Nigel Holmes On Information Design (Working Biographies) [Paperback]

Steven Heller (Author)

Book Description

Series: Working Biographies | Publication Date: February 15, 2006

Born 1942 in England M.A. degree in illustration from the Royal College of Art, London, 1966. He worked for Time Magazine from 1978 to 1994 in New York City as Executive Art Director: charts, covers, administration and Graphics Director his work has appeared in important magazines and publications such as American Health; American Lawyer; Amicus Journal; Attaché (USAir magazine); Details; Discover; Business 2.0 (formerly eCompanyNow) (visual columnist); Encyclopaedia Britannica; Esquire; Fortune; GQ; George Magazin; Harper's; House & Garden; How; IBM Think Magazine; Industry Standard; Information Week; Mens Health; Modern Maturity; Money; The New Yorker; New York Times; Print; Reader's Digest; Self (Contributing Editor); Sports Illustrated; Sports Illustrated for Women; Time; Time for Kids; Encyclopaedia of 20th Century; World Business. His projects include work for AARP; Apple; Associated Press; Banker's Trust; Bristol Myers Squibb; CNN.com; Escape Sailboats; Estée Lauder; Fortune Conference Division (animated films); GE Capital; Gillette; GM; IBM; Nike; The Planet Project; Random House; Sony; Time Education Program; United Healthcare; Visa. He has received various Awards such as Gold awards from the Society of Newspaper Designers, AIGA; Art Directors Club of New York; Creativity; D&AD, Silver Medal (London); DESI; Malofiej Information Graphics Awards (Silver Medal); Print Magazine; National Magazine Awards; Society of Illustrators; Society of Publication Designers He is the Author of: Designer's Guide to Creating Charts and Diagrams 1984 (Watson-Guptill, NY). Paperback, 1990 Designing Pictorial Symbols 1985 (Watson-Guptill, NY). Paperback edition, 1991 Pictorial Maps 1991 (Watson-Guptill, NY) The Best in Diagrammatic Graphics, 1994 (Quarto/Batsford, London, UK) and Wordless Diagrams, Bloomsbury Press 2005. From 1980 he annually teaches at The Stanford Professional Publishing Course, Stanford University, California and from 1983 at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, St Petersburg, Florida. He also lecture extensively in the US and abroad.

Product Details

• Paperback: 140 pages
• Publisher: Jorge Pinto Books Inc. (February 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 097747240X
• ISBN-13: 978-0977472406
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,533,518 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good start point., March 17, 2007

By 

Juan F. Burgos-chaves "jfb" (Brighton, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nigel Holmes On Information Design (Working Biographies) (Paperback)

The book gives a good glimps of info design, good for those who are starting from zero and want to know what info design is, the book does not represent the complexity of the field or its broad application possibilities.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intrioduction by the Author (posted by the publisher), March 1, 2006

By 

Jorge Pinto (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nigel Holmes On Information Design (Working Biographies) (Paperback)

Explaining Explanation Graphics
By Steven Heller


Nigel Holmes did not invent pictographs, but by using them the way they were originally intended he has created a vigorous graphic language that is now part of the public's visual vernacular. The pictographic system was developed in the 1920s to provide accessible information to the masses while helping to increase visual literacy throughout the world. Inspired by this "Modern" (utopian) mission and influenced by its masters, in the mid-1970s Holmes introduced an array of inventive new pictograms and ways to use them as key graphic elements in what he dubbed "explanation graphics." This ultimately triggered what became a burgeoning practice of "information design" in magazines, newspapers, and other media. Since then, the almost limitless deluge of data in print, on TV and the web has heightened the flow of raw data and the designer's job to turn it into comprehensible information, often with wit and humor. Holmes has been one of its leading innovators.

A graduate in 1966 from The Royal College of Art, in London, Holmes ran his own successful graphic design studio in England. In 1977 art director Walter Bernard hired him to work in the map and chart department at Time Magazine, where he ultimately became Graphics Director, a new title for a new kind of assignment. His colorful and witty pictorial explanations of complex themes - everything from arms build-up to economic decline - established a visual persona for Time that combined functionality with graphic charm. His methods earned him many imitators and some academic critics who argued that his over-simplified complexity produced less understanding than more. Holmes' method is not always apt for communicating all manner of information but neither is this approach dumbing down information either. Holmes believes the power of pictures and humor to help readers comprehend abstract numbers and difficult scientific concepts - as well as sort through layers of mumbo jumbo - has helped lessen the information glut.

After sixteen years at Time Magazine, Holmes started his own explanation design company, which serves variety of clients, including Apple, Fortune, Nike, The Smithsonian Institution, Sony, United Healthcare, US Airways and Visa, and he continues to do graphics for publications such as Discover, Harper's, On Earth (NRDC), The New Yorker and The New York Times. He has written four books on aspects of information design, and also a series of really small books, The Smallest Ever Guides for Busy People, which explain difficult concepts in layman's terms. The first was about the Internet and is now in its 7th US edition. This was followed by The Smallest Ever Guide to Life Sciences (together with Juan Enriquez of Harvard University), and The Smallest Ever Guide to The Hydrogen Economy, for General Motors. His latest foray into information mastery Wordless Diagrams, was published by Bloomsbury in 2005. Also with his son, Rowland, Holmes produces short animated films that bring his graphics to new audiences. The pair's latest collaboration was a film about a new system of electronic health communication for the Markle Foundation.

The following discussion with Holmes is essentially an autobiography of explanation design, as well as a window on his motivations and methodologies. Rather than a continuous narrative we decided that a conversational format was consistent with the tenor of Holmes' work, which although carefully researched and meticulously rendered, is purposely designed to start a discussion with his audience. Information, says Holmes, should not be considered as exclusionary but like air, it is breathed in often without our even being aware. Holmes' graphics are meant to be absorbed without the hint of artifice blocking the access. The following discussion is likewise intended to demystify the process while analyzing the means.

Nigel Holmes: Information Designer
By Steven Heller