Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
ten numerical), presented in large poster format. Alison finds this kind of work beau-
tiful, but also finds herself regularly unable to sustain any interest beyond the immedi-
ate aesthetic impact it offers. In her work, she likes to engage with elements including
language, typography, paper stock, folding and format to produce graphic design that
attempts to go beyond this type of skeletal landscape of statistics. She likes to inter-
pret and design with information in a way that offers the reader a more 'open' experi-
ence. Rather than 'close down' the information and suggest there is one correct read-
ing, she prefers to edit and design with it in a way that enables the reader to become
a more active participant in the process of engaging with the information. Sometimes
this could be by using materials that engender a multi-sensory experience, with smell
and touch used alongside vision. It could be through the execution of the typography
that is set within the pages so it offers multiple reading paths through columns that
run both vertically and horizontally. Within the design of topics, it could perhaps be
through format, by drawing the reader in to find information hidden within French
folds, gatefolds or topics within topics. It could even be through the inclusion of hid-
den ephemeral artifacts within the piece that the reader can then find and handle. All
of these types of interaction help place the reader within the story, to induce the use
of a fuller range of senses that offer a more 'experiential journey', one where they not
only reflect on the information, images and stories contained within the set text, but
also on how similar experiences or information impacts on, or is present in, their own
lives.
Outcome
For Alison, information and inspiration can be found everywhere, even in the seem-
ingly most insignificant places. The challenge is to work with the methods and pro-
cesses of graphic design in such a way as to make the everyday as fascinating for the
reader as it is for her; to reposition the ultra-ordinary as the extra-ordinary. That is the
power of information design.
