Nigel Holmes (born 15 June 1942,Swanland,England) is a British/Americangraphic designer, author, and theorist, who focuses oninformation graphics andinformation design.

Graduating fromRoyal College of Art inLondon in 1966, Holmes ran his own successful graphic design practice in England.^[1] From 1966 to 1977 he worked as a freelance illustrator and graphic designer for clients such asBritish Broadcasting Corporation,Ford Motor Company, andIsland Records. His work appeared inNew Scientist,Radio Times,The Observer,Daily Telegraph, andThe Times.^[2]

In 1977, art director Walter Bernard hired him to work in the map and chart department ofTime magazine, where Holmes later became graphics director.^[1]

After a sabbatical he started his own company, which has explained things to and for a wide variety of clients, includingApple,Fortune,Nike,The Smithsonian Institution,Sony,United Healthcare,US Airways, andVisa.^[3]

In 2011Stevenson University held a retrospective show of his work titledPicture This - The Explanation Design of Nigel Holmes.^[4][5]

In 2016 an exhibition of his work from 1960 to 2015 was shown at the QVIG Conference inMunich,Germany,^[6] and also at the VisCom Gallery, Schoonover Center,Ohio University^[7]

In 2026, Holmes's illustrations will feature inWhat We Ask Google, published by Random House^[8] and written bySimon Rogers.

Partial list.

• Designer's Guide to Creating Charts and Diagrams (1984Watson-Guptill)ISBN 0-8230-1315-4
• Designing Pictorial Symbols (1985 Watson-Guptill with Rose DeNeve)ISBN 0-8230-1327-8
• Pictorial Maps (1991 Watson-Guptill)ISBN 0-8230-4013-5
• Best in Diagrammatic Graphics (1993 Rotovision)ISBN 0-8230-6305-4
• Wordless Diagrams (2005Bloomsbury)ISBN 1-5823-4522-8
• Pinhole and the Expedition to the Jungle (2010 Jorge Pinto Books)ISBN 978-1-9349-7830-6
• The Book of Everything: A Visual Guide to Travel and the World (2012Lonely Planet)ISBN 978-1-74220-963-0
• Instant Expert: A Visual Guide to the Skills You've Always Wanted (2014 Lonely Planet)ISBN 978-1-74321-999-7
• Crazy Competitions (2018Taschen edited by Julius Wiedemann)ISBN 978-3-8365-3908-1
• The Bigger Book of Everything: A Visual Guide to Travel and the World (2020 Lonely Planet)ISBN 978-1-83869-041-0
• Joyful Infographics: A Friendly, Human Approach to Data (2022CRC Press)ISBN 978-1-03211-558-0
• Let’s Get Infografit: A Graphic Look at Exercise and Health (2025CRC Press)ISBN 978-1-03277-727-6

• The Holy War, June 67 (1967Cornmarket Press, edited by Christopher Angeloglou and Brian Haynes)
• English Landscapes (1973BBC byW.G. Hoskins)
• The Making of the English (1973 BBC byBarry Cunliffe)
• Focus on Health (1973Nelson Ann Burkitt)
• The Ascent of Man (1973Little, Brown and Company, byJacob Bronowski)
• Understanding USA (2000TED Conference byRichard Saul Wurman)
• Information Anxiety 2 (2001Que by Richard Saul Wurman)
• Diagnostic Tests for Men (2001 Top Books by Richard Saul Wurman)
• Understanding Children (2002 Top Books by Richard Saul Wurman)
• Understanding Healthcare (2004 Top Books by Richard Saul Wurman)
• The Enlightened Bracketologist: The Final Four of Everything (2007 Bloomsbury, by Mark Reiter, andRichard Sandomir)
• Blue Planet Run: The Race to Provide Safe Drinking Water to the World. (2007 Earth Aware Editions, byRick Smolan, Jennifer Erwitt, and a foreword byRobert Redford)
• The Obama Time Capsule (2009 Against All Odds Productions, by Rick Smolan, Jennifer Erwitt, and Phoebe Smolan)
• Presimetrics: What the Facts Tell Us About How the Presidents Measure Up On the Issues We Care About (2010Black Dog & Leventhal by Mike Kimel and Michael Kanell)
• Graphic: Inside the Sketchbooks of the World’s Great Graphic Designers (2010 The Monacelli Press bySteven Heller andLita Talarico)
• Gerd Arntz: Graphic Designer (2010 010 Publishers edited by Ed Annink and Max Bruinsma)
• The Human Face of Big Data (2012 Against All Odds Productions, by Rick Smolan, and Jennifer Erwitt)
• Information Graphics (2012 Taschen, by Sandra Rendgen)
• Raw Data: Infographic Designers' Sketchbooks (2014 Thames & Hudson Ltd by Steven Heller and Rick Landers)
• Understanding the World. The Atlas of Infographics (2014 Taschen, by Sandra Rendgen)
• The Good Fight (2017 Against All Odds Productions, by Rick Smolan, and Jennifer Erwitt)

• On Information Design (2006 Jorge Pinto Books by Steven Heller)

Partial list

• 1980-2009The Stanford Professional Publishing Course. Developed live action charts on stage, with students taking part.^[9]Video onYouTube
• 1984-1993Rhode Island School of Design. An annual weeklong workshop for practicing information graphics designers, conducted with Dave Gray, Robert Lockwood, Ed Miller, George Rorick, John Monahon and guest lecturers.^[10][11]
• 1990TED 2
• 1999TED 9
• 2000TED 10 Presentation: The Surplus and The Debt onYouTube
• 2009TED (25th anniversary)
• 2011-2018Yale Publishing Course (the successor toThe Stanford Professional Publishing Course)

• Nigel Holmes homepage
• AIGA Essay
• Eye Magazine interview

• 1942 births
• Alumni of the Royal College of Art
• British graphic designers
• British illustrators
• Information graphic designers
• Living people
• Data and information visualization experts

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from February 2021
• Articles with hCards