An Interview with Richard Saul Wurman:
Our role as technologists

The following interview is from the December 1998 issue of Design Matters, the newsletter of the Information Design Special Interest Group of the Society for Technical Communicators. It is provided for students in this class under Fair Use provisions of the United States Copyright Act.

In a posting to the InfoDesign mailing list, renowned information design consultant Richard Saul Wurman wrote that individuals who cross the boundaries of the following three groups have the "potential" of being information architects [or designers]:

Thoughtful graphic designers
Creative information technologists
Writers and journalists

For this issue of Design Matters, guest editor Bonnie Davis talked to Wurman about our role as "creative information technologists."

Understanding How Tools Affect Content

Wurman divides the production of information into two areas: bells and whistles and understanding. "You can also look at it as bells and whistles versus content," says Wurman. "Technology deals with the bells and whistles. Technology is the enabler. It includes all the tools available to create content.

"Each tool affects the way you can express something. The way you can express, changes what you can express. It changes what you can think of and how you can express yourself. As technology changes, it increases our ability to think up new ideas. "How we communicate with each other and future developments in information technology are inseparable.

For example, we relate differently with people now because of email, fax, and the phone. These abilities and availabilities to communicate allow us to think of certain new ideas and new forms and patterns of things that we can only accomplish now."

Knowing How Much Tech Knowledge is Sufficient

"Information architects should understand all three fields [graphic design, technology, writing/journalism]," says Wurman. "Individuals are naturally more specialized in one field than another." Wurman says information architects should understand the work of the technology specialists. Here we are not talking about the information architect as technician, but technical specialists, such as computer programmers and videographers.

"Information architects must understand the essence of the technology. And, information architects must be able to give good instructions. I'm stupid on the computer, but I know what I can ask the technologists to do, and give clear instructions to accomplish what I want done."

Being the "Creative" Technologist

According to Wurman, the work of the information architect as technologist should go beyond 'good' to 'creative.' "Look at it as the 'art' of information technology. It's not just function, but performance. Performance is like theater. It is art."

Wurman is currently working on a new way to present web pages. "Most web pages use the metaphor of a cockpit of an airplane," he says. "There are lots of dials, bells and whistles. There is so much that you don't know what to look at. It is a misnomer that maximum choice itself is really good. On a web page, people don't want many choices. They need good simple choices and explanations of those choices." For Wurman, designing a web page is about clarity, not simplicity. It is also about including humanity in the design.

Clarity

"Simplicity is not the solution. Simplicity is the taking away, the dumbing down of information. Maybe simplification makes some things look better, but the solutions are not to be found in just looking better. "I'm talking about giving clarity of how you find your way. Provide a couple of choices at one moment, not a menu of choices." He uses the analogy of a conversation to better explain his points. "Think about conversation. Conversation is the most natural and the most complex way we communicate. Conversation follows a path, although it can wander. There is a connectivity and cartography."

Humanity

The need to consider the human factor is the basis of Wurman's comments about humanity. "Humanity is not in current web page design. Designers are not thinking of the person using the web page. They think only of themselves and ask, "Does it work?" And it may pass their own checklist, but this does not cover the human element of the user." Wurman says an example of this new web design will be available in the web presentation of information generated during the TED Conference (TED9 and TEDX). The TEDX version will include an Atlas of Understanding of the American Condition.

The TED Conference examines the merging and converging of the technology business, the entertainment industry, and the design profession in the service of learning and communication. Serving the God of Understanding The bottom line for Wurman goes back to his passion to make things clear and understandable. "The information architect must understand the technology as it relates to the understanding of information.

Ultimately, we all serve the God of understanding. For information architects, the essence is understanding. Not designing bells and whistles, but designing understanding."