Review
"In this technoscientific century, with knowledge doubling every decade, researchers and designers alike need to ramp up their presentation of the material they describe. This beautifully illustrated book shows how."—Edward O. Wilson, University Research Professor Emeritus and Honorary Curator in Entomology, Harvard University
(Edward O. Wilson 20110914)"A thoughtful and useful series of recommendations that will actually help you understand what you are doing when you are trying to make yourself clear."— Milton Glaser (Milton Glaser 20110908)
"Anyone—scientist or not--who is interested in using pictures to teach, to convey information, or to catch attention must study this book. It is splendid. In it you learn: what information can be conveyed graphically, how to design images for maximum intelligibility and interest, how to draw in the reader, and what successful images look like. As a bonus, you get a cheerfully readable style, you learn about some extremely interesting research, you see how some very good researchers, drawn from across science, think about what they do in terms of images, and you have the pleasure of a brilliantly laid out book."—George M. Whitesides, Woodford L. and Ann A. Flowers University Professor, Harvard University (George M. Whitesides 20111003)
“…unique…an essential guide to literacy for fields that are essential to all our lives.”—Steven Heller, School of Visual Arts
(Steven Heller 20110916)"Scientists presenting even simple data to busy journal readers are well advised to invest some thought in their visual comprehensibility and impact. This unique book provides exactly what they need: copious case studies across the disciplines, wise principles and the authors' outstanding creativity, experience and integrity - in both technical and ethical senses - in visualizing the results of science."—Philip Campbell, Editor-in-Chief, Nature
(Philip Campbell 20111003)"This guide is the first book to be exclusively dedicated to providing direct advice on how to improve scientific graphics through actual examples. In this way Visual Strategies is among a handful of resources and comprises a valuable, important, and useful guide for scientists, illustrators, and data designers alike."—Cell
(Cell )"Visual Strategies speaks individually to readers to cultivate unique interpretations of how design principles can improve their data representations." —Anne M. Andrews, ACS Chemical Neuroscience
(Anne M. Andrews ACS Chemical Neuroscience )"[Visual Strategies] will be useful for anyone who wants to make clear presentations of data of any kind. ...The book offers general guidelines, with illustrative graphics, and many real-life case studies. The authors show how they would improve actual graphics, and they invite improvements to their improvements on their Web site, www.visual-strategies.org. ...Ms. Frankel and Dr. DePace speak as if they were looking up from the laboratory bench. Usually their suggestions are simple, and the results are striking. Add color, subtract color, color only one part of an image - these kinds of relatively simple steps can add clarity"—Cornelia Dean, The New York Times
(Cornelia Dean New York Times )"Smartly and accessibly designed."—Steven Heller, New York Times Book Review
(New York Times )
About the Author
Felice C. Frankel is a research scientist in the Center for Materials Science and Engineering at MIT and the recipient of numerous awards and honors for her work in visual communication. Among her previous books is Envisioning Science: The Design and Craft of the Science Image. Angela H. DePace is an assistant professor in the Department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School, where her lab studies the mechanism and evolution of gene regulation. They both live in Boston. Stefan Sagmeister, a leading graphic designer and typographer, has a design firm in New York City.
