What Does an Information Designer Do?
Information designers operate in two basic roles.
- As a consultant, an information designer relies on principles of human factors, library science, graphic design, instructional design, structured information and clear, concise communication to lead a project toward the best possible solution.
- As a tactician, an information designer creates information solutions within their specialized discipline while cognizant of other useful disciplines for the project. They could be an instructional designer, graphic designer, technical communicator, information architect, user interface designer, etc.
Consultant
Some activities or traits of the information designer as consultant:
- Aware that information only has value when it is successfully communicated.
- Focused on the goals that the information is intended to support.
- Understanding how the information being created will be experienced or communicated. Who is the intended audience?
- Understanding the project context which is critical to providing strong information solutions.
- Making certain that the solution promotes understanding by being relevant, clear and memorable.
Tactician
Some activities or traits of the information designer as tactician:
- Perform a needs analysis to determine the breadth and nature of the communication issues
- Set business and performance objectives for communication solutions
- Develop user-centered designs that organize and present content in ways that are meaningful to the audience
- Select media and delivery methods that are accessible to audience and meet the production demands of the project
- Design effective user interactions with the components of the solution that consider the user's perspective, history and socio-economic factors
- Manage the development of the communication solution using project management practices to ensure the solution is developed according to plan, on time and within budget
- Evaluate the effectiveness of the communications