The Art of Transforming Raw Data in to Information
Balaya Moharana, Head of Technology, DeHaat Agrevolution
A picture is worth a thousand words. A well-made Information Design would be worth a lot more. The data-driven world that we inhabit now, with volumes of data being captured increasing exponentially — it’s ever more important that we have skill and capability to generate useful Information and Present them in ways that helps user’s Understanding, builds their Knowledge of the business and improves their Decision making capability.
Accessible & Digestible
Information Design is the practice of presenting information in a way that makes it most accessible and easily understood by the users. To make this happen, the Designer must understand very clearly the context and requirements based on which information is being presented.
How to Make Information Accessible
- Form Factor: Design for Mobile Application need to be decidedly different from the design for a Web based Application.
- Flow Factor: Identify the flows inherent in the information being presented. Information flows quite often derive from the underlying business process flows.
- Click Factor: Number of clicks it takes for the user to access the most frequently used views. Each click should be “justified” based on the Flow Factor.
How to Make Information Digestible
- Show, Don’t Tell: Text is tedious but Visuals are inviting. Information design should be as much as possible in visual elements and less in textual format.
- TMI — Too Much Information: Avoid presenting too much information in a single view. Find inherent hierarchy in the information stack, provide drill-down view. Find inherent flow in the information stack, provide step-by-step wizard view
- KYU — Know Your User: Understand the behavioral aspect of your users. For Example: The business role of the user — Executive, Operations, Research Teams, Field Agents etc. Demographics of the user — Age range, gender, ethnic preferences.
Business Impact
Solutions built on principles of Information Design help the users elevate their own understanding of the business itself, beyond the obvious efficiency it brings to daily usage and operations. The design also helps the solution scale and evolve well along with changes in business.
