Module manager: Rui Vieira Leitao
Email: r.leitao@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun) View Timetable
Year running 2025/26
This module is not approved as a discovery module
This module examines how graphic design and images are used to communicate specific types of information: from scientific diagrams and maps to instruction manuals and pictograms. It will equip students with detailed knowledge about how graphics are used to communicate and the essential and subtle differences between using text-based and pictorial information in a variety of environments. The module will provide students with historical, theoretical and practical perspectives regarding information design. It provides opportunities to test out and apply theories and principles while designing their own set of information graphics. It will also introduce students to key methodologies used in the design industry and academia for evaluating information design.
On completion of this module, students will be able to:
- understand and demonstrate knowledge of theories and principles of information design;
- select appropriate evaluation methods for analysing information design;
- critically evaluate an artefact that uses graphics to inform or instruct;
- plan, design and produce a set of information graphics in response to a communication problem.
Students will learn information design principles developed over several centuries. Students will study a wide range of work including John Snow's Cholera map of 1854, Henry Beck's London Underground Map, Otto Neurath's Isotype system, and the work of Margaret Calvert and Jock Kinneir and their UK road signage systems. Historical examples will be shown alongside contemporary solutions to communication problems and audience and ethical issues will be discussed. The role that new technologies play in the development of information graphics will also be examined.
Indicative Lecture content: Map Design Pictograms Design for Health Instructional Design Data and information design Evaluation Methods. (Note that the lecture series of this module may change in response to emerging disciplinary challenges, trends, or research, and in response to the expertise of guest speakers.)
Semester 1 will primarily consist of lectures, with the majority of the tutorial taking places in Semester 2.
Indicative Lecture Programme:
Map Design: A brief history of the 'flat land' and its future.
Pictograms: Is a picture worth a thousand words?
Open Here: What instructional graphics get right and wrong.
Wayfinding: Getting from A to B without words?
Case Study 1: The Role of Graphics in Health Communication.
Case Study 2: The Role of Information Graphics in Business Motivation.
Information Visualisation: Visualising large quantities of data for decision making.
Evaluation Methods 1: Establishing what you are trying to measure.
Evaluation Methods 2: Establishing how you can measure it.
Animation and Interactivity: New challenges for information graphics.
Lectures will take place in Semester 1 with tutorials taking places in Semester 2.
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lecture | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| Tutorial | 11 | 1 | 10 |
| Private study hours | 180 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 20 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200 | ||
Directed reading: 20 hours
Independent research: 70 hours
Project production and evaluation: 90 hours
Semester 1 is primarily lecture based, but will include a tutorial session where students can receive formative feedback on their progress towards the project proposal. In semester 2, students will receive regular feedback in tutorial sessions most weeks of the semester to support the development of their practical project.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Report | 2,000 word plan and literature review | 40 |
| Portfolio | Design project with deliverables accompanied by development and evaluation | 60 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
The assessment will consist of two parts. The plan and literature review will demonstrate ability to apply theory to practise and to present a coherent plan for production of a practical project within the context of existing research on both information design and a topic to be the subject of the design. The design project will consist of designing a substantial set of information graphics to a specified brief with consideration of how this design output could be tested and evaluated.
The reading list is available from the Library website
Last updated: 30/04/2025
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team