Visualizing Complexity – Modular Information Design Handbook by Superdot Studio – visualizing complexity

Introducing a clear and concise framework for a developing discipline at the intersection between data science, data visualization, graphic design, coding, journalism, and communication, this book opens new perspectives for all readers.

Straightforward and user-friendly, «Visualizing Complexity, The Modular Information Design Handbook» demonstrates that dealing with complex or unstructured numbers and texts can lead to creative and playful designs.

Explaining complexity isn’t simple. And if you don't know where to start, the process can be totally daunting. So, we developed the easy-to-use Modular Information Design (MID) framework and laid it all out in this beautifully crafted book.

Nicole Lachenmeier and Darjan Hil from Superdot condense their extensive professional experience into a functional publication that introduces MID — an adaptive system for anyone wishing to communicate information through design.

Modular Information Design is a straightforward and user-friendly way of transforming complex or unstructured numbers and texts into creative and playful designs and therefore making data visualization more accessible.

Consisting of 80 elements, organized into four dimensions, Visualizing Complexity brings data and Swiss graphic design together in a creative, coherent form, complemented by practical application examples.

The book explains the journey, from text to data, through a storyline that covers all steps necessary to create multidimensional visualizations.

This simple set of rules can be used to encode not only all known diagram types but also an almost unlimited number of new visualizations. This system is to be understood as a visual algorithm.

Authors: Nicole Lachenmeier, Darjan Hil (Superdot.studio)
Publication date: May 2022
Languages: English/German
Publisher: Birkhäuser
Volume: 224 pages
Format: 158 × 228 mm
Printing: Printed with four Pantone spot colors