Born 1942 in England
M.A. degree in illustration from the Royal College of Art, London, 1966
1966–1977
London, England
Illustration and Graphic Design
clients
British Broadcasting Corporation; British Design Council; Central Office of Information; Conran Design Group; Ford Motor Company; H.J. Heinz Company; Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank; Island Records; Letraset; Ovaltine; Royal Dutch Shell Company
work appeared in these publications:
New Scientist; New Society; Radio Times; Woman’s Mirror
Bronowski’s The Ascent of Man
Daily Express; Observer; Sunday Times; Daily Telegraph; Times
1978–1994
New York City
Time Magazine
1978–80 Designer: charts, diagrams
1980–84 Deputy Art Director: charts, cover concepts, art direction
1984–88 Executive Art Director: charts, covers, administration
1988–94 Graphics Director
Freelance work while at Time
clients
American Express; Associated Press; BMW; Champion Paper; Chase; Citibank; Immunex; Kaisertech; Mastercard; Manufacturer’s Hanover; Oracle Computers; Pulsar Watches; Scitex; Sonat; Timberland; Transamerica; 13-30 Corporation
Magazines
Adweek; Aldus; Channels; Cosmopolitan; Digital Review; Details; Esquire; Folio; Fortune; Geo; Glamour; GQ; Home Office; How; ID; Inc; Kids Discover; Life; Mademoiselle; Married Woman; Modern Maturity; Money; Personal Computing; Publish; Readers Digest; Rolling Stone; Smithsonian; Sports Illustrated; Sports Illustrated for Kids; Spy; Step-by-Step; New York Times; Toronto Life; Travel and Leisure
1994
Westport, Ct.
Sabbatical from Time
Started own company: Explanation Graphics
Since 1994, work has appeared in these publications, among others:
Attaché (USAir magazine); American Health; American Lawyer; Amicus Journal; Atlantic; Business 2.0; CIO Magazine; Details; Discover; Encyclopaedia Britannica; Esquire; Field & Stream; Fortune; GQ; George Magazine; Good Magazine; Harper’s; House & Garden ; IBM’s Think Magazine; Information Week; Kids Discover; Mens Health; Modern Maturity; Money; The New Yorker; New York Times; Print; Rolling Stone; Self (Contributing Editor,1995-98); Sports Illustrated; Time; Time for Kids; Encyclopaedia of 20th Century; Vanity Fair; Women’s Health; World Business; Worth
other projects include work for:
Apple; Associated Press; Banker’s Trust; Bertelsmann Foundation; Bristol Myers Squibb; CNN.com; CVS; Escape Sailboats; Estée Lauder; Fortune Conferences (animated films); The Future of Life Conference, 2003; GE Capital; Gillette; GM; IBM; Markle Foundation, Merritt Parkway Conservancy; New America Foundation (Spectrum Policy); Nike; The Planet Project; Random House; Sony; Time Education Program; United Healthcare; Visa; Xalto
teaching
1980-2009: The Stanford Publishing Course, Stanford U, California
2011-2012: The Yale University Publishing Course
1983-2004: The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, St Petersburg, Florida
1984-1993: Information Graphics Workshop, for industry professionals, held at Rhode Island School of Design (workshop creator and leader)
February 2011: Artist-in-residence, Stevenson University, Baltimore, Maryland
lectures/USA
at: Apple Design Seminar, NYC; American Statistical Association; Center for Communication, NYC; CNN, Atlanta; Columbia U, NYC; Cooper-Hewitt Museum, NYC; Crain’s Communications; Christian Science Monitor; Edgewise2000, NYC; Folio Magazine Seminars; How Conferences 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003; Indiana U; Ithaca College; Mag 2000 (SPD conference, Monterey); Maryland College; National Association of Broadcasters; National Computer Graphics Association; National Park Service; Parsons School of Design; Rochester Institute of Technology; Rodale Magazines; School of Visual Arts, NYC; Society of Newspaper Design Conferences 1983-2004; Software Publishers Association; Stanford U; Syracuse U; Technology, Entertainment & Design Conference (TED)1990, 1999, 2000, 2009; UCDA, St. Louis; USA Today; The Democratic Policy Committee, DC, November; Vanguard TTI, San Jose and at Art Directors’ Clubs in: Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Jose, Seattle, Washington DC
lectures/abroad
Chemisch Weekblad, Netherlands; Editora Abril, Sao Paulo, Brazil; EIRDGC, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Fortune Global Forum, Barcelona, Spain; IFRA, London; IFRA, Munich; Indian Express Newspapers, Bombay, India; Macworld, Tokyo, Japan; O Globo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; PINC, Amsterdam; Royal College of Art, London; SND/S, Copenhagen, Denmark; Japanese Art Directors Workshop, Takayama, Japan; Straits Times Newspapers, Singapore; University of Navarra, Spain (3); Society of News Design, Buenos Aires, Argentina
advisory positions
Chairman: AIGA Graphic Explanations Show, 1982
Program Chairman: National Computer Graphics Association Conference, 1992
Board of Advisors: The Poynter Institute, Florida, 2001-2005
Board of Advisors: Business 2.0, 2000-2003
Board of Directors: AIGA, 2001-2003
awards
Gold awards from the Society of Newspaper Designers
Others (for charts and art direction) from: AIGA; Art Directors Club of New York; Creativity; D&AD, Silver Medal (London); DESI; Malofiej Information Graphics Awards (Silver Medal) ; Print Magazine; National Magazine Awards; Society of Illustrators; Society of Publication Designers Lifetime Achievement Award from The Society of News Design, 2010
retrospective Exhibition
Stevenson University, April-June, 2011
books
Designer’s Guide to Creating Charts and Diagrams
1984 (Watson-Guptill, NY). Paperback,1990
Designing Pictorial Symbols
1985 (Watson-Guptill, NY). Paperback edition, 1991
Pictorial Maps
1991 (Watson-Guptill, NY)
The Best in Diagrammatic Graphics
1994 (Quarto/Batsford, London, UK)
Wordless Diagrams
2005 (Bloomsbury USA)
Nigel Holmes on Information design
An interview with Steven Heller, 2006
(Pinto Books, NY)
Pinhole and the Expedition to the Jungle, 2010 (children’s book)
(Pinto Books, NY)
The Book of Everything, 2012
(Lonely Planet)
small booklets
The Smallest-Ever Guide to the Internet for Busy Executives, 1996
(7 editions)
The Smallest-Ever Guide to Life Sciences, 2003
(with Juan Enriquez, Harvard University)
Drawing to Explain, 1998
Pictograms, 2003
Red Hat (wordless story), 2008
Visual Language, 2011
contributions to books
2 chapters in Understanding USA
2000, (Richard Saul Wurman)
Diagnostic Tests for Men
Diagnostic Tests for Women
2001 (Wurman/United Health Care)
6 chapters in Understanding Children
2002 (Wurman/United Health Care)
Understanding Healthcare
2004 (Wurman/Johnson & Johnson)
Blue Planet Run
2007 (Rick Smolan, Against All Odds)
The Obama Time Capsule
2009 (Rick Smolan, Against All Odds)
The Human Face of Big Data
2012 (Rick Smolan, Against All Odds)
short animated videos
The Ted Conferences, 2000, 2010
Fortune Business Conference, Aspen, 2001
Good Magazine (Website) 2008
National Geographic (iPad) 2010-2013
Why I love cheese 2012