From Software Engineering to Information Design

Shen, Yvette

Most academic methodologies are developed from a prescribed methodological process that is limited to a specific area of study. However, the disciplinary landscape in which the knowledge is established is being rapidly reconfigured. Given the vast varieties of practices and knowledge base required from information designers, it is even more crucial for them to look outside of the traditional visual design fields and seek diversities for better research and creation methods.

The two disciplines, software engineering and information design, are often perceived as one provides technical solutions to the other. This essay intends to move beyond the common perception, and identify relevant issues in software engineering design that resonate with the information design process. The issues include the multi-component planning approach; the human-oriented agile method; design concepts such as abstraction, decomposition, component modularity, hierarchical relationship, and extensibility. The perspectives from software engineering design and information design is examined through units of analysis, terminology explanations, and forms of communications. The collective design methods and principles provide a systematic framework to the methodological thinking in information design. The discussion serves the purpose of encouraging more conceptual-based conversations between information design and other disciplines, especially in the fields of science and technology.

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