Data Design

Data Design: Visualising quantities, locations, connections is a lively and comprehensive introduction to data visualisation, illustrated with 199 instructive data displays. The book is for designers, journalists, editors, writers and anyone concerned with presenting factual information in a clear and effective way.

Data Design highlights the key qualities of good data visualisation: accuracy, simplicity, and clarity. In this spirit, Per Mollerup discusses information design with great clarity. The proposed data displays are as simple as possible, and every graphic element is there to convey meaning. This book is not about data decoration.

Data Design can be read from cover to cover, but it doesn’t have to be. It can also serve as a reference guide. Each of the data displays included is explained in such a way as to clarify the problems to be addressed and the method by which to address them, enabling the reader to develop the skills with which to improve their data visualisation designs.

Author Biography

Per Mollerup is Professor of Communication Design at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. He previously edited and published Mobilia Design Magazine and Tools Design Journal in Copenhagen, Denmark. From 1984–2009 he was the owner and principal of Designlab in Copenhagen, an award-winning design consultancy specialising in wayshowing and branding. He is the author of several books on design, including Marks of Excellence: The History and Taxonomy of Trademarks (1997, 2013); Collapsibles: A Design Album of Space-Saving Objects (2002); Brandbook: Branding, Feelings, Reason (2008) (in Danish); PowerNotes: Slide Presentations Reconsidered (2011) and Wayshowing>Wayfinding: Basic & Interactive (2013).