1. An information designer is a knowledge specialist, a social scientist, and a creative visualizer. Being an information designer is not about the artifacts of the trade (brochures, web pages, diagrams, signage, maps, manuals, catalogs), but about the process behind their production – namely, how one thinks about understanding and communicating knowledge.
2. A knowledge specialist considers both the facts and the relationships between the facts, where the facts come from and the context behind the facts, the stories we make with the facts and the essential ideas behind the facts.
3. The value of a designer does not rest in the product he creates. It rests in his ability to understand the needs of the client and create solutions to that problem. While the end result may be a brochure or web page, the goal is connecting with a certain audience in a certain way with a certain outcome in mind. The designer needs to spend as much time understanding this goal as he does creating the product.
4. The trend in communications is away from delivering the facts and toward co-constructing understanding. People expect to be able to ask questions of information, examine ideas, and give input on decisions. Therefore, changing the direction of a company cannot happen using a top-down approach. It must provide opportunities for interaction around the new ideas, if only to get people to engage in management’s thinking.
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