Dr. Karel van der Waarde, "Observing people and design", 1 May 2008, Izmir University of Economics.

Dr. Karel van der Waarde

"Observing people and design"

1 May 2008

Izmir University of Economics

Video :

Poster :

Dr. Karel van der Waarde, design research consultant and

Professor of Visual Rhetoric at Avans University, the

Netherlands, in his seminar titled "Observing people and

design" gave several examples of "well designed information"

that does not help people to do what they want. Several of

these examples come from the pharmaceutical industry.

Dr. Waarde showed in his lecture the importance of the

involvement of actual people in the development of visual

information. Examples of 'elderly ladies who need to take

their medicines' and 'fathers who need to wash clothes'

illustrate that the visual design of separate artefacts might

be well-considered. However, the sequence and combination

of these artefacts make it very difficult to take medicines

or wash clothes effectively, efficiently and in a pleasant way.

Visual design can be improved if people who look at visual

information are observed and interviewed by designers.

Information design makes complex information easier to

understand and to use. Information designers co-ordinate

a range of design, language, evaluation and technical skills

in the cause of understanding.

It is a rapidly growing discipline that draws on typography,

graphic design, photography, applied linguistics, applied

psychology, applied ergonomics, computing, and other fields.

It emerged as a response to people's need to understand and

use such things as forms, legal documents, signs, computer

interfaces, technical information and operating/assembly

instructions. Information designers responding to these needs

have achieved major economic and social improvements in

information use.

There is a trend towards the provision of publicly accessible

web-delivered information resources, providing information on

such matters as public services, health, education, legal

matters, etc. The quality of the information design will be

a key factor in the success of such resources.