CHRISTOPHER MOOREHEAD

Collaborative & Transformational Design Leader

I am a licensed professional engineer and graphic designer with a passion for typography and information design, particularly in the areas of navigation/wayfinding, typographic legibility, type deconstruction, and the effective visual display of complex information streams.

I have been a member of OCAD University's Faculty of Design since 2011, and currently teach Visual Analytics & Data Visualization, as well as Wayfinding & Information Systems. In previous years, I have also taught Typography 1, Typography 2: Structures, Advanced Typography, Communication: Surface/Object/Space (3D design), and Graphic Design 1 core studio.

Outside of OCAD, I hold the position of Director, Information Design, with the Digital Services practice group at multinational accounting, consulting, and professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. As leader of the PwC Information Design team, I focus on providing creative direction, managing complex design projects, and developing new business opportunities. Our multi-disciplinary team of designers, visualization analysts, and software developers uses information design, data visualization, and structured typography best practices to analyze and interpret data, provide high-level insights, develop clear and focused solutions to complex business problems, and communicate key messages on behalf of corporate, institutional, and government clients.

Our areas of expertise include:

Information design — Depicting the insights of a data visualization in a printed or online format to support a story narrative, often using charts or graphs;

Information architecture — Designing and organizing information functionality, hierarchy, and content into systems and structures which enable intuitive navigation and facilitate efficient management of information;

Data visualization — Visualizing complex information streams and geospatial data, in static or interactive formats, to tell compelling stories and uncover valuable insights; 

Analytic dashboard design — Displaying client metrics and KPIs in an intuitive, easy-to-use format that will transform client data into usable action items;

Advanced reporting — Creating modular, server-deployed reporting tools which greatly reduce the number of reports issued and the effort required to produce them, while improving their accuracy;

UX/UI design — Designing specialized applications through the development of personas and journey maps, design and facilitation of co-creation workshops, design of information architecture, user interface design, visual design, and usability testing.

Design system development — Reducing the cost of design through systems constructed around robust, scalable architectures using libraries of design components which facilitate building prototypes “on the fly”, greatly compressing design cycles.

From Engineering to Graphic Design

Whenever I explain to anyone exactly what I do for a living, the first question that I'm always asked is: How did an engineer end up in graphic design? An interesting question, indeed.

Before attending design school, I worked for over 15 years as a mechanical engineer in a number of industry sectors, including automotive, computer hardware manufacturing, government, and consulting. My final engineering job was in the aerospace industry in North Carolina, designing and manufacturing air navigation and control surface positioning systems for US Navy fighter and electronic warfare aircraft. I also became an expert at navigating the byzantine intricacies of the US Federal Aviation Regulations—perhaps the most incomprehensible series of documents ever written.

My ongoing interest in graphic design and typography, combined with an intense discomfort with the ethical implications of my role as part of the North American military/industrial complex, eventually led me to the Ontario College of Art & Design (now OCAD University), where I entered the graphic design program in 2004.

During the summer of 2007, while still a student at OCAD, I was accepted into the summer design program at the Basel School of Design, where I had the privilege of studying under the direction of legendary German/Swiss designer and educator Wolfgang Weingart. The program eschewed any use of computer technology—we cut type from specimen sheets with x-acto knives, and set it by hand. When Professor Weingart deemed our designs to be acceptable, we were instructed to tape them down. (To this day, I consider the words "tape it!" to be the highest form of design praise.) I returned from Switzerland with an empty wallet but a new insight into typography, composition, colour, and form.

During my time at OCAD, I became interested in the emerging field of information design and data visualization. I quickly came to realize that, given the vast quantity of digital (and analog) information with which we are flooded on a continuous basis, the ability to depict complex information streams visually in a manner easily understood by the average reader would become the single most important skill that a designer could possess. Simply put: those who can control the visualization of data will rule the world.

I was also fascinated by wayfinding—a specialized area of design focused on assisting people in successful and efficient navigation, both of the built (urban) environment and virtual environments such as websites. Wayfinding and information design seemed like a natural fit for the unusual skill set I had acquired through my engineering and graphic design education and professional practice.

In a sense, my job has not changed much from my aerospace days. I am still involved in the field of navigation—however, the end result of my current work is far more beneficial to society!