Before Infographics: Diagram’s Role in Shaping Information Design for General Audiences through Pre-Digital Book Packaging

Abstract Before information design, infographics, or data visualization existed, British book packagers (designers and producers of books sold on to publishers to distribute under their own imprint) were pioneering diagrammatic techniques now widely used to communicate complex information for non-expert audiences. British book packaging was established by émigré Wolfgang Foges (1910–1986) and further developed by former employee Bruce Robertson at Diagram Visual Information. Both owed a great debt to Isotype. Foges and his team at Adprint (and later Rathbone and Aldus Books) worked with Otto and Marie Neurath, and Robertson worked alongside Marie Neurath at Rathbone Books. Book packaging contributed a largely untold chapter in information design history and Robertson (1935–2014), Diagram’s co-founder, was one of the twentieth century’s most prolific book packagers and producers of pre-digital visual reference books, and leading creator of charts and diagrams of his time. Diagram specialized in translating technical data into clear, engaging visual forms—condensing complex information into accessible book designs, excelling at developing visual simplification using a wide range of diagrammatic techniques. Based on personal interviews and archival research, this article will reveal Diagram’s origins, methods, and relationship with Isotype, book packaging, and information design.