Information design, or how to find visual solutions to a problem

Information design allows us to invent new ways of visualising information, which we need today because we are so overloaded with information.

Finding visual solutions to problems

At Touch of Content, every day our approach to information design leads us to look for visual solutions to our clients’ problems in order to convey complex information as simply as possible, but always in an elegant way.

To achieve this, we like to grasp and understand the content we are working on, whether it’s a law transposing a new EU directive or the workings of a gas turbine, we need to immerse ourselves in the subject matter to be able to ‘think it through’ visually.

Visual Thinkers?

We are “visual thinkers” in that we start by deconstructing a problem in the form of sketches. We need to attribute form to our ideas in order to conceptualise possible solutions. Drawing and sketching is therefore the basic activity, it allows us to arrange the facts, to structure the organisation of the data to arrive at the most appropriate visual solution.

The importance of sketching out a solution for an information design project

The sketching stage is therefore fundamental to the success of an information design project. It allows you to define the subject and to assess all the possibilities. It also facilitates communication with other stakeholders. People are less intimidated by the idea of proposing changes if they can see that they are not looking at a half-finished ‘work of art’.

Also in terms of efficiency, and to achieve the best product in the time available, it is advisable to avoid imposing a particular computer graphic design on yourself from the outset, wait to create the final result until the final version of the project content has been validated. A sketched concept, even if it is approximate, avoids wasting energy, time and therefore money on processing of a project.

Furthermore, communication with the client is easier using a pencil sketch, and most clients appreciate the “handmade” aspect, a personal and unique proposal to his/her problem. The computer is then used only at a later stage, to compare the ideas retained for the final content.

So we can see that when looking for visual solutions to a problem, nothing beats the good old pencil :-).

Here is an example before/after of the stages from pencil sketch to computer graphics made for the launch of the Serenity&Healthcare @work offer

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