Disorderly reasoning in information design

The importance of information visualization as a means of transforming data into visual, understandable form is now embraced across university campuses and research institutes world-wide. Yet, the role of designers in this field of activity is often overlooked by the dominant scientific and technological interests in data visualization, and a corporate culture reliant on off-the-shelf visualization tools. This article is an attempt to describe the value of design thinking in information visualization with reference to Horst Rittelʹs (1988) definition of “disorderly reasoning,” and to frame design as a critical act of translating between scientific, technical, and aesthetic interests.