Makepeace Graphic Design 101, Clayton Makepeace

Recently, I’ve been writing about the new profession of Information Designer. (And, you are one of them, if your speak, present or in any way offer information to any kind of an audience.)

Makepeace Graphic Design 101, Clayton Makepeace

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In this profession, you deal with words and images! And you add much focused effort to insure that those words and images have the greatest positive effect on your audiences.

And, in this profession, formatting is a big deal. Well-formatted material can vastly improve the effectiveness of your message.

If formatting information is new to you, there is one best place to learn the most, the quickest. It’s Clayton Makepeaces’ blog post entitled Direct Marketing Graphic Design 101 .

Print it out and three-hole punch it and put it in your Secret Hot Ideas Notebook.

(You do have one, don’t you?)

To help you see the very practical things you’ll learn, I have created a quotation slideshow. Enjoy it and learn from it, , , and watch it often. And tell people about it.

Wayne

P.S. Though Clayton is a “back-east-er” to me, I have set his quotations over morguefile.com images of (southwestern) cactus. I did so for a particular reason. To allow you to learn a couple of things about me.

As you watch and re-watch this slideshow, pay close attention to the landscape in the first three slides.

This environment has made a unique contribution to my life and who I am as a person, , , and I’ll post the story in a few days.

Information Design, Wayne Kronz, Part Three

This is part three in a series of articles about the basics of a new category of professions, The Information Designer.

Here are my guidelines on how to achieve efficiency and effectiveness with the information you produce, i.e., newsletter, ebook, home study course and your speeches and electronic presentation material, etc.

It may help you to re-watch the musical model posted on May 10.

Easy Words. It is imperative that your audience knows the world you are using. The more understandable, the better.

Easy to Read. It’s even more important that your audience can actually read the words you use with as little effort as possible.

Contrast. It’s a seldom talked about part of readability. The right words, with the wrong blending of background to text will kill the effectiveness of your information design efforts.

Clarity. This refers to the graphic and editorial consistency of your info design. Lot’s of thinks can be done to increase the clarity of your message.

Image Effect. The use of symbols, drawings and photo images can vastly increase the effectiveness of your information design. Do not hurry this part of the process. Always use images that have preconditioned meaning to your audience.

Few Elements. Cognitive Load scientists, insist that it’s easy to overload the minds of your viewers. Fewer items on your list, less pages in your brochure and fewer slides in your electronic presentation will usually help the users of your information.

Logical Order. The order of your instruction, direction or speech must make logical sense. Only then will the design of your information bring you the positive results I have described in this article and model.

If you attend to the above details of your information design, you'll begin to get the result you want.

More about Information Design later.

Wayne

Information Design, Wayne Kronz, Part Two

I have decided to make three parts out of this Information Design post. This, then is Part Two.

Here, I present eight views of a pleasant user experience.

Give Directions. Whether it’s the signage at an amusement park or a corporate policy manual, users must “know where to go next.”

Eliminate Lost. This is when information does not perform it is suppose to. In the amusement park and the corporate policy manual. And in your seminar and your blog. Good info design eliminates “lostness.”

Life or Death. One purpose of information our safety. I learned this back in the mid 50’s when I was creating training aids for the US Army at Fort Leonard Wood and Fort Benning.

We were sending young soldiers into battle, so the format of the information had life or death implications.

Consider also, a scuba diving manual, the instructions (plus the seat pocket card) of a flight attendant or signage at the rim of the Grand Canyon (where you can easily fall 400 feet).

Solve Problems. It’s a huge issue in business and in life. One person has done more to address communications as a problem solving tool than anyone I know. That is Dan Roam in his book,The Back of the Napkin (Expanded Edition): Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures. Get it and live by it!

Speed and Man Hours and Money. Time is money, so they say. And having the right information at the right time can make any company money. Need I say more?

Work and Results. The key element of information design is, , ,does it work? It’s all about results. Simply put, if it doesn’t work it’s not good design.

Save Money!

Best Experience. To many in business the key to success is that your customers have the best experience with your product or service as possible. It may be reading your book, watching your Powerpoint show, or simply enjoying your blog and ezine. User experience is the bottom line.

OK, how do you do it? That will come in Part Three.

Wayne

Information Design, Wayne Kronz, Part One

Information Design, Wayne Kronz

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It’s a new world out there, like it or not. Many say there is a new profession budding: The Information Designer.

I have broken this post into two parts. But the whole musical model is included with this post.

This new field is defined as people who prepare information so it can be used by its users with maximum efficiency and effectiveness.

To help you understand this huge arena, I have prepared a three part musical model. Follow alone with me, , , this is material every presenter should be aware of.

1. Right Info. (It seems to me. this is a given.) First it should be needed information. All to many publications include a lot of extra information, data and/or fluff.

This is where writing and editing play such a huge part. And there is a lot more to this idea.

2. Right Form. This is where the Graphic Designer comes in. And all to often, they muddy the water rather than make communication really clear.

(*But how are we going to put it in the “right form?” More on that latter.)

3. Right People. You don’t prepare information the same way for children as you do for seniors. Or lawyers and single mothers. This is where knowing your audience is so critical.

4. Right Place. It matters not that information is polished to perfection, if it is not accessible to the people who need it, when they need it, , , and this is all a part of the total information design process.

5. Easy, Natural and Pleasant. All of the information being prepared must be done in a way that the user finds their whole experience easy, natural and pleasant.

I’ll go a step further and say that traveling, studying, learning and entertainment should be fun. And that, because of the information's design.

6. Efficiency. This has to do with how little effort the user has to apply to get the benefit of the information. The fewest number of words that have to be read, the fewest number of signs or the streamline-ness of a software platform.

7. Effectiveness. Effectiveness is the watch-word of good information design. It’s all about the users experience in processing the information and accomplishing their end goals.

In part two of this article, I will presented eight views of such a pleasant user experience. Plus how to accomplish success as an Information Designer.

Wayne