Saturday, 4 December 2004 | Levent OZLER
You Are Here: The Design of Information
12 February to 15 May 2005
How can we communicate without words? At a time when we need to absorb
more and more visual information to navigate our increasingly complex lives,
the Design Museum is exploring the rich and compelling history of
information design in You Are Here from 12 February to 15 May 2005.
From the maps of pilgrim routes drawn by medieval monks and Florence
Nightingale’s pioneering use of diagrams to relay critical information during
the Crimean War, to weather maps, medical models and the explosion of
imagery on our computer, television and phone screens today, You Are Here
– The Design of Information will celebrate the innovative and inspiring
examples of visual information systems that help us to understand our world.
Beginning with the earliest examples of information design, You Are Here will
show how 18th and 19th century pioneers developed visual techniques for
explaining complex factual information, such as William Playfair’s invention
of the pie chart, the colour-coding devised by Charles Booth for his Poverty
Map of London and the Micronesian navigational maps that used wooden
sticks to indicate ocean swells and cowrie shells for islands.
With a provocative installation designed by Michael Marriott, the exhibition
will celebrate the innovations of modern movement heroes, such as Herbert
Bayer, Ladislav Sutnar and Richard Buckminster Fuller and those who
developed the information design systems that guide our lives today.
It will also explore the development of navigational systems from the cockpit
of a Formula 1 racing car to an aircraft instrument panel and air traffic
controller’s display, as well as presenting short histories of the design of
medical models, weather forecasting and of the advanced interactive digital
information systems with which we will navigate our lives in future.
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