Data Flow: Visualising Information in Graphic Design Hardcover – September 30, 2008

I tend to check the review of any book before I purchase, but rarely do I feel strong enough about a book to write a review of my own. Data Flow is completely worth a raving review. This book is full of beautiful images derived from data. Its broken up into 5 overall categories of information design, making it easy to find a more specific type of design if desired. Each project has a small explanation blurb that accompanies it. If anything could be better, a little bit more information about each piece would be nice, however, this is not one of those books with a thousand pretty pictures and no information to back it up.If you are interested in information design, communication design, or graphic design, this book is a must!

As an architecture student, what has been interesting is how important data has become and how big data can be utilized to find both problems and solutions in the built environment. It is important how to visualize data and to get the message across through sound and concrete visualizations. Data Flow offers compelling graphics and projects and for architects and designers alike, this book can be helpful in the developing a creative message through graphic design.

This book is more of a collection of examples rather than a "how to". Although the book can be very inspiring, both from the approach of the design and even on the ideas, very little information is given on each chart, thus this is more of a picture collection.Data Flow examples feature a very high quality degree of print.It is very recommended for who is inspired from Information Graphics as charts rather than as manuals and instructions.

We're inundated with small data, big data, complex data... lotsa data. And the data is THE story; it should be front and center. Data Flow depicts hundreds of stunning data viz examples. The book is aesthetically beautiful. However, several of the diagrams suffer from low data-to-ink ratios (lots of paint, little useful data)... and many are illegible and printed too small to see or require specific domain knowledge to decrypt.Where's the data? The book proselytizes the importance of data and there ain't much raw data to be seen (or linked to).The book designers have forgotten to treat typography as the visual hierarchy for words, the interface design for text. The type treatments and layouts are difficult to read.Designers, engineers, statisticians, and decision-makers need data viz guidance. This book is not an academic dive into data visualization and needs to follow several of it's own rules for displaying information. But this book provokes your imagination.

This is a fabulous book for anyone who is faced with combining information/data and design. It's not the most practical in the sense that the design solutions are very conceptual and so design-driven that you might not be able to apply to your particular graphic design job. But the art is so great it is worth getting every bit of inspiration possible.

I loved this book. It really opened my eyes about the possibilities and limitations of what visuals can communicate. In our advertising and political age, I see infographics being bigger part of how we absorb information. Especially in schools, there will be shift. This is not a diluting the message, but understanding that different mediums communicate better.

im going to summarize this as follows:"if you dont own a copy of both dataflow I and dataflow II you don't take your design education seriously"that plain and simple. its the diagram bible. its that good. period. just buy them. best 100 bucks you'll ever spend in your life.

A lot of the material in this book doesn't amount to much more than eye candy, but I find it useful because it offers some different ideas into how information graphics can be visualized. At the very least it can make you pause and wonder how you might approach providing static information. I'm glad I got it. Also, this same book was $78 in the store and I got it for much cheaper from Amazon. Personally, I like work as presented in this book because I believe that form and function can coexist and that seems to be something that plays a role in the future of design. There is an idea that a design must be either form or function, the former being the negative. The examples in this book show this to be an outmoded way of thinking and approaching design. In my world, something that is pleasing or engaging invites the non-designer to explore the information. That's a plus in a world where most people take information for granted. That's my two cents and I hope you enjoy the book. One last thing. I got this book not only new, but sealed. Amazon did a great job on this order.