InfoD: Bookwatch (41)

        * InfoDesign Bookwatch *   (41)


          In this message:
          1) Nigel Holmes on information design (Steven Heller)
          2) Information dashboard design (Stephen Few)
          3) Beautiful evidence (Edward Tufte)
          4) Information and document design. Varieties on
             recent research
             (S Carliner, JP Verckens, C de Waele (eds))


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1)    TITLE: Nigel Holmes on information design

      AUTHOR: Steven Heller

     DETAILS: Price: EURO=A019.95
              ISBN: 097747240 X
              Published: 2006 / 140 Pages
              Publisher: Jorge Pinto Books

     WEBSITE: http://www.pintobooks.com/workingbiographies4.html

DESCRIPTION: Nigel Holmes is a graphic designer specializing
in visual and verbal explanations of complex data. He was the
Graphics Director of Time Magazine for 16 years. In this present
publication, Steven Heller presents an interview-discussion that
can be read as an (auto)biography of Holmes, his=20
career, motivations, methodologies, influences=20
and theories about information design.
This interview-discussion has been purposely designed to initiate
a discussion with the reader and to demystify the process of
information graphics while analysing the means.

CONTENTS:
Acknowledgements
Explaining information graphics
What it tatkes to be an information designer
A note about the icons

1. In the beginning
2. The origins of information graphics
3. Communicating with an audience
4. Humor as a tool
5. The role of truth
6. Making a personal style
7. Complexity and simplicity
8. The facts, nothing but the facts
9. Art and journalism
10. Getting the information
11. The many sides of information graphics
12. Deciding a direction and getting paid, too
13. Flat versus dimensional
14. Telling a story
15. Improving systems
16. Information architecture
17. Setting standards, good and bad
18. Migrating to the web
19. The most difficult job
20. Information literacy
21. Learning to inform
22. The future of information

Making an information graphic
Booklist
Glossary
About the author
Index

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2)    TITLE: Information Dashboard Design
              The Effective Visual Communication of Data

      AUTHOR: Stephen Few

     DETAILS: Price: USD 34.99
              ISBN: 0596100167
              Published: 2006 / 223 Pages
              Publisher: O'Reilly

     WEBSITE: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/infodashboard/

DESCRIPTION: Dashboards have become popular in recent years as
uniquely powerful tools for communicating important information
at a glance. This book will teach you the visual design skills
you need to create dashboards that communicate clearly, rapidly,
and compellingly. The greatest display technology in the world
won't solve this if you fail to use effective visual design.
And if a dashboard fails to tell you precisely what you need
to know in an instant, you'll never use it, even if it's filled
with cute gauges, meters, and traffic lights. Don't let your
investment in dashboard technology go to waste.

CONTENTS:
Introduction
1. Clarifying the vision
2. Variations in dashboard uses and data
3. Thirteen common mistakes in dashboard design
4. Tapping into the power of visual perception
5. Eloquence through simplicity
6. Effective dashboard display media
7. Designing dashboards for usability
8. Putting it all together
Appendix
Index

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3)    TITLE: Beautiful evidence

      AUTHOR: Edward Tufte

     DETAILS: Price: USD 52.00
              ISBN: 0961392177
              Published: 2006 / 214 Pages
              Publisher: Graphics Press

     WEBSITE: http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_be

CONTENTS:
- Mapped pictures: images as evidence and explanation
- Sparklines: intense, simple, word-sized graphics
- Links and causal arrows: ambiguity in action
- Words, numbers, images - together
- The fundamental principles of analytical design
- Corruption in evidence presentation: a consumer's guide to
   effects without causes, cherry picking, overreaching,
   chartjunk and the rage to conclude
- The cognitive style of powerpoint: pitching out corrupt within
- Sculptural pedestals: meaning, practice, depedestalization
- Landscape sculptures

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4)    TITLE: Information and Document Design.
              Varieties on Recent Research
              [Document Design Companion Series, 7]

     EDITORS: Saul Carliner, Jan Piet Verckens and Cathy de Waele

     DETAILS: Price: EURO 99.00
              ISBN: 90 272 3207 5
              Published: 2006 / 252 Pages
              Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing company

     WEBSITE: http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_bookview.cgi?bookid=3DDD=
CS%207

DESCRIPTION: 'Information and document design' explores research
by presenting reports of actual research studies in information
and document design. It specifically reports on ten studies in
the areas of marketing communication (part one), functional
communication (part two) and online communication (part three).
An introduction places the research into a broader context and
explores the different research traditions in the field.


CONTENTS:
Acknowledgements
Preface

- Introduction: Current challenges of research in information
   design and document design (Saul=A0Carliner)

I. Recent Research on Marketing Communication
- Branding and relationship communications: The evolution of utility
   bills in the UK (Judy=A0Delin, Abi=A0Searle-Jones=A0and=A0Robert=A0Wal=
ler)
- Job advertisements in the Dutch mental health care sector:
   Preferences of potential applicants (Lonneke=A0van=A0Rooy, Berna
   Hendriks Frank=A0van=A0Meurs=A0and=A0Hubert=A0Korzilius)

II. Recent Research on Functional Communication
- Distance education and the transformation of foreign language
   learning: Issues and challenges (Jenny=A0Castillo)
- Differences between Germany and the Netherlands in patient
   package leaflets for Ibuprofen 400 tablets and consequences for
   adequate drug us (Marinel=A0Gerritsen, Ulrike=A0Nederstigt=A0and=A0Fab=
ia
   Orlandini)
- The Scarier, the better? Effects of adding images to verbal warnings
   on cigarette packages (Carel=A0Jansen, Mariet=A0Berg
   Cher=A0Buurman=A0and=A0Martine=A0Smits)
- Reading and expertise: The impact of connectives on text
   comprehension in the financial field (Nicolas=A0Roebben=A0and=A0Yves=A0=
Bestgen)

III. Recent Research on Online Communication
- Developing an e-mail analysis tool for writing research
   (Kirstie=A0Edwards, Noel=A0Williams, Anne-Florence=A0Dujardin=A0and=A0=
Arthur=A0Spaepen)
- Explicitness in interactive e-commerce communication (Paivo=A0Laine)
- Definition in natural language between cognitive interactionism and
   conceptual integration (Paul=A0Sambre)
- Between customer and computer: Discursive effects of the use of
   computers in telephone complaints (Guido=A0Schnieders)
Index
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InfoDesign Bookwatch is compiled and edited by Piet Westendorp
and Karel van der Waarde. Suggestions for titles are welcome,
and may be sent to: [email protected]
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