Looking for Facts

Jan 21

Maybe some of you remember five years ago when the call to action for designers was the avalanche of information to come. The future would see information exponentially increasing. We would all be buried under masses of data and no way to interpret it. Designers could solve this and organize chaos into order.

Sean Adams, Graphic Design History

Sean Adams, Mohawk Paper

The doomsday predictions were partially correct. We are buried under a mountain of information that relentlessly enters our lives. Between mobile devices and social media, we can find information on any subject, although it may not be correct. Rather than creating a culture of schizophrenia and shell shocked consumers of information, we all seem to deal with the avalanche with the answer, "so what? Yeah, I ignore most everything."

I have several books on diagrams and information design. My favorite was published in the early 1970s. The diagrams are so carefully planned and meant to be understood. The goal was to take information and make it easy to understand and digest. Today, I often see the goal to take easy to understand information and design a solution to make it seem more complex. Although I could just be getting dumber.

Atelier-Geissbühler

Richard Hess, Hiroshi Morishima

David Lock

Gazette Creative Services

Lock Peterson, Ltd.

Massimo Vignelli

Yuzo-Yamashita

Jac Mercier

Albert Longoni

Information DesignDiagramsMassimo VignelliAtelier GeissbuhlerDavid LockGraphic Design HistoryJac MercierTsunehisa KimuraYuzo YamashitaRichard HessHiroshi MorishimaAlberto Longoni

Sean Adams

Sean Adams is the Dean of Visual Art and Communication at ArtCenter, founder of Burning Settlers Cabin studio, and on-screen author for LinkedIn Learning/Lynda.com He is the only two term AIGA national president in AIGA’s 100 year history. In 2014, Adams was awarded the AIGA Medal, the highest honor in the profession. He is an AIGA Fellow, and Aspen Design Fellow. He has been recognized by every major competition and publication including; How, Print, Step, Communication Arts, Graphis, AIGA, The Type Directors Club, The British Art Director’s Club, and the Art Director’s Club. Adams has been exhibited often, including a solo exhibition at The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Adams is an author of multiple magazine columns, and several best-selling books. He has been cited as one of the forty most important people shaping design internationally, and one of the top ten influential designers in the United States. Previously, Adams was a founding partner at AdamsMorioka, whose clients included The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Disney, Mohawk Fine Papers, The Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, Richard Meier & Partners, Sundance, and the University of Southern California.