Economy of Information

I believe that the “economy of information” is a new principal of design in the age of   information saturation.

An amazing amount of work fails because it attempts to carry too much information rather than too little. 
It seems to have become a common assumption that equates the volume of information that’s presented with the complexity of a design.

Once what was looked at and thought tobe “too busy” is now being reconsidered as possibly reflective of modern life. This begins to confuse a statement with an aesthetic, and inadvertently gives permission to unintentionally unskilled design.

I’m not going to give this a blank pass… I believe that too much information can effectively overwhelm the viewer, turning their attention away. It’s counter productive to the intention of connecting with attention.

I repeat… The economy of information, the pairing down to the impactful detail, becomes a Principal of Design in the new era of information.

This isn’t an excuse to dumb down the work that’s being done. Quite the opposite, it’s a challenge to understand one’s own work, it’s motivations, it’s needs, and push at those understandings in the clearest possible way through the work itself. Even work, that at first glance that appears simple, can be full of complexity.

 While there are a vast number of  artists that have this pretty well figured out, I’m still working on it, and honestly, what I come up with often steps over the line and doesn’t work… and other times it finds its target and pops.

Mental note… Economy of information, paired down to the impactful details, a new Principal of Design in an era of information…