The amount of information in the world is huge and growing at an exponential rate. The avalanche of visual stimuli is also at its maximum. In the midst of it all, how can we discern what is important?

To help us structure the world, often without our realising it, we use information visualisation, or information design. Its aim is to present information as clearly as possible in a visual form.

Everyday, in the widespread media landscape and on social media channels, we see infographics and other visual representations of information produced in an easily understandable form.

It's not about gimmickry with visual elements, but about the simplest possible way of presenting something so that it can be properly understood. The golden rule of information design is to choose the presentation that produces the clearest possible result.

Data visualisation is particularly important in science: complex issues are easier and faster to grasp when information is presented in a visual way.

A team of students from the Department of Art and Media at Aalto University is participating in the FinnGen research project on Finnish genetic information, led by the University of Helsinki.

‘Data visualisation is part of the process of making a secure environment user-friendly. Visualisation is one of the factors that enable the data to be widely used. Aalto's visualisation team has been central to this process, as we genetic researchers would not have had such expertise’, says Aarno Palotie, Scientific Director of FinnGen.

With their expertise in information design and interactive data visualisation, the students and teachers at the university have worked with the genetic researchers to produce a visual representation of the research.

‘The various tools developed in collaboration with the Aalto team for visualising the results highlight the characteristics of the FinnGen data and help researchers to notice connections between variables or results that might otherwise go unnoticed’, continues FinnGen's Project Manager Mervi Aavikko.

Information design helps us to separate the essential from the misleading, and to make sense of the world around us.

The importance of correct information

As more and more data becomes available we are faced with more false information. Moreover, data is also actively used as a tool for opinion-forming and lobbying.

Misinformation is the deliberate or unintentional dissemination of false or inaccurate information and disinformation is intentionally misleading or false information disseminate, in order to influence the recipient's actions or opinions.

Although images and text are mutually reinforcing and not substitutes for each other, images have enormous power. Well-crafted graphics can add to our knowledge and understanding of the world and, at their best, they can also help to change it. Graphics are also a more powerful tool than text in misleading people.

Fortunately, deliberate misrepresentation of information is relatively rare, but we witness it too often these days. For example, intentionally and unintentionally made graphics that contain incorrect information or give the wrong impression are still spread across the widespread media and social media channels.

The accessibility of correct information is also important from a democratic and inclusive perspective: it is important that everyone has equal access to right data and data-based information.

For researchers and journalists, the accuracy of data presentation is particularly important – and this is where information designers can help. Indeed, a key ethical guideline for information designers is that visualisations should only present true claims about the real world, in the clearest possible way.

It is their duty to take great care that the information is correct and that it comes from a reliable source. The way in which the information is presented must be chosen so as not to mislead the reader and distract from the real features of the material, and the presentation must give a true picture of the interrelationship of the facts.

Ethical issues are a concern to all designers of visual communication.