Our guest lecture this week was by Giorgia Lupi who regaled us about all things data collections and design. She spoke in her lilting Italian accent via zoom and captured our attention immediately. Allowing an inside peak inside her brain is so revealing. To say she is a creative genius would be an understatement and her skills do not go unnoticed. Pentagram asked her to be a partner a little over a year ago and she is thriving in that environment. 

When asked how she got into data collecting her story was so endearing. She has always been a data collector from a young age, her grandmother owned a tailoring shop and for fun she would go in and organize the buttons by size, shape, color, one hole or two holes, and other characteristics. She then went on to major in architecture because of her need to merge creativity and numbers. She got very interested in urban mapping and recognizing patterns — even about herself. She said, “Everything I design needs to be aesthetically pleasing to my own eye” and she said that every designer probably feels that way. 

Her data collection does not transform into traditional graphs and numbers but beautiful and intriguing designs that make the data easier to digest while being beautiful. She showed several pieces of her work and challenged us, “Do you feel something through these designs.” Yes! We did feel something, all of her projects are meaningfully and incredibly deep. Listening to her speak makes me feel like anything is possible. She blazed her own path in information design and does not play by the rules and that is a lesson all of us can learn from her. She continues to break down stereotypes in her design field and we are encouraged and inspired by her story. 

When Steven was announcing Giorgia, he said ‘If do not already have it, you need her book called “Dear Data”, it is a must read.” So, to make things easier, here is the link, http://www.dear-data.com/thebook. Thank you so much for the wisdom, Giorgia, we so appreciated it!