Richard Saul Wurman
| Richard Saul Wurman | |
|---|---|
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| Born | April 26, 1935 Philadelphia, Penn. |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Architecture, information architecture, design |
| Institutions | 19.20.21; TEDMED |
Richard Saul Wurman (March 26, 1935) is an architect and graphic designer who is considered to be a pioneer in the practice of making information easily understandable. Wurman has written and designed over 80 books, and created the TED conferences, but remains associated only with TEDMED.
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[edit] Early life and education
Wurman was born and grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He earned his Master of Architecture degree with highest honors from the University of Pennsylvania in 1959, and holds a Doctorate of Fine Arts by the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Wurman was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the Art Institute of Boston.[citation needed]
[edit] Career
In 1976, Wurman coined the phrase "information architect" in response to the large amount of information generated in contemporary society, which is often presented with little care or order. Wurman said, "I thought the explosion of data needed an architecture, needed a series of systems, needed systemic design, a series of performance criteria to measure it."[1]
In 1978, he briefly served as the Dean for the Cal Poly Pomona College of Environmental Design.[2]
Wurman created the popular ACCESS travel guide books, which were innovative in their use of mapping content by neighborhood. Simple but effective use of colored text allowed readers to separate, locate and evaluate restaurants, museums, parks, and other categorical destinations quickly. With this series of books, Wurman firmly established the purpose of information architecture.
Wurman has been awarded several grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Guggenheim Fellowship, two Graham fellowships, and two Chandler fellowships. He was made an AIA Fellow in 1976 and entered the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame in 2003. He was a 2004 Medalist of the AIGA – formerly the American Institute of Graphic Arts – which honored him as a design conference impresario.[3] He is a Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council.[4] His current project is an attempt to create and standardize measurement tools as a means of understanding cities.[5]
[edit] Personal life
Wurman moved from Philadelphia to Los Angeles in 1978, then to Newport, Rhode Island in 1993. At one point, he was married to Dorothy Horseman, with whom he had two children, Reven Wurman and Joshua Wurman. He is married to Gloria Nagy, an author, and has four children, including Joshua Wurman, a noted atmospheric scientist.
[edit] Works
1960s
- Cities: A Comparison of Form and Scale;
- The Notebook and Drawings of Louis I. Kahn;
- Urban Atlas: 20 American Cities (with Joseph Passonneau);
- Various Dwellings Described in a Comparative Manner.
1970s
- Aspen Visible;
- Guidebook to Guidebooks;
- Making the City Observable;
- Man Made Philadelphia (with J.A. Gallery);
- The Nature of Recreation (with Alan Levy & Joel Katz);
- Our Man Made Environment Book 7 (with Alan Levy);
- What-If, Could-Be: An Historic Fable of the Future;
- Yellow Pages Career Library (12 volumes);
- Yellow Pages of Learning Resources.
1980s
- Baseball Access;
- Dog Access;
- Football Access;
- Hawaii Access;
- Las Vegas Access;
- London Access;
- Los Angeles Access;
- Medical Access;
- New Orleans Access;
- New York City Access;
- Olympic Access;
- Paris Access;
- Polaroid Access;
- Rome Access;
- San Francisco Access;
- Summer Games Access;
- Tokyo Access;
- Hats;
- Information Anxiety;
- Wall Street Journal Guide to Understanding Money & Markets;
- Washington, DC Access;
- What Will Be Has Always Been, The Words of Louis I. Kahn;
- Winter Games;
1990s
- Barcelona Access;
- Boston Access;
- C, The Charleston Guide;
- California Wine Country Access;
- Chicago Access;
- Danny Goodman's Macintosh Handbook (with Danny Goodman);
- Florence/Venice/Milan Access;
- Follow the Yellow Brick Road (with Loring Leifer);
- Fortune Guide to Investing in the 90's;
- Information Architects (co-published with Graphis);
- N, The Newport Guide;
- On Time, Airline Guide to North America;
- Office Access;
- San Diego Access;
- Twin Peaks Access (with David Lynch);
- USAtlas.
2000s
- Understanding USA;
- Can I Afford To Retire?;
- Information Anxiety2;
- Drugs, Prescription, Non-prescription & Herbal;
- Heart Disease & Cardiovascular Health;
- Wills, Trusts & Estate Planning;
- Diagnostic Tests for Men;
- Diagnostic Tests for Women;
- Understanding Children (with Civitas);
- 1000 – Richard Saul Wurman's Who's Really Who;
- Understanding Healthcare.
[edit] References
- ^ InfoDesign: Understanding by Design | Special on R.S. Wurman. Informationdesign.org (2003-12-31). Retrieved on 2012-02-04.
- ^ Stipp, David. (1997-06-23) RICHARD SAUL WURMAN THE KING OF ACCESS Q: WHAT DO BILL GATES, DANIEL BOORSTIN, MARVIN MINSKY, HORACE DEETS, HERBIE HANCOCK, NICHOLAS NEGROPONTE, EDWARD DE BONO, AND A SLEW OF OTHER ELITE DOERS AND THINKERS HAVE IN COMMON? A: THEY'RE ALL FRIENDS OF TED. – June 23, 1997. Money.cnn.com. Retrieved on 2012-02-04.
- ^ Richard Saul Wurman, 2004 AIGA Medalist.
- ^ Design Futures Council Senior Fellows. di.net
- ^ http://www.192021.org 19.20.21.
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