Back to the Visual Basics

The visual workplace is based on the premise of communicating information in a clear, simple, and obvious manner. To do that, you obviously need good visibility. But would is good visibility? Is it bright colors, bold graphics, and large text.

Well, one good way to think about visibility is to go back to the basics. In her 2010 book, The Wall Street Journal Guide to Information Graphics, author Dona Wong begins her monograph with a valuable chapter on "The Basics." Now, it is important to note that Ms. Wong is primarily concerned with the proper presentation of business data, facts, and figures (hence the publisher), but many of her advices are extremely relevant to the visual workplace. In chapter one, she covers topics such as Numbers, Data Richness, Font Legibility, Typography, Color Basics, Color Charts, and Color for the Color Blind. She also covers the interesting notion of the Visual-Data Continuum, illustrating the best ways to combine rich data with high visual impact.

Chapter two contains great advices on how to best convey information using Pictograms/Icons and Maps/Shading. Check it out, a great book presented in a highly visual style!