“Not all text is poetry, and not all graphics are art.” (Meyer, 1997)
Currently, every human being is bombarded daily with information through various channels, often consuming it without realizing. Despite being taken for granted, all this information is carefully designed for the public and aims to fulfill the functions assigned to them, conveying a message and meaning to the reader. Everything involving the visual transmission of information is carried out by graphic designers, who use methods studied in information design. Learn more at: https://infoportugal.pt/2019/11/22/visualizacao-da-informacao/
Visual communication has existed for many years, and traces of its foundations can be found since prehistory, where early drawings and pictograms gave rise to the first alphabets and visual graphics. Before phonetic writing, ideas and concepts were represented through drawings that over time evolved into pictograms, leading to pictographic and cuneiform writing. These symbols were later associated with sounds, eventually giving rise to letters. Precursors of information graphics can also be found in Ancient Egypt, where Sumerian words and images were combined to create hieroglyphs.
For centuries, visual graphics played a crucial role in visual communication, often intersecting with writing. However, with the evolution of communication systems, the advancement of printing, the introduction of personal computers, among others, all visual communication that exceeded writing became the realm of artists, making these graphic elements less significant in the eyes of the general public. Nevertheless, these artists and later graphic designers showed how the use of graphics could be more efficient than writing.
The term “graphic design” only emerged in the 20th century, distinguished from art by its functional aspect in addition to aesthetics. A product resulting from graphic design must cater to the client, consider audience requirements, and adapt to production methods while presenting the author’s aesthetic preferences.
Graphic Design – The mother of information design
Graphic design, at a superficial level, can be described as the visual arrangement of different elements – images and words. However, more than mere graphic representations, graphic design is a language and exists to express ideas. It can create strategies, convey sensations, influence decisions, and guide people. It has a moral duty and can be used for social causes and to raise social responsibility, reflecting the values, beliefs, and needs of the era it is in. It’s essential for a designer to stay constantly updated, adapting a brand or product to new cultures and trends.
One branch of graphic design is information design, which specifically studies the information that needs to be conveyed and seeks to present it in a way that facilitates understanding and readability, regardless of its format. This organization of information is done hierarchically, and the content, to fulfill its function, must be appealing to the reader. Information design can have various objectives, such as warning, teaching, explaining, entertaining, or guiding the reader. Designers can make use of typography, color palettes, images, positioning, scales, sound, light, textures, materials, and more.
Without information design, various aspects of everyday life would become complicated. A simple bus route would be challenging to navigate; for the passenger, knowing which bus to take, where to catch it, and understanding its schedule would be a laborious task, just as it would be difficult for the bus driver to navigate without road signage. Information design has the capacity to communicate complex information in a simple, quick, and easily understandable way.
Thanks to information design, there are various systems that provide guidelines for daily life in diverse environments, products, and situations, such as warning symbols and color codes. When executed correctly, these systems can convey information, instructions, and data to different people of various nationalities and cultures.
