Computer processing has revolutionised the social sciences, enabling the collection and processing of vast quantities of data. Amid the consequent information glut, effective presentation of data is more important than ever -- even good research can't do any work if the right people can't access its conclusions.
So each year, social science students from LSE partner up with graphic designers from the London College of Communication (LCC) to produce data presentations that are as visually striking as they are epistemically credible.
HISTORY
As the data mountain generated by the computer age accumulated through the 1970s and 80s, information design pioneers such as Edward Tufte and Richard Saul Wurman drew attention to the power of visual explanations for effective communication.
The logic is simple: to maximise the effect of research in the social sciences, our results need to be exposed to the maximum number of potential end-users and packaged and presented in such a way that the maximum number of those exposed to that data can access and comprehend as quickly as possible.
Information Graphics -- or "Infographics" -- which pairs the striking visual language of modern graphic design and advertising with the credible data produced by the social sciences, aims to do just this: to create presentations that encourage a closer look, using data that will rewards sustained attention.
Design and presentation is not a cosmetic concern: it maximises the chances that good research will do good work, and reduces the possibility that useful work will be swept away in the sheer volume of information.
The Visual Rhetoric project sees the social sciences taking steps towards recognising what commerce discovered a century ago: marketing matters.
http://www2.lse.ac.uk/methodologyInst...
http://www.lcc.arts.ac.uk/courses/MA_...
