Russell Ackoff, Harlan Cleveland, Richard Saul Wurman, Nathan Shedroff. The diagram representing this process is known as the DIKW diagram (Data Information Knowledge Wisdom).

Working as an information designer offers continuous opportunities for experiencing the stages of this process. Precious discussions with colleagues, students, audiences, activists, scientists and researchers have shed light on the practical challenges of this transition. An incremental journey of reflection has resulted in several variations of the extended DIKW-C diagram (Data Information Knowledge Wisdom-Change).

Some variations of the DIKW-C diagram

The major focus of the process is our audience and their context. When I use the word audience I do not mean simply lay people, I also refer to experts, governments, policymakers anybody that should understand the information we communicate, because they need to make decisions with that information or because they have to act in order to change something, in order to implement an intervention.

On the other extreme we have the data. Data is the product of creation, research, gathering, discovery. It is the raw material we use to build our communications. Data is not a complete message, it does not have informational value.

When data is structured and organised in a specific way, it can turn into information. By exploring different ways of organising our data, we will discover that each way can communicate a different message or highlight a different pattern.

Presenting information can lead to knowledge and knowledge can be acquired by building compelling narratives, experiences, interactions, so that the patterns and meanings in the information can be learned by others.

Wisdom is the ultimate level of understanding, it is the result of reflection and introspection.

Knowledge and wisdom can guide our decisions, leading to action and change in our society, in our communities, in our family. We all know how challenging this stage is.

The process from data to change, that on the diagram looks so neat, in reality looks more like this:

It is not tidy and neat at all, because of different reasons.

1. Because of the collaborative nature of the design process that involves different users, experts, designers, stakeholders.

2. Because cognition itself is complex. Information is mediated by the human brain, it is not the message the goes into the brain but the interpretation of that message and how it is encoded.

3. Because science tells us that, as human beings, we assess how the information we receive is going to affect our lives, our context, our values and the links to the social groups we belong to; when information threatens those values we refuse to accept the information even if there is scientific evidence behind it.

4. Because even if the information is communicated properly, even if we understand it, even if we make the right decisions, we might not be able to act because there are barriers out there that prevent us from doing so.

In order to facilitate the transition from data to action nothing is more important than managing the design process in a participatory way, by knowing our audience and the context in which the information will be received, understanding barriers and facilitators of that context, diving in first person in the users’ life, facilitating the dialogues among the people involved in the design process.

In a participatory design approach, challenge and target audience are the starting points, and everything unfolds through cycles of prototyping, testing, feedback. Learning how your audience will decode the information, understanding their context, building a real dialogue with them, designing with them, listening to their needs, taking their feedback seriously, improving the design according to that feedback, that is really crucial.

A participatory approach should be the backbone of any information design project. The result is that any final solution, whether it is an info-graphic or a map, a service or an experience, usually solves a specific challenge, serves a specific purpose, has a specific audience, is meant to be used in a specific context. You might experience that it fulfils the needs of many more people you would have expected, but it does not have an absolute correctness. There is no such a thing as a universally perfect solution.