Dr Josefina Bravo
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Lecturer
- Pathway Lead, MA Communication Design: Information Design Pathway; Co-lead, Graphic Design Pathway
- PGT Admissions Tutor
- Module convenor
Office
Room T15, Typography & Graphic Communication, TOB2 (Building 21)Building location
Whiteknights campusAreas of interest
I work in the broad area of Information Design. My interests focus on graphic approaches for presenting information to help people understand, remember, and act on information. These approaches include (but are not limited to) diagrams, visualisations, text, image, and layout. I have a special interest in the design of instructions (with recent focus in health contexts), and instructional texts used in health, education, and climate education contexts.
Postgraduate supervision
I welcome opportunities to supervise doctoral research in areas including theory and practice of information design, user-centred design, user research, and participatory approaches to design.Teaching
At Master’s level, I teach across modules that encompass reflective practice, and theory and history; I also supervise dissertations. At undergraduate level, I teach ‘Visualising Information’ and supervise Real Jobs assignments and dissertations.Research projects
‘Information Design for Diagnostics’ (2021–22). I served as Postdoctoral Research Assistant, working within a multidisciplinary team to design and carry out studies with users, synthesizing and translating findings into design outputs, and promoting research findings and design outputs. Project funded by UKRI/AHRC. For more information, visit the project website.
‘Transforming communication through collaborative co-design for resources in chronic childhood constipation & pain in young people’ (2021–22). I served as Postdoctoral Research Assistant. I led the engagement with a range of stakeholders in healthcare, synthesised findings using visual methods, and developed design prototypes. Project funded through University of Reading and Royal Berkshire Hospital’s Collaborative Innovation Fund.
Background
My background is in design and graphic communication. Prior to relocating to the UK, I was a practising designer and educator in Chile. I taught graphic design in several universities there, and worked in editorial design, graphic design, and branding. My current professional practice is fully dedicated to information design, with a recent focus on projects in health communication and education. I completed a Master’s degree in information design in 2015, a PhD in 2020, and took up my academic position at the University of Reading in 2022.Academic qualifications
PhD, University of Reading (2020). ‘Communications for flood awareness: using information design to support people in the uptake of preparedness actions’
MA, Information Design, University of Reading (2015)
BA, School of Design, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (2002)
Awards and honours
Award in the Health category for ‘CWPAMS toolkit’. IIID Awards, International Institute for Information Design, Vienna, 2023
Jury Prize and Gold in the Didactics category for ‘Dear How To’. IIID Awards, International Institute for Information Design, Riga, 2017
Professional bodies/affiliations
International Institute of Information Design (IIID)
Design Network for Emergency Management (DNEM)