Visual Function: An Introduction to Information Design
by Paul Mijksenaar
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Book Summary Information
Author: Paul MijksenaarEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1997-12-01
ISBN: 156898118X
Number of pages: 56
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
Book Reviews of Visual Function: An Introduction to Information Design
Book Review: Thoughtful examples but missing narrative cohesion
Summary: 3 Stars
These excellent design examples lack just one thing: a book to contain them. This binding is not an introduction to information design but rather an unordered series of ID comparisons randomly proffered with no narrative thread and scant context, comment, or analysis. It reads like the answer key to a lab problem set.
The examples, and especially typography, are scaled down to fit an excruciatingly undersized page. Had the price of paper spiked when the publisher chose this layout? It's hard to imagine that a publisher of a book on ID would knowingly opt for such visual compression and density--a design template, it would seem, intended for crib notes or disclosure of drug side effects. Seriously. Not only is text size in the captions significantly smaller than the body (6-8 point), but it's also a shade of about 35% black, and, oddly, over-leaded. Very hard on middle-aged eyes.
Nonetheless, this slim volume wastes no time getting to thought-provoking successes and failures in graphical ID. Perhaps the best involve subway maps drawn for NYC. In explaining the failure of one particular map design, Mijksenaar notes, "When reality is radically schematized, the link with that same reality is quickly lost" (p. 6). This volume could supplement other, more comprehensive ID treatments; it should not be the only one you own.
Summary of Visual Function: An Introduction to Information Design
Visual Function: An Introduction to Information Design presents and discusses a variety of graphics used in transmitting information, analyzing signs, graphs, and charts through a method similar to that found in Edward Tufte's books (Envisioning Information and The Visual Display of Quantitative Information), which have had an enormous influence on today's graphic designers. With copious color and black-and-white illustrations, this book examines airplane safety cards, street maps, road signs, instruction booklets, corporate logos, subway guides, magazine advertisements, cookbooks, computer diagrams, and car manuals, all as a means of explaining how information can be conveyed without words.Art History Books
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