University of Palermo
Palermo, Italy
PhD, Associate Professor, Communication Design
What is the motivation to work in information design?
Information design allows us to work with complexity and translate it into a visual language, one where you can read images and see words, making even the most abstract and complex content culturally accessible. For a designer, information design represents a wonderful and continuous challenge.
What are you working on at the moment?
I have always worked on what Albe Steiner in the 1960s defined as “graphics of public utility”, that is to say communication design commissioned mostly by public or cultural institutions, addressing social and educational topics, aimed at a broad audience and serving no other purpose than to provide ethically sound information.
Within this framework, I have been focusing for many years on emergency design, in an increasingly broad sense of the term, addressing different kinds of emergencies and involving students through workshops and thesis projects.
At the moment, we are working on the creation of a visual alphabet that can narrate the values expressed by the European Charter, at a time when Europe needs to strengthen itself by knowing and recognising its own cultural and identity roots.
What is a project you consider a great example of information design?
Two projects have accompanied me since my early studies in visual communication design: the pictogram system that Dutch designer Bob Noorda, based in Milan, created for the Touring Club Italiano, which became a true visual alphabet for the TCI red guides; and the visual identity system (including pictograms, maps, and signage) that Mimmo Castellano designed for the Aeolian Islands in Sicily.
What is your dream project?
I have more than one dream. I would love to design information systems that help migrants orient themselves and learn about the land they have arrived in; or systems that support children with learning difficulties along their educational journey; and systems that empower women whose fundamental rights are being violated, helping them to become aware of their situation and learn how to protect themselves.
There is truly so much to do for us designers, as we hold great social responsibility in translating complex content into clear and readable visual forms.