Information science

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Not to be confused with information theory.

Information science
General aspects
Information architecture · Information retrieval Information society · Information access Information management · Philosophy of information Information seeking · Knowledge organization Science and technology studies
Related fields and sub-fields
Information technology · Informatics Classification · Bibliometrics · Preservation Cultural studies · Categorization · Data modeling Memory · Computer storage Intellectual property · Intellectual freedom Privacy · Censorship
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The Ancient Library of Alexandria, an early form of information storage and retrieval.

Information science is an interdisciplinary science primarily concerned with the analysis, collection, classification, manipulation, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information.^[1] Practitioners within the field study the application and usage of knowledge in organizations, along with the interaction between people, organizations and any existing information systems, with the aim of creating, replacing, improving or understanding information systems. Information science is often (mistakenly) considered a branch of computer science. However, it is actually a broad, interdisciplinary field, incorporating not only aspects of computer science, but often diverse fields such as archival science, cognitive science, commerce, communications, law, library science, museology, management, mathematics, philosophy, public policy, and the social sciences. Amongst the various contributions to this relatively new field is the term infodynamics of which was initially coined as an interdisciplinary term “coined by psychologist and biochemist, Ray R. PorMansor; defined as the transfer, translation, transcription, transduction, storage, recall, and other processes of organized information. Infodynamics according to PorMansor is an inherent attribute of the second law of thermodynamics of which entropy increases with time.

Information science focuses on understanding problems from the perspective of the stakeholders involved and then applying information and other technologies as needed. In other words, it tackles systemic problems first rather than individual pieces of technology within that system. In this respect, information science can be seen as a response to technological determinism, the belief that technology "develops by its own laws, that it realizes its own potential, limited only by the material resources available, and must therefore be regarded as an autonomous system controlling and ultimately permeating all other subsystems of society." ^[2] Within information science, attention has been given in recent years to human–computer interaction, groupware, the semantic web, value sensitive design, iterative design processes and to the ways people generate, use and find information. Today this field is called the Field of Information, and there are a growing number of Schools and Colleges of Information.

Information science should not be confused with information theory, the study of a particular mathematical concept of information, or with library science, a field related to libraries which uses some of the principles of information science.

Contents [hide] 1 Definitions of information science 2 History 2.1 Early beginnings 2.2 19th century 2.3 European documentation 2.4 Transition to modern information science 2.5 Important historical figures 3 Related disciplines 4 Topics in information science 4.1 Bibliometrics 4.2 Data modeling 4.3 Document management 4.4 Groupware 4.5 Human-computer interaction 4.6 Information architecture 4.7 Information ethics 4.8 Information retrieval 4.9 Information society 4.10 Information systems 4.11 Intellectual property 4.12 Knowledge management 4.13 Knowledge engineering 4.14 Personal information management 4.15 Semantic web 4.16 Usability engineering 4.17 User-centered design 5 Research 5.1 Research methods 6 See also 7 References 8 Further reading 9 External links

[edit] Definitions of information science

Wikiversity has learning materials about Information science

Information Science consists of having the knowledge and understanding on how to collect, classify, manipulate, store, retrieve and disseminate any type of information.

Some authors treat informatics as a synonym for information science, especially related to the concept developed by A. I. Mikhailov and other Soviet authors in the mid sixties, which suggested that informatics is a discipline related to the study of Scientific Information^[3]. Because of the rapidly evolving, interdisciplinary nature of informatics, a precise meaning of the term "informatics" is presently difficult to pin down.

Regional differences and international terminology complicate the problem. Some people note that much of what is called "Informatics" today was once called "Information Science" at least in fields such as Medical Informatics. For example, when library scientists began also to use the phrase "Information Science" to refer to their work, the term informatics emerged:

• in the United States as a response by computer scientists to distinguish their work from that of library science, and
• in Britain as a term for a science of information that studies natural, as well as artificial or engineered, information-processing systems.

[edit] History

[edit] Early beginnings

Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, a German polymath who wrote primarily in Latin and French. His fields of study were Metaphysics, Mathematics, Theodicy.

Information science, in studying the collection, classification, manipulation, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information has origins in the common stock of human knowledge. Information analysis has been carried out by scholars at least as early as the time of the Abyssinian Empire with the emergence of cultural depositories, what is today known as libraries and archives.^[4] Institutionally, information science emerged in the 19th Century along with many other social science disciplines. As a science, however, it finds its institutional roots in the history of science, beginning with publication of the first issues of Philosophical Transactions, generally considered the first scientific journal, in 1665 by the Royal Society (London).

The institutionalization of science occurred throughout the 18th Century. In 1731, Benjamin Franklin established the Library Company of Philadelphia, the first "public” library, which quickly expanded beyond the realm of books and became a center of scientific experiment, and which hosted public exhibitions of scientific experiments.^[5] Academie de Chirurgia (Paris) published Memoires pour les Chirurgiens, generally considered to be the first medical journal, in 1736. The American Philosophical Society, patterned on the Royal Society (London), was founded in Philadelphia in 1743. As numerous other scientific journals and societies are founded, Alois Senefelder develops the concept of lithography for use in mass printing work in Germany in 1796.

[edit] 19th century

Joseph Marie Jacquard

By the 19th Century the first signs of information science emerged as separate and distinct from other sciences and social sciences but in conjunction with communication and computation. In 1801, Joseph Marie Jacquard invented a punched card system to control operations of the cloth weaving loom in France. It was the first use of "memory storage of patterns" system.^[6] As chemistry journals emerged throughout the 1820s and 1830s,^[7] Charles Babbage developed his "difference engine," the first step towards the modern computer, in 1822 and his "analytical engine” by 1834. By 1843 Richard Hoe developed the rotary press, and in 1844 Samuel Morse sent the first public telegraph message. By 1848 William F. Poole begins the Index to Periodical Literature, the first general periodical literature index in the US.

In 1854 George Boole published An Investigation into Laws of Thought..., which lays the foundations for Boolean algebra, which is later used in information retrieval.^[8] In 1860 a congress is held at Karlsruhe Technische Hochschule to discuss the feasibility of establishing a systematic and rational nomenclature for chemistry. The congress does not reach any conclusive results, but several key participants return home with Stanislao Cannizzaro's outline (1858), which ultimately convinces them of the validity of his scheme for calculating atomic weights.^[9]

By 1865 the Smithsonian Institution began a catalog of current scientific papers, which became the International Catalogue of Scientific Papers in 1902.^[10] The following year the Royal Society began publication of its Catalogue of Papers in London. In 1868, Christopher Sholes, Carlos Glidden, and S. W. Soule produced the first practical typewriter. By 1872 Lord Kelvin devised an analogue computer to predict the tides, and by 1875 Frank Stephen Baldwin was granted the first US patent for a practical calculating machine that performs four arithmetic functions.^[7] Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison invented the phonograph and telephone in 1876 and 1877 respectively, and the American Library Association was founded in Philadelphia. In 1879 Index Medicus was first issued by the Library of the Surgeon General, U.S. Army, with John Shaw Billings as librarian, and later the library issues Index Catalogue, which achieved an international reputation as the most complete catalog of medical literature.^[11]

[edit] European documentation

The discipline of European Documentation, which marks the earliest theoretical foundations of modern information science, emerged in the late part of the 19th Century together with several more scientific indexes whose purpose was to organize scholarly literature. Most information science historians cite Paul Otlet and Henri La Fontaine as the fathers of information science with the founding of the International Institute of Bibliography (IIB) in 1895.^[12] A second generation of European Documentalists emerged after the Second World War, most notably Suzanne Briet. However, "information science" as a term is not popularly used in academia until sometime in the latter part of the 20th Century.^[13]

Documentalists emphasized the utilitarian integration of technology and technique toward specific social goals. According to Ronald Day, "As an organized system of techniques and technologies, documentation was understood as a player in the historical development of global organization in modernity – indeed, a major player inasmuch as that organization was dependent on the organization and transmission of information."^[14] Otlet and Lafontaine (who won the Nobel Prize in 1913) not only envisioned later technical innovations but also projected a global vision for information and information technologies that speaks directly to postwar visions of a global "information society." Otlet and Lafontaine established numerous organizations dedicated to standardization, bibliography, international associations, and consequently, international cooperation. These organizations were fundamental for ensuring international production in commerce, information, communication and modern economic development, and they later found their global form in such institutions as the League of Nations and the United Nations. Otlet designed the Universal Decimal Classification, based on Melville Dewey’s decimal classification system.^[15]

Although he lived decades before computers and networks emerged, what he discussed prefigured what ultimately became the World Wide Web. His vision of a great network of knowledge focused on documents and included the notions of hyperlinks, search engines, remote access, and social networks.

Otlet not only imagined that all the world's knowledge should be interlinked and made available remotely to anyone, but he also proceeded to build a structured document collection. This collection involved standardized paper sheets and cards filed in custom-designed cabinets according to a hierarchical index (which culled information worldwide from diverse sources) and a commercial information retrieval service (which answered written requests by copying relevant information from index cards). Users of this service were even warned if their query was likely to produce more than 50 results per search.^[15] By 1937 documentation had formally been institutionalized, as evidenced by the founding of the American Documentation Institute (ADI), later called the American Society for Information Science and Technology.

[edit] Transition to modern information science

Vannevar Bush, a famous information scientist, ca. 1940–1944

With the 1950s came increasing awareness of the potential of automatic devices for literature searching and information storage and retrieval. As these concepts grew in magnitude and potential, so did the variety of information science interests. By the 1960s and 70s, there was a move from batch processing to online modes, from mainframe to mini and microcomputers. Additionally, traditional boundaries among disciplines began to fade and many information science scholars joined with library programs. They further made themselves multidisciplinary by incorporating disciplines in the sciences, humanities and social sciences, as well as other professional programs, such as law and medicine in their curriculum. By the 1980s, large databases, such as Grateful Med at the National Library of Medicine, and user-oriented services such as Dialog and Compuserve, were for the first time accessible by individuals from their personal computers. The 1980s also saw the emergence of numerous special interest groups to respond to the changes. By the end of the decade, special interest groups were available involving non-print media, social sciences, energy and the environment, and community information systems. Today, information science largely examines technical bases, social consequences, and theoretical understanding of online databases, widespread use of databases in government, industry, and education, and the development of the Internet and World Wide Web.^[16]

[edit] Important historical figures

Tim Berners-Lee John Shaw Billings George Boole Suzanne Briet Michael Buckland Vannevar Bush Melville Dewey Luciano Floridi Henri La Fontaine

Frederick Kilgour Gottfried Leibniz Alexander Ivanovich Mikhailov S. R. Ranganathan Seymour Lubetzky Wilhelm Ostwald Paul Otlet Gerald Salton Jesse Shera Warren Weaver

[edit] Related disciplines

There are many fields which claims to be "sciences" or "disciplines" which are difficult to distinguish from each other and from information science. Some of them are:

• Archival science
• Communication studies
• Computer science
• Documentation (field)
• Informatics
• Information management
• Information systems research
• Internet studies
• Knowledge management
• Library science
• Media studies
• Scientometrics

Imaging science

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Imaging science is concerned with the generation, collection, duplication, analysis, modification, and visualization of images^{[citation needed]}. As an evolving field it includes research and researchers from physics, mathematics, electrical engineering, computer vision, computer science, and perceptual psychology.

Subfields within imaging science include: 3D computer graphics, animations, atmospheric optics, astronomical imaging, digital image restoration, digital imaging, color science, digital photography, holography, magnetic resonance imaging, medical imaging, microdensitometry, optics, photography, remote sensing, radar imaging, radiometry, silver halide, ultrasound imaging, photoacoustic imaging, thermal imaging, visual perception, and various printing technologies.

Contents [hide] 1 Industrial resources 2 See also 3 Notes & References 4 External links

[edit] Industrial resources

• Publishing Research Quarterly^[1]
• Journal of the Society for Information Display^[2]

[edit] See also

• Society for Imaging Science and Technology
• List of publishers

[edit] Notes & References

1. ^ Springer. "Publishing Research Quarterly". http://www.springerlink.com/content/107893/?p=a351038291874487b605e134399a81ff&pi=0. Retrieved 14 July 2009.
2. ^ Society for Information Display. "Available volumes". http://scitation.aip.org/dbt/dbt.jsp?KEY=JSIDE8. Retrieved 14 July 2009.

• Harrison H. Barrett and Kyle J. Myers, Foundations of Image Science (John Wiley & Sons, 2004) [ISBN 0471153001]
• Ronald N. Bracewell, Fourier Analysis and Imaging (Kluwer Academic, 2003) [ISBN 0306481871]

Graphic design

Graphic symbols are often functionalist and anonymous,^[1] as these pictographs from the US National Park Service illustrate.

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of Graphic Design

The term graphic design can refer to a number of artistic and professional disciplines which focus on visual communication and presentation. Various methods are used to create and combine symbols, images and/or words to create a visual representation of ideas and messages. A graphic designer may use typography, visual arts and page layout techniques to produce the final result. Graphic design often refers to both the process (designing) by which the communication is created and the products (designs) which are generated.

Common uses of graphic design include magazines, advertisements and product packaging. For example, a product package might include a logo or other artwork, organized text and pure design elements such as shapes and color which unify the piece. Composition is one of the most important features of graphic design especially when using pre-existing materials or diverse elements.

Contents [hide] 1 History 1.1 The advent of printing 1.2 Emergence of the design industry 1.3 Twentieth century design 2 Applications 3 Skills 3.1 Visual arts 3.2 Typography 3.3 Page layout 3.4 Interface design 3.5 Printmaking 3.6 Chromatics 4 Tools 4.1 Computers and the creative process 5 Occupations 6 See also 6.1 Related disciplines 6.2 Related topics 7 Footnotes 8 Bibliography 9 External links 9.1 Graphic Design Professional Associations

[edit] History

Main article: History of graphic design

Page from the Book of Kells: Folio 114v, Decorated text. Tunc dicit illis

While Graphic Design as a discipline has a relatively recent history, graphic design-like activities span the history of humankind: from the caves of Lascaux, to Rome's Trajan's Column to the illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages, to the dazzling neons of Ginza. In both this lengthy history and in the relatively recent explosion of visual communication in the 20th and 21st centuries, there is sometimes a blurring distinction and over-lapping of advertising art, graphic design and fine art. After all, they share many of the same elements, theories, principles, practices and languages, and sometimes the same benefactor or client. In advertising art the ultimate objective is the sale of goods and services. In graphic design, "the essence is to give order to information, form to ideas, expression and feeling to artifacts that document human experience."^[2]

[edit] The advent of printing

Main article: History of printing

During the Tang Dynasty (618–906) between the 4th and 7th century A.D. wood blocks were cut to print on textiles and later to reproduce Buddhist texts. A Buddhist scripture printed in 868 is the earliest known printed book. Beginning in the 11th century, longer scrolls and books were produced using movable type printing making books widely available during the Song dynasty (960–1279).^[3] Sometime around 1450, Johann Gutenberg's printing press made books widely available in Europe. The book design of Aldus Manutius developed the book structure which would become the foundation of western publication design. This era of graphic design is called Humanist or Old Style. ^[4]

[edit] Emergence of the design industry

In late 19th century Europe, especially in the United Kingdom, the movement began to separate graphic design from fine art. Piet Mondrian is known as the father of graphic design. He was a fine artist, but his use of grids inspired the modern grid system used today in advertising, print and web layout. ^[5]

In 1849, Henry Cole became one of the major forces in design education in Great Britain, informing the government of the importance of design in his Journal of Design and Manufactures. He organized the Great Exhibition as a celebration of modern industrial technology and Victorian design.

From 1891 to 1896 William Morris' Kelmscott Press published books that are some of the most significant of the graphic design products of the Arts and Crafts movement, and made a very lucrative business of creating books of great stylistic refinement and selling them to the wealthy for a premium. Morris proved that a market existed for works of graphic design in their own right and helped pioneer the separation of design from production and from fine art. The work of the Kelmscott Press is characterized by its obsession with historical styles. This historicism was, however, important as it amounted to the first significant reaction to the stale state of nineteenth-century graphic design. Morris' work, along with the rest of the Private Press movement, directly influenced Art Nouveau and is indirectly responsible for developments in early twentieth century graphic design in general.^[6]

[edit] Twentieth century design

A Boeing 747 aircraft with livery designating it as Air Force One. The cyan forms, the US flag, presidential seal and the Caslon lettering were all designed at different times and combined by designer Raymond Loewy in this one final design.

Who originally coined the term "graphic design" appears to be in dispute. It has been attributed to Richard Guyatt, the British designer and academic, but another source suggests William Addison Dwiggins, an American book designer in the early 20th century^[7]

The signage in the London Underground is a classic design example^[8] of the modern era and used a font designed by Edward Johnston in 1916.

In the 1920s, Soviet constructivism applied 'intellectual production' in different spheres of production. The movement saw individualistic art as useless in revolutionary Russia and thus moved towards creating objects for utilitarian purposes. They designed buildings, theater sets, posters, fabrics, clothing, furniture, logos, menus, etc.^{[citation needed]}

Jan Tschichold codified the principles of modern typography in his 1928 book, New Typography. He later repudiated the philosophy he espoused in this book as being fascistic, but it remained very influential.^{[citation needed]} Tschichold, Bauhaus typographers such as Herbert Bayer and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, and El Lissitzky are the fathers of graphic design^{[citation needed]} as we know it today. They pioneered production techniques and stylistic devices used throughout the twentieth century. The following years saw graphic design in the modern style gain widespread acceptance and application.^[9] A booming post-World War II American economy established a greater need for graphic design, mainly advertising and packaging. The emigration of the German Bauhaus school of design to Chicago in 1937 brought a "mass-produced" minimalism to America; sparking a wild fire of "modern" architecture and design. Notable names in mid-century modern design include Adrian Frutiger, designer of the typefaces Univers and Frutiger; Paul Rand, who, from the late 1930s until his death in 1996, took the principles of the Bauhaus and applied them to popular advertising and logo design, helping to create a uniquely American approach to European minimalism while becoming one of the principal pioneers of the subset of graphic design known as corporate identity; and Josef Müller-Brockmann, who designed posters in a severe yet accessible manner typical of the 1950s and 1970s era.

[edit] Applications

From road signs to technical schematics, from interoffice memorandums to reference manuals, graphic design enhances transfer of knowledge. Readability is enhanced by improving the visual presentation of text.

Design can also aid in selling a product or idea through effective visual communication. It is applied to products and elements of company identity like logos, colors, packaging, and text. Together these are defined as branding (see also advertising). Branding has increasingly become important in the range of services offered by many graphic designers, alongside corporate identity. Whilst the terms are often used interchangeably, branding is more strictly related to the identifying mark or trade name for a product or service, whereas corporate identity can have a broader meaning relating to the structure and ethos of a company, as well as to the company's external image. Graphic designers will often form part of a team working on corporate identity and branding projects. Other members of that team can include marketing professionals, communications consultants and commercial writers.

Textbooks are designed to present subjects such as geography, science, and math. These publications have layouts which illustrate theories and diagrams. A common example of graphics in use to educate is diagrams of human anatomy. Graphic design is also applied to layout and formatting of educational material to make the information more accessible and more readily understandable.

Graphic design is applied in the entertainment industry in decoration, scenery, and visual story telling. Other examples of design for entertainment purposes include novels, comic books, opening credits and closing credits in film, and programs and props on stage. This could also include artwork used for t-shirts and other items screenprinted for sale.

From scientific journals to news reporting, the presentation of opinion and facts is often improved with graphics and thoughtful compositions of visual information - known as information design. Newspapers, magazines, blogs, television and film documentaries may use graphic design to inform and entertain. With the advent of the web, information designers with experience in interactive tools such as Adobe Flash are increasingly being used to illustrate the background to news stories.

[edit] Skills

A graphic design project may involve the stylization and presentation of existing text and either preexisting imagery or images developed by the graphic designer. For example, a newspaper story begins with the journalists and photojournalists and then becomes the graphic designer's job to organize the page into a reasonable layout and determine if any other graphic elements should be required. In a magazine article or advertisement, often the graphic designer or art director will commission photographers or illustrators to create original pieces just to be incorporated into the design layout. Contemporary design practice has been extended to the modern computer, for example in the use of WYSIWYG user interfaces, often referred to as interactive design, or multimedia design.

[edit] Visual arts

Main article: Visual arts

Before any graphic elements may be applied to a design, the graphic elements must be originated by means of visual art skills. These graphics are often (but not always) developed by a graphic designer. Visual arts include works which are primarily visual in nature using anything from traditional media, to photography or computer generated art. Graphic design principles may be applied to each graphic art element individually as well as to the final composition.

[edit] Typography

Main article: Typography

Typography is the art, craft and techniques of type design, modifying type glyphs, and arranging type. Type glyphs (characters) are created and modified using a variety of illustration techniques. The arrangement of type is the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading (line spacing) and letter spacing.

Typography is performed by typesetters, compositors, typographers, graphic artists, art directors, and clerical workers. Until the Digital Age, typography was a specialized occupation. Digitization opened up typography to new generations of visual designers and lay users.

[edit] Page layout

Main article: Page layout

Page layout is the part of graphic design that deals in the arrangement and style treatment of elements (content) on a page. Beginning from early illuminated pages in hand-copied books of the Middle Ages and proceeding down to intricate modern magazine and catalog layouts, proper page design has long been a consideration in printed material. With print media, elements usually consist of type (text), images (pictures), and occasionally place-holder graphics for elements that are not printed with ink such as die/laser cutting, foil stamping or blind embossing.

[edit] Interface design

Main article: User interface design

Graphic designers are often involved in interface design, such as web design and software design when end user interactivity is a design consideration of the layout or interface. Combining visual communication skills with the interactive communication skills of user interaction and online branding, graphic designers often work with software developers and web developers to create both the look and feel of a web site or software application and enhance the interactive experience of the user or web site visitor. An important aspect of interface design is icon design.

[edit] Printmaking

Main article: Printmaking

Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing on paper and other materials or surfaces. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable of producing multiples of the same piece, which is called a print. Each piece is not a copy but an original since it is not a reproduction of another work of art and is technically known as an impression. Painting or drawing, on the other hand, create a unique original piece of artwork. Prints are created from a single original surface, known technically as a matrix. Common types of matrices include: plates of metal, usually copper or zinc for engraving or etching; stone, used for lithography; blocks of wood for woodcuts, linoleum for linocuts and fabric plates for screen-printing. But there are many other kinds, discussed below. Works printed from a single plate create an edition, in modern times usually each signed and numbered to form a limited edition. Prints may also be published in book form, as artist's books. A single print could be the product of one or multiple techniques.

[edit] Chromatics

Chromatics is the field of how eyes perceive color and how to explain and organize those colors in the printer and on the monitor. The Retina in the eye is covered by two light-sensitive receptors that are named rods and cones. Rods are sensitive to light, but not sensitive to color. Cones are the opposite of rods. They are less sensitive to light, but color can be perceived.^[10]

[edit] Tools

Examples of graphic design made on a computer, setting out various possibilities for a Wikimedia Commons project icon.

The mind may be the most important graphic design tool. Aside from technology, graphic design requires judgment and creativity. Critical, observational, quantitative and analytic thinking are required for design layouts and rendering. If the executor is merely following a solution (e.g. sketch, script or instructions) provided by another designer (such as an art director), then the executor is not usually considered the designer.

The method of presentation (e.g. arrangement, style, medium) may be equally important to the design. The layout is produced using external traditional or digital image editing tools. The appropriate development and presentation tools can substantially change how an audience perceives a project.

In the mid 1980s, the arrival of desktop publishing and graphic art software applications introduced a generation of designers to computer image manipulation and creation that had previously been manually executed. Computer graphic design enabled designers to instantly see the effects of layout or typographic changes, and to simulate the effects of traditional media without requiring a lot of space. However, traditional tools such as pencils or markers are useful even when computers are used for finalization; a designer or art director may hand sketch numerous concepts as part of the creative process. Some of these sketches may even be shown to a client for early stage approval, before the designer develops the idea further using a computer and graphic design software tools.

Computers are considered an indispensable tool in the graphic design industry. Computers and software applications are generally seen by creative professionals as more effective production tools than traditional methods. However, some designers continue to use manual and traditional tools for production, such as Milton Glaser.

New ideas can come by way of experimenting with tools and methods. Some designers explore ideas using pencil and paper to avoid creating within the limits of whatever computer fonts, clipart, stock photos, or rendering filters (e.g. Kai's Power Tools) are available on any particular configuration. Others use many different mark-making tools and resources from computers to sticks and mud as a means of inspiring creativity. One of the key features of graphic design is that it makes a tool out of appropriate image selection in order to convey meaning.^[11]

[edit] Computers and the creative process

There is some debate whether computers enhance the creative process of graphic design.^[12] Rapid production from the computer allows many designers to explore multiple ideas quickly with more detail than what could be achieved by traditional hand-rendering or paste-up on paper, moving the designer through the creative process more quickly.^[13] However, being faced with limitless choices does not help isolate the best design solution and can lead to endless iterations with no clear design outcome.

A graphic designer may use sketches to explore multiple or complex ideas quickly^[14] without the distractions and complications of software.^{[citation needed]} Hand-rendered comps are often used to get approval for an idea execution before a design invests time to produce finished visuals on a computer or in paste-up. The same thumbnail sketches or rough drafts on paper may be used to rapidly refine and produce the idea on the computer in a hybrid process. This hybrid process is especially useful in logo design^[15] where a software learning curve may detract from a creative thought process. The traditional-design/computer-production hybrid process may be used for freeing one's creativity in page layout or image development as well.^{[citation needed]} In the early days of computer publishing, many 'traditional' graphic designers relied on computer-savvy production artists to produce their ideas from sketches, without needing to learn the computer skills themselves. However, this practice has been increasingly less common since the advent of desktop publishing over 30 years ago. The use of computers and graphics software is now taught in most graphic design courses.

[edit] Occupations

Main article: Graphic design occupations

Graphic design career paths cover all ends of the creative spectrum and often overlap. The main job responsibility of a Graphic Designer is the arrangement of visual elements in some type of media. The main job titles include graphic designer, art director, creative director, and the entry level production artist. Depending on the industry served, the responsibilities may have different titles such as "DTP Associate" or "Graphic Artist," but despite changes in title, graphic design principles remain consistent. The responsibilities may come from or lead to specialized skills such as illustration, photography or interactive design.

A graphic designer reports to the art director, creative director or senior media creative. As a designer becomes more senior, they may spend less time designing media and more time leading and directing other designers on broader creative activities, such as brand development and corporate identity development. As graphic designers become more senior, they are often expected to interact more directly with clients.

[edit] See also

Visual arts portal

[edit] Related disciplines

Architecture Art director Communication design Copywriting Creative direction Desktop publishing Design

Environmental graphic design Industrial design Information design Instructional design Interface design Landscape Architecture Marketing communications

Motion design New Media Technical writing Typography Web graphic design

[edit] Related topics

List of notable graphic designers List of graphic design institutions Aesthetics Color theory Composition (visual arts) Design education Design principles and elements

European Design Awards Graphic art software Graphic design occupations Graphics Information graphics Logotype Professional web designers

Style guide Visualization (computer graphics) Value (colorimetry) Newspaper Paper Pen

[edit] Footnotes

1. ^ Currie, Nick. "Design Rockism". http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/design-rockism.
2. ^ Meggs, Philip B., 'A history of graphic design'. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1983
3. ^ “Printing” The Silk Road Foundation. Retrieved May 31, 2008.<http://www.silk-road.com/artl/printing.shtml>.
4. ^ “Graphic Design History” Article Cat. Retrieved May 31, 2008.<http://www.articlecat.com/Article/Graphic-Design-History/933>.
5. ^ “Graphic Design History” Article Cat. Retrieved May 31, 2008.<http://www.articlecat.com/Article/Graphic-Design-History/933>.
6. ^ “Graphic Design History” Article Cat. Retrieved May 31, 2008.<http://www.articlecat.com/Article/Graphic-Design-History/933>.
7. ^ “Graphic Design History” Article Cat. Retrieved May 31, 2008.<http://www.articlecat.com/Article/Graphic-Design-History/933>.
8. ^ "Designing Modern Britain - Design Museum Exhibition". http://designmuseum.org/design/london-transport. Retrieved December 10 2009.
9. ^ Crouch, Christopher. 2000. Modernism in Art Design and Architecture, New York: St. Martins Press. ISBN 0312218303 (cloth) ISBN 031221832X (pbk)
10. ^ Kaj Johansson, Peter Lundberg, and Robert Ryberg “A Guide To Graphic Print Production“ pp.36
11. ^ Mike Rohde, [1] [2] Wall Street Journal Mention in Jeremy Wagstaff's Loose Wire, Retrieved 3-19-2007
12. ^ www.designtalkboard.com [3] [4] retrieved 3-18-2007
13. ^ Jann Lawrence Pollard and Jerry James Little, Creative Computer Tools for Artists: Using Software to Develop Drawings and Paintings, Nov 2001 Introduction
14. ^ Jacci Howard Bear, desktoppub.about.com Retrieved 3-19-2008
15. ^ Gregory Thomas, How to Design Logos, Symbols and Icons: 24 Internationally Renowned Studios Reveal How They Develop Trademarks for Print and New Media, April 2003, pp:48

[edit] Bibliography

• Fiell, Charlotte & Peter (Editors). Contemporary Graphic Design. TASCHEN Publishers, 2008. ISBN 978-3-8228-5269-9
• Wiedemann, Julius & Taborda, Felipe (Editors). Latin-American Graphic Design. TASCHEN Publishers, 2008. ISBN 978-3-8228-4035-1

[edit] External links

• About.com graphic design page
• Government Graphic Design Statistics
• Graphic design job definitions
• HOW Design Magazine

[edit] Graphic Design Professional Associations

• Art Director's Guild
• Graphic Designing Projects
• Art Directors Club
• Australian Graphic Design Association (AGDA)
• Icograda (International Council of Graphic Design Associations)
• AIGA | the professional association for design
• RGD Ontario | Association of Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario
• GDC | Society of Graphic Designers of Canada
• Graphic Arts Guild
• AH Corporation | Professional Association for Design

Graph drawing

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This article is missing citations or needs footnotes. Please help add inline citations to guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (July 2008)

Graphic representation of a minute fraction of the WWW, demonstrating hyperlinks

Graph drawing or Graph layout, as a branch of graph theory, applies topology and geometry to derive two-dimensional representations of graphs. A drawing of a graph is basically a pictorial representation of an embedding of the graph in the plane, usually aimed at a convenient visualization of certain properties of the graph in question or of the object modeled by the graph.

Graph drawing is motivated by applications such as VLSI circuit design, social network analysis, cartography, and bioinformatics, many of which make use of information visualization.

Contents [hide] 1 Overview 2 Metrics 3 Types of graph drawing 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Overview

Graphs are usually represented pictorially using dots to represent vertices, and arcs to represent the edges between connected vertices. Arrows can be used to show the orientation of directed edges. Note that this graphical representation (a graph layout or an embedding) should not be confused with the graph itself (the abstract, non-graphical structure). Very different layouts can correspond to the same graph. In the abstract, all that matters is which vertices are connected to which others by how many edges. In the concrete, however, the arrangement of these vertices and edges impacts understandability, usability, fabrication cost, and aesthetics.

Based on these concepts and caveats, there are different graph layout strategies, such as:

• force-based layout: gradient descent minimization of an energy function based on physical metaphors related to molecular mechanics.
• spectral layout: layout using as coordinates the eigenvectors of a matrix such as the Laplacian derived from the adjacency matrix of the graph.
• orthogonal layout: layout with edges running horizontally or vertically, with approaches that reduce the number of edge crossovers and area covered. These are of great interest in the areas of VLSI and PCB layout design
• symmetric layout: these attempt to find symmetry groups within the graph
• tree layout: these show a rooted tree-like formation, suitable for trees (i.e., graphs without cycles)
• hierarchical layouts: these attempt to find a source and sink within a directed graph and arrange the nodes in layers with most edges starting from the source and flowing in the direction of the sink

[edit] Metrics

K₄ (the complete graph with 4 vertices) can be drawn with or without overlapping edges (move one of the corners inside the triangle formed by the other three corners)

There is no "best" layout of the drawing of a graph — different ways of displaying a graph emphasize different characteristics.

One measure of a graph drawing algorithm's quality is the number of edge crossings it draws. While some graphs cannot be drawn without edge crossings, some graphs can. These are called planar graphs. According to this metric, "good" algorithms draw graphs with as few edge crossings as possible.

Another possible measure is the closeness of vertices. Many graphs look better if non-adjacent vertices are not plotted close to each other. A further measure is the nearness of a vertex to a non-adjacent edge, this distance needs to be sufficiently big for an aesthetically pleasing appearance.

[edit] Types of graph drawing

• Hasse diagram, a type of graph drawing specialized to partial orders
• Dessin d'enfant, a type of graph drawing used in algebraic geometry
• State diagrams, graphical representations of finite state machines

[edit] See also

• Graphviz, an open-source graph drawing system from AT&T
• Routing, a graph-drawing-like step in the design of integrated circuits
• International Symposium on Graph Drawing
• Microsoft Automatic Graph Layout, a .NET library for layouting graphs

[edit] References

• Di Battista, Giuseppe; Eades, Peter; Tamassia, Roberto; Tollis, Ioannis G. (1994), "Algorithms for Drawing Graphs: an Annotated Bibliography", Computational Geometry: Theory and Applications 4: 235–282, http://www.cs.brown.edu/people/rt/gd.html .

• Di Battista, Giuseppe; Eades, Peter; Tamassia, Roberto; Tollis, Ioannis G. (1998), Graph Drawing: Algorithms for the Visualization of Graphs, Prentice Hall, ISBN 9780133016154 .

• Herman, Ivan; Melançon, Guy; Marshall, M. Scott (2000), "Graph Visualization and Navigation in Information Visualization: A Survey", IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 6: 24–43, http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.28.8892 .

• Jünger, Michael; Mutzel, Petra (2004), Graph Drawing Software, Springer-Verlag, ISBN 9783540008811 .

Computer graphics (computer science)

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This article is about the scientific discipline of computer graphics. For other uses see Computer graphics (disambiguation).

A modern render of the Utah teapot, an iconic model in 3D computer graphics created by Martin Newell in 1975.

Computer graphics is a sub-field of computer science which studies methods for digitally synthesizing and manipulating visual content. Although the term often refers to the study of three-dimensional computer graphics, it also encompasses two-dimensional graphics and image processing.

Contents [hide] 1 Overview 2 History 3 Subfields in computer graphics 3.1 Geometry 3.2 Animation 3.3 Rendering 4 Notable researchers in computer graphics 5 See also 6 References 7 External links 7.1 University Groups 7.2 Industry

[edit] Overview

Computer graphics studies the manipulation of visual and geometric information using computational techniques. It focuses on the mathematical and computational foundations of image generation and processing rather than purely aesthetic issues. Computer graphics is often differentiated from the field of visualization, although the two fields have many similarities.

Connected studies include:

• Scientific visualization
• Information visualization
• Computer vision
• Image processing
• Computational Geometry
• Computational Topology
• Applied mathematics

Applications of computer graphics include:

• Special effects
• Visual effects
• Video games
• Digital art

[edit] History

One of the first displays of computer animation was Futureworld (1976), which included an animation of a human face and hand — produced by Ed Catmull and Fred Parke at the University of Utah.

There are several international conferences and journals where the most significant results in computer graphics are published. Among them are the SIGGRAPH and Eurographics conferences and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Transactions on Graphics journal. The joint Eurographics and ACM SIGGRAPH symposium series features the major venues for the more specialized sub-fields: Symposium on Geometry Processing,Symposium on Rendering, and Symposium on Computer Animation. As in the rest of computer science, conference publications in computer graphics are generally more significant than journal publications (and subsequently have lower acceptance rates)^[1][2][3].^[4]

[edit] Subfields in computer graphics

A broad classification of major subfields in computer graphics might be:

1. Geometry: studies ways to represent and process surfaces
2. Animation: studies with ways to represent and manipulate motion
3. Rendering: studies algorithms to reproduce light transport
4. Imaging: studies image acquisition or image editing

[edit] Geometry

Successive approximations of a surface computed using quadric error metrics.

The subfield of geometry studies the representation of three-dimensional objects in a discrete digital setting. Because the appearance of an object depends largely on its exterior, boundary representations are most commonly used. Two dimensional surfaces are a good representation for most objects, though they may be non-manifold. Since surfaces are not finite, discrete digital approximations are used. Polygonal meshes (and to a lesser extent subdivision surfaces) are by far the most common representation, although point-based representations have become more popular recently (see for instance the Symposium on Point-Based Graphics). These representations are Lagrangian, meaning the spatial locations of the samples are independent. Recently, Eulerian surface descriptions (i.e., where spatial samples are fixed) such as level sets have been developed into a useful representation for deforming surfaces which undergo many topological changes (with fluids being the most notable example^[5]).

Geometry Subfields

• Implicit surface modeling - an older subfield which examines the use of algebraic surfaces, constructive solid geometry, etc., for surface representation.
• Digital geometry processing - surface reconstruction, simplification, fairing, mesh repair, parameterization, remeshing, mesh generation, surface compression, and surface editing all fall under this heading.^[6][7][8]
• Discrete differential geometry - a nascent field which defines geometric quantities for the discrete surfaces used in computer graphics.^[9]
• Point-based graphics - a recent field which focuses on points as the fundamental representation of surfaces.
• Subdivision surfaces
• Out-of-core mesh processing - another recent field which focuses on mesh datasets that do not fit in main memory.

[edit] Animation

The subfield of animation studies descriptions for surfaces (and other phenomena) that move or deform over time. Historically, most work in this field has focused on parametric and data-driven models, but recently physical simulation has become more popular as computers have become more powerful computationally.

Subfields

• Performance capture
• Character animation
• Physical simulation (e.g. cloth modeling, animation of fluid dynamics, etc.)

[edit] Rendering

Indirect diffuse scattering simulated using path tracing and irradiance caching.

Rendering generates images from a model. Rendering may simulate light transport to create realistic images or it may create images that have a particular artistic style in non-photorealistic rendering. The two basic operations in realistic rendering are transport (how much light passes from one place to another) and scattering (how surfaces interact with light). See Rendering (computer graphics) for more information.

Transport

Transport describes how illumination in a scene gets from one place to another. Visibility is a major component of light transport.

Scattering

Models of scattering and shading are used to describe the appearance of a surface. In graphics these problems are often studied within the context of rendering since they can substantially affect the design of rendering algorithms. Shading can be broken down into two orthogonal issues, which are often studied independently:

1. scattering - how light interacts with the surface at a given point
2. shading - how material properties vary across the surface

The former problem refers to scattering, i.e., the relationship between incoming and outgoing illumination at a given point. Descriptions of scattering are usually given in terms of a bidirectional scattering distribution function or BSDF. The latter issue addresses how different types of scattering are distributed across the surface (i.e., which scattering function applies where). Descriptions of this kind are typically expressed with a program called a shader. (Note that there is some confusion since the word "shader" is sometimes used for programs that describe local geometric variation.)

Other subfields

• physically-based rendering - concerned with generating images according to the laws of geometric optics
• real time rendering - focuses on rendering for interactive applications, typically using specialized hardware like GPUs
• non-photorealistic rendering
• relighting - recent area concerned with quickly re-rendering scenes

[edit] Notable researchers in computer graphics

Jim Blinn Jack E. Bresenham Loren Carpenter Edwin Catmull Robert L. Cook Paul Debevec Ron Fedkiw James D. Foley

David Forsyth Henry Fuchs Pat Hanrahan Takeo Kanade Jim Kajiya Kenneth Knowlton Marc Levoy James O'Brien Ken Perlin

Przemyslaw Prusinkiewicz William Reeves James Sethian Ivan Sutherland Greg Turk Andries van Dam Lance Williams

[edit] See also

3D computer graphics Cloth modeling Computer facial animation Digital geometry Digital image editing

Geometry processing Graphics processing unit (GPU)

Painter's algorithm SIGGRAPH Stanford Bunny Utah Teapot

[edit] References

1. ^ Best Practices Memo
2. ^ Choosing a venue: conference or journal?
3. ^ Graphics/vision publications acceptance rates statistics
4. ^ An extensive history of computer graphics can be found at this page.
5. ^ Ron Fedkiw
6. ^ SIGGRAPH 2001 Course on Digital Geometry Processing
7. ^ CS 598: Digital Geometry Processing (Fall 2004)
8. ^ Digital Geometry Processing
9. ^ Discrete Differential Geometry

[edit] External links

Look up computer graphics in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• A Critical History of Computer Graphics and Animation
• History of Computer Graphics series of articles

[edit] University Groups

• Computer Graphics Group at The University of Hong Kong
• Berkeley Computer Animation and Modeling Group
• Berkeley Computer Graphics
• Bristol University Computer Graphics Group
• C²G² at Columbia University
• Center for Visual Information Technology,IIIT Hyderabad
• Caltech Multi-Res Modeling Group
• Carnegie Mellon Graphics Lab
• Center for Graphics and Geometric Computing at Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
• Computer Graphics Department at Max-Planck-Institut fur Informatik
• Computer Graphics Department at Haute Ecole Albert Jacquard
• Computer Graphics Group at Brown
• Computer Graphics Group at RWTH Aachen University
• Computer Graphics at Harvard
• Computer Graphics and Immersive Technologies Laboratory at USC
• Graphics Lab of Institute for Creative Technologies at USC
• Computer Graphics Laboratory at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
• Computer Graphics Group at PUC-Rio
• Computer Graphics Group at University of Bonn
• Computer Graphics Group at University of Virginia
• Computer Graphics Laboratory at University of Tokyo
• Computer Graphics Laboratory at UT Austin
• Computer Graphics Laboratory at ETH Zurich
• Computer Graphics / Geometric Design Group at Rice
• Computer Graphics and User Interfaces Lab at Columbia University
• Computer Graphics and Visualization Lab at Purdue University
• Computer Graphics and Visualization Lab at University of Utah
• Computer Graphics and Visualization Lab at University of Wisconsin
• Cornell University Program of Computer Graphics
• Dynamic Graphics Project at University of Toronto
• Geometric Modeling and Industrial Geometry Group at Technische Universitat Wien
• The Institute of Computer Graphics and Algorithms at Technische Universitat Wien
• Graphics and Image Analysis at UNC
• Graphics and Geometric Computing Group at Tsinghua University
• Graphics@Illinois
• GRAIL at University of Washington
• GRAVIR at iMAGIS
• GVIL at University of Maryland, College Park
• GVU Center at Georgia Tech
• IDAV Visualization and Graphics Research Group at UC Davis
• IMAGINE Research Group at Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia
• Imager Laboratory at University of British Columbia
• MIT Computer Graphics Group
• MRL at NYU
• Princeton Graphics and Geometry Group
• Stanford Computer Graphics Laboratory
• UCSD Computer Graphics Laboratory
• Vision Research Center at Vanderbilt
• INI-GraphicsNet international network

[edit] Industry

Industrial labs doing "blue sky" graphics research include:

• Adobe Advanced Technology Labs
• MERL
• Microsoft Research - Graphics
• NVIDIA Research

Major film studios notable for graphics research include:

• ILM
• PDI/Dreamworks Animation
• Pixar