Richard Saul Wurman is one of most interesting men I have ever spoken to. Yep – I called him up and he answered the phone! We spoke for a good long time… or should I say – I listened. A self proclaimed informational Architect—a term he invented himself, Wurman is best know as the founder of the popular TED Talk franchise which he began as a conference in 1984 and sold by 2003. Mr. Wurman was filled with wonderful stories and good advice. He even agreed to Skype interview with my class, but I was unable to make the arrangements — perhaps we will be able to do it this year. I hope so!

“Learning is remembering
what you are interested in.”
—RSW

LATCH – Methods of Organization

Making sense of information through design

“The only thing we know is our own personal knowledge and lack of knowledge.. And since it’s the only thing we really know, the key to making things understandable is to understand what it’s like not to understand.” – —Richard Saul Wurman

L – Location; organizing information based on space or place, such as a subway map

A – Alphabetical; a good way of organizing information if there’s no other prevailing strong organizational structure

T – Time, as in timelines, directions, or other sequential information

C – Category, as in types of information (perhaps an infographic about students might sort data first by grade, then by gender, etc.).

H – Hierarchy, as in tallest to shortest, most expensive to least, youngest to oldest.

“Information may be infinite, however…The organization of information is finite as it can only be organized by LATCH: Location, Alphabet, Time, Category, or Hierarchy.”Richard Saul Wurman, 1996

Location

Compare information coming from various sources.

• Atlas
• Travel Guide
• Parts of the Body
• Parts of a System

Alphabet

Used for very large bodies of information. Not always the best organization method – forced organization rather than natural.

• dictionary
• list of states on a website
• list of student names in a class roster

Time

Used for events that occur over a fixed duration. Easy to understand, easy to draw comparisons and conclusions.

• a joke
• a scenario
• a narrative

Category

Well reinforced by color & placement. Grouped by similar importance – a value judgment.

• Organization of goods.
• Types of activities
• Breeds of animals

Hierarchy

• Assign value or weight to the information; usually on a scale
• largest => smallest
• $$$$ => $

“ Once you have a sense of organization, however casual, you can relax with that knowledge and begin to examine the information from various vantage points, which will enable you to understand the relationship between bodies of information”
– Richard Saul Wurman

Five ways of innovation – ANOSE –

Addition – Need – Opposites – Subtraction – Epiphany

( Start video at 3:50 time mark for ANOSE – description )

In this abstract map, Wurman shows:

• the stations (the bold white type inside the circle) on the outer rail lines of the Tokyo transportation system, largely ignoring the actual geography of the system while emphasizing the most important matter to a person riding the subway: viz., what the sequence of stations is
• a selection of principal buildings or tourist sights (in regular type outside the circle) near each station
• the stations on the crosstown subway line
• the junctions between the crosstown subway and the outer rail lines
• as an aid to orientation, the Imperial Palace Grounds.

Note the elegant incorporation into the whole map of the yin-yang design, important in oriental philosophy.

What are the Best Sizes for Infographic Design and Promotion? Infographic Summary:  

SIZE  credit
http://www.bloggingtips.com/2017/07/17/best-sizes-infographic-design-promotion/

• For a blog or a general website, you should create an infographic that is not more than 600 pixels, and the length should not exceed 1800 pixels.
• Visually allows you to post infographics of 1240 x 1750 pixels.
• Pinterest allows you to use a size of 600 x infinite pixels. On Pinterest, you can make it as long as you want to!
• Facebook allows you to post an infographic with a minimum size of 403 x 403 pixels, and a maximum of up to 2048 pixels by 2048 pixels.
• Google Plus allows you to offer an infographic at a size of 497 x 373 pixels, up to 2048 x 2048 pixels.
• In general, you should create infographics that you want to be viewable by tablet owners by 600-640 pixels.

People spend more time on their mobile gadgets these days than their desktop computers and this number is only expected to rise over time.

For the next few years, the growth of mobile phone users over the next few years is expected to greatly increase exponentially. So, your infographics must always be mobile-friendly.

Smartphones, in general, have a 4-inch or larger display area. So you should work to ensure that your infographic does not exceed 288 pixels in width.