Information/ Instructional Design, is about creating a simple to use design of information to cater for the saturated complex information and data in modern life. It is making the consumption of information more efficient, effective and appealing to the user. This is done through research, prototyping, experimenting and testing. It is particularly important to consider the target audience and different personas and scenarios. User personas, user scenarios and artefact personas. Which are used to ensure appropriate designs suited to particular audiences and to meet specific needs.
Examples:
The following Instructional Design poster, The Anatomy of Frozen Desserts, offers a fun visually appealing break down of the ingredients in frozen confectionaries which is clear and easy to understand with the illustrations and clear break down and organisation of information.
Public Transport Maps are commonly used in everyday life to help travellers from one destination to another, ensuring each commuter can get to there destination in the most efficient direction. This is a prime example of instructional design as it uses colour and code to help users identify the correct bus/train they need to catch. The colour make the make easy to read and offers an efficient way of consuming information.
Information design is also commonly used to effectively display statistics. This image displays a number of different types of graphs with a continuous colour scheme that not only make it visually appealing but also assists in an effective and quicker way of consuming of information in an organised manner.
Sources:
InfoDesign | Hand-picked since 1997. (n.d.). Retrieved March 24, 2015, from http://www.informationdesign.org/
(n.d.). Retrieved March 24, 2015, from https://sheilapontis.wordpress.com/2013/12/28/38-steps-for-effective-information-design/
Information Design Examples. (2011, February 22). Retrieved March 24, 2015, from https://christina29.wordpress.com/2011/02/22/information-design-examples/