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Principles of Information Design

This column focuses on the principles of information design, the art and science of understanding how humans process and comprehend information, and using that knowledge to develop more effective ways to communicate.

Developing the Required Talent, Part 2: Training Your Audience

In my previous column in January, I described recent research on how to master any set of skills, such as the communication skills an information designer needs. In this column, I'll reframe that discussion to reveal how you can help your audience achieve comparable mastery in whatever skills you're teaching them to use. Let's start with a recap of the key points from that previous article. To excel at any skill requires deliberate practice, which has several key characteristics that distinguish it from mindless repetition. Deliberate practice must be designed to:

Developing the Required Talent, Part 1: Personal Training

This column focuses on the principles of information design, the art and science of understanding how humans process and comprehend information, and using that knowledge to develop more effective ways to communicate. Please send comments and suggestions to ghart@videotron.ca.

Subjecting Theory to a Reality Check

Research-backed theory provides design guidance that can keep us from traveling too far down blind alleys. It also points us toward proven solutions so we don't have to constantly reinvent the wheel. This is why I've introduced judicious doses of theory since I began this column: to demonstrate that it's relevant and not as scary as you might think.

Why Simple Is Better

This column focuses on the principles of information design, the art and science of understanding how humans process and comprehend information, and using that knowledge to develop more effective ways to communicate.