Visual Thinking for Information Design

by Colin Ware

Visual Thinking for Information Design, Second Edition brings the science of perception to the art of design. The book takes what we now know about perception, cognition and attention and transforms it into concrete advice that students and designers can directly apply. It demonstrates how designs can be considered as tools for cognition and extensions of the viewer’s brain in much the same way that a hammer is an extension of the user’s hand. The book includes hundreds of examples, many in the form of integrated text and full-color diagrams.

Renamed from the first edition, Visual Thinking for Design, to more accurately reflect its focus on infographics, this timely revision has been updated throughout and includes more content on pattern perception, the addition of new material illustrating color assimilation, and a new chapter devoted to communicating ideas through images.

Presents visual thinking as a complex process that can be supported in every stage using specific design techniques Provides practical, task-oriented information for designers and software developers charged with design responsibilities Includes hundreds of examples, many in the form of integrated text and full-color diagrams Steeped in the principles of “active vision,” which views graphic designs as cognitive tools Features a new chapter titled Communicating Ideas with Images that focuses on a new emerging theory of human cognition and how that theory, which deals with the construction and refinement of predictive mental models in the mind, provides a solid foundation for reasoning about what should go into a presentation

Genres: Design

219 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 26, 2021

Reviews

[Julian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for the Data Viz Book Club.

The book is an interesting dive into the whys of some of the design principles and best practices. The book is a bit medical in some sections, explaining how does vision work and which areas of the brain are in charge of the different processes. That can be quite dense but is a necessary framework to have.

My favorite insight of the book is the idea that vision is an active process not passive. How different queries make seeing a different process depending on what you are searching and how all of that is mediated by your preconceived ideas of the world.

The book is full with interesting ideas and is not long, only 200 pages long.

Definitely recommend!

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a gradient of usefulness. The first half of this book is fascinating neurobiology where implications are much easier to apprehend and apply. The second half increasingly veers toward abstractions that could have been more clearly expressed.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very technical book about how the human mind processes vision and alludes to strategies that can make the most of the interactions when visualizing information.