The 2023 summer school is now over and we're already planning the next one. We'll be back in Vienna for 3-5 June, 2024, followed by the next IIID Vision Plus conference. We'll announce more about the programme and cost soon. You can fill in our enquiry form and we'll email you when we have more information.

In 2024 we plan a combination of online lectures and discussions, leading up to the face-to-face sessions in Vienna. Of course, there's only so much we can teach and you can take in, in a short programme. But we introduce you to the field, explain key concepts and point the way forward.

You'll go away with contacts in the field, and ideas to pursue. Past summer schools have inspired people to enrol in a degree course, work on projects together, write books and start businesses.

Expert tutors

At the summer school you will meet with experts in information design with a depth of experience in design practice, research and education, and who cover a range of different specialisms: diagramming, typography, clear writing, content structure, design education, health information design, financial information, government information, management communications and legal information design.
Meet the tutors
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Who should join?

• Information designers who want to explore the theoretical basis for their work, and extend their range.
• Graphic designers wanting to specialise in information design.
• People without a design training, who want to learn more about information design, and apply it to their own area of work. Participants regularly include textbook writers, lawyers, civil servants, medical researchers, and technical writers.
• Students who would like additional tutorial support and access to a like-minded peer group. We have a limited number of discounted places for students.

Past summer schools have been attended by people from as far afield as Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Cyprus, Finland, France, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Lebanon, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey, UK, Ukraine, and USA.

How we deliver the programme

There are sessions devoted to design critiquing, visualisation, typography and layout, design patterns and genres, and user testing.

There are also practical exercises. Learning about design can’t be done just by listening to lectures – it comes through the struggle to find order in complex information, and to create new ways to communicate it to users.

You can download more detail of the programme, including aims and expected learning outcomes. This may be useful for employers or funders.

We provide a Certificate of Participation to all those who attend. This is not a qualification and the course is not assessed.

The summer school is organised in partnership with the International Institute for Information Design (IIID).