Information Design

A blank canvas is full of possibility. If you have an idea for a user experience, how do you turn it into a beautiful and effective user interface? This covers covers principles of visual design so that you can effectively organize and present information with your interfaces. You'll learn concrete strategies to create user interfaces, including key lessons in typography, information architecture, layout, color, and more. You’ll learn particular issues that arise in new device contexts, such as mobile and responsive interfaces. You will learn how to apply these design principles in a modern context of increasingly diverse form factors - from tablets, to walls, to watches.

• Wireframes & Mock-ups
• So you’re ready to lay out an interface. Don’t jump into code just yet. Rapid prototypes help you figure out the look and feel of an interface quickly, before you start implementation. In this week, I’ll introduce both principles and software tools for effective pixel prototyping. These rapid prototypes for communication within a design team and for getting buy-in from stakeholders. If you walk into any design studio, you’ll likely see these fast prototypes adorning the walls. Now you can add your own to the mix.
• Flexible Layout
• There’s more than seven billion people on the planet, and just about that many computing devices. Given that scale and diversity, interface design can’t be one-size-fits-all. In this module, we’ll dive into the rationale and strategies for making designing interfaces more flexibly. We’ll talk about internationalization--i18n for you wonks and 1337 h4x0rs--and the interplay between script direction and interface layout. And we’ll discuss responsive design: having a ‘family’ interface strategy that grows, shrinks, and changes to accommodate a range of device form factors.
• New devices, big data
• In this lecture, you will learn how to design smart things. Visualization expert Ben Fry will discuss what it means to design with usability in mind.