Information design | EPFL Graph Search

Information design is the practice of presenting information in a way that fosters an efficient and effective understanding of the information. The term has come to be used for a specific area of graphic design related to displaying information effectively, rather than just attractively or for artistic expression. Information design is closely related to the field of data visualization and is often taught as part of graphic design courses. The broad applications of information design along with its close connections to other fields of design and communication practices have created some overlap in the definitions of communication design, data visualization, and information architecture. According to Per Mollerup, information design is explanation design. It explains facts of the universe and leads to knowledge and informed action. History The term 'information design' emerged as a multidisciplinary area of study in the 1970s. Use of the term is said to have started with gr

Information Structure Design in Team Decision Problems

We consider a problem of information structure design in team decision problems and team games. We propose simple, scalable greedy algorithms for adding a set of extra information links to optimize team performance and resilience to non-cooperative and adversarial agents. We show via a simple counterexample that the set function mapping additional information links to team performance is in general not supermodular. Although this implies that the greedy algorithm is not accompanied by worst-case performance guarantees, we illustrate through numerical experiments that it can produce effective and often optimal or near optimal information structure modifications.

2017

Assessing student learning of design and project management skills in a project-based course

Cécile Hardebolle, Cyril Picard, Jürg Alexander Schiffmann

The design process followed by mechanical engineers is undergoing significant changes with the development of rapid prototyping techniques [1] and of artificial intelligence (A.I.) supported tools [2]. The job market is highly affected by these changes. However, Deininger et al. [3] show that novice designers do only rarely take advantage of the new tools and if they do, their use is unintentional. There is a clear need for mechanical engineers to be trained to use A.I.-based tools. Created in 2016-2017, the ME-403 course in “Applied mechanical design” seeks to help students develop both design and project management skills though a highly applied project-based format. In 2018-2019, the course has been modified to include the use of A.I.-based tools: students first experience the traditional design process and then the A.I.-based process with the same set of requirements. This contribution presents the results of a study based on the data collected during normal teaching and learning activities of this course. Indeed, students submit several group reports, which include design process information, design data (chosen components and dimensions) as well as project management related information. In addition, students answer a “Project Management Skills” questionnaire at the beginning and at the end of the course to get feedback on their skills in five project-management domains (planning, risk-assessment, ethical sensitivity, communication and interprofessional competence). Because the course is currently running, we cannot summarize the findings yet, but we intend to report on: • The evolution of students’ project-management skills, using the pre-post responses to the questionnaire and project-management information extracted from students reports; • The evolution of students’ design process and performance between the traditional and A.I.-based parts of the project, using design information extracted from students reports. Finally, we will describe how these results will inform the teaching of the course for the next occurrence.

2019

The Homer's list or How classifications can be displayed on tablets

Dario Rodighiero

In the Iliad, Homer wrote a list of the scenes presented on Achilles’ shield. A list so long that many artists have attempted to create the shield, triggering a creative process to find a solution. In the same way librarians have been struggling for years to present knowledge classifications. A structure that has transmigrated from paper book to tablet computer following technological developments. The paper describes the results of an innovative research to display and interact with classifications using tablet computers. Since these mobile devices force the designer to keep things simple, the classification will be displayed as a list, one of the simplest ways of presenting information. Later the list will be enriched with its semantic structure to propose an application able to manage the screen rotation and the classification manipulation.

2013

Assessing student learning of design and project management skills in a project-based course

Cécile Hardebolle, Cyril Picard, Jürg Alexander Schiffmann

2019