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Communicating Knowledge Visually presents a timely, in-depth examination of information design pioneer, Will Burtin. Using a methodical approach, the authors analyze Burtin's way of working and nine of his seminal projects, including his exhibitions for The Upjohn Company and diagrams for SCOPE magazine.Excerpts taken from Burtin's unpublished writing offer insight into his thinking process and explain how he transformed complex scientific information into easy, accessible visual forms. Scientists, designers, educators and students will gain valuable knowledge from Burtin's unique design approach in meeting the current challenges of communicating complexity in their respective fields.
List of contents
Foreword by Steven Heller
Chapter 1: Introduction A Designer Ahead of his Time
The Importance of Information Design Today
Will Burtin's Journey to Information Design
A Need for Understanding
Chapter 2: An Overview of Will Burtin's Life Beginnings on the Rhine
A Graphic Designer of German Precision
Modernism in the Air
An Émigré Mind
A Fresh Career in America
Chapter 3: A Designer with an Information Priority Understanding, the Foundation
Understanding the Information Design Process
Information Design's Need for Scientific Thinking
Burtin's Scientific Approach to Visual Communication
Proposed Analytical Framework: Dimensions of Information Design
Chapter 4: PurposeFacilitating Understanding
Metabolism, the Cycle of Life Exhibition
Process Box 1. Case Study 1:
Metabolism, the Cycle of Life Exhibition (1963)
Chapter 5: Problem Defining and Framing
The Brain Exhibition
Process Box 2. Case Study 2:
The Brain Exhibition (1960)
Chapter 6: AudienceA Human-Centered Process
Gunner's Information File Project
Process Box 3. Case Study 3:
Gunner's Information File Project (1944)
Chapter 7: Approach A Cooperative Way of Working
The Cell Exhibition
Process Box 4. Case Study 4:
The Cell Exhibition (1958)
Chapter 8: OutcomeIntegration of Content
Fortune and
SCOPE Magazines
Process Box 5. Case Study 5:
SCOPE Magazine (1941-1957)
Chapter 9: Practice Conveying the Value of Information Design
Information Design Practice Today
Visual Journeys of Will Burtin's Scientific Approach
Visual Aspects of Science Exhibition (1962)
The Communication of Knowledge Exhibition (1971)
Chapter 10: Education Enhancing Comprehension and Communication
Rethinking Information Design Education Through a Scientific Lens
Skills and Knowledge for Information Designers
Educating through Information Design
Chapter 11: Recommendations and Information Design ImperativesBeing an Information Designer
Bringing the Past into the Present of Information Design
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
List of Images, Diagrams, and Tables
Credits
Index
Colophon
About the author
R. Roger Remington is the Vignelli Distinguished Professor
of Design Emeritus and the former director of the Vignelli
Center for Design Studies at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in Rochester, New York. He was on the faculty at RIT for fifty-seven years. As a scholar, his critical interests are in graphic design history, research, and writing. His commitment to design history and preservation led him to bring the archives of designers of the American Modernist generation to RIT. In 2010, he was instrumental in the establishment of the Vignelli Center, which houses the career archive of designers Massimo and Lella Vignelli and other designers. He has written five books on designers and design history.
