Nigel Holmes: Perfiles de la Comunicación Gráfica

by Steven Heller, Miguel Urabayen (Preface)

Steven Heller, destacado profesional en el campo gráfico, completa en "Nigel Perfiles de la Comunicación Gráfica" las muchas entrevistas que se han hecho a Holmes en los últimos años. Han aparecido principalmente en revistas especializadas y todas las que conozco revelan la riqueza de ideas del entrevistado y su facilidad para expresarlas no solo con gráficos sino también con palabras. ""Nigel Perfiles de la Comunicación Gráfica" muestra sus ideas sobre un tema que hasta hace poco tiempo parecía secundario dentro de los medios de comunicación y que él ha contribuido a situar en el plano elevado en el que se discuten conceptos sobre cómo explicar cosas y procesos de la forma más eficaz y sencilla posible. Y hacer comprender algo a otras personas es la base de la Educación. Nigel Holmes continua así el trabajo que inició Comenius, autor de la primera enciclopedia ilustrada escolar en el siglo XVII, y prosiguió Otto Neurath en el XX.

Genres: Design

172 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Steven Heller writes a monthly column on graphic design books for The New York Times Book Review and is co-chair of MFA Design at the School of Visual Arts. He has written more than 100 books on graphic design, illustration and political art, including Paul Rand, Merz to Emigre and Beyond: Avant Garde Magazine Design of the Twentieth Century, Design Literacy: Understanding Graphic Design Second Edition, Handwritten: Expressive Lettering in the Digital Age, Graphic Design History, Citizen Designer, Seymour Chwast: The Left Handed Designer, The Push Pin Graphic: Twenty Five Years of Design and Illustration, Stylepedia: A Guide to Graphic Design Mannerisms, Quirks, and Conceits, The Anatomy of Design: Uncovering the Influences and Inspirations in Modern Graphic Design. He edits VOICE: The AIGA Online Journal of Graphic Design, and writes for Baseline, Design Observer, Eye, Grafik, I.D., Metropolis, Print, and Step. Steven is the recipient of the Art Directors Club Special Educators Award, the AIGA Medal for Lifetime Achievement, and the School of Visual Arts' Masters Series Award.

Reviews

[Matthew]

I mostly know Holmes as ‘that guy that Tufte uses for examples of bad data viz’, so I was apprehensive – but this is an approachable and engaging read from a practitioner with a vast amount of experience. The emphasis on the importance of words, writing, and visualisations as a form of writing was especially interesting. A lot of Holmes’ output isn’t ‘my sort’ of data viz, but he makes a good case for the social context of use. This is an excellent book, thoroughly recommended for all design students.

One caveat: despite the clear title, this is not a book on information design. It’s a book about data viz, info graphics, and diagrams (IA is briefly mentioned).

[Mauricio Villamayor]

Interesting book sharing Holmes' experiences solving data visualisation problems as well as infographica. One of the bad things is that constantly is refering to Holmes previous projects without showing it, so the reader has to be comstantly looking online to find the references. I would say that's a big minus for a book about information design.