The 2019 Information Design Summer School will be 2–6 September. We will be going back to the fabulous architecture studio at the University of Bath. It's an intensive week of lectures, discussions, and group-working.
We've updated our website, which had become very old and creaky. The new one doesn't look too different but is responsive. It's a soft launch so forgive the inevitable bugs and let us know if you spot any problems - we've launched without being able to test on all devices.
Several people got in touch about Sans Forgetica, and it seems that this is not the first time sub-legible fonts have been used in attempts to affect cognition. Unfortunately the earlier studies could not be replicated, and there are conclusions to be drawn about the wisdom of extrapolating the results of experiments to the real world too quickly.
Newspapers the world over have featured a new font developed by RMIT, the Australian university, which claims to aid learning. It’s got a great name, Sans Forgetica, but its designer’s claim sounded preposterous enough for me to check it wasn’t published on 1 April. Designed to be slightly illegible, it slows readers down, and the claimed effect is that they learn more, using a principle known as ‘desirable difficulty’. We're looking for the evidence.
In 2016 there was a government consultation on terms and conditions, but nearly two years later there is still no report about what was found. The government is obviously distracted by other things at the moment, but it's important they get consumer protection right if we're not going to have the EU to stand up for it in future.
If you ever wondered what the point is of the garbled 'small print' at the end of radio ads, it's now official - there is no point to it at all.
Legislators from time to time make efforts to make the law clearer. Here we point to an objection to simplification raised in the House of Lords in 2012. It's the usual dumbing-down thing, but contains an important truth: that to simplify is to demand the reader's trust.
Most of us routinely lie, perhaps even commit perjury, when we click on a declaration that says 'I have read and understood the terms and conditions'. I've always loved this declaration from the AA, when I joined online a few days back: I confirm you have informed me of the importance of reading these before I buy.
When a book comes out with this title, we have to review it on the Simplification Centre website. It's by Ken Segall who worked for Apple's advertising agency for many years. The simple design of Apple's products and user experience was the vision of one man, with a small group of trusted colleagues. Perhaps alone in the world of big brands, Apple does not believe in doing customer research before launching a new product, although they often respond to critical feedback once a product is launched.
Companies like to claim their stuff is simple, but it needs to go beyond the headline. Check out this example from LloydsTSB
