Becoming a Graphic and Digital Designer: A Guide to Careers in Design, 5th Edition

Chapter 11Understanding Change

Today, initiating new interactions is often more productive than generating new products, new forms, or new styles. Graphic designers who collaborate with people in other disciplines—architects, choreographers, linguists, mathematicians, chefs—are discovering that they can expand their practice beyond the confines of the conventional boundaries for their profession and still retain their distinctive competence. Truth be told, there are very few domains in which the input of graphic designers doesn't enhance the end result and elevate the conversation.

Richard Saul Wurman

The Architect of Understanding

Richard Saul Wurman, an American architect, is best known as the cofounder of the TED conferences, (Technology Entertainment Design), the 16-minute presentation format in which charismatic speakers pitch new ideas that will change the world. He also created the TEDMED conferences and the e.g. conferences. A new format, the WWW suite of gatherings, is now in development. Wurman is also credited for having coined the term “information architecture.” He demonstrated how to present data effectively with a series of travel guidebooks in which vast amounts of information were dissected into smaller maps, graphs, and text blocks. Along with more than 40 Access guidebooks, he authored Information Anxiety (1989), Understanding Healthcare (2004), and 33: Understanding Change & the Change in Understanding (2009). One piece of information he has trouble ...