Infoposters are not Infographics
I’m a big fan of information design and information graphics (infographics), and have enjoyed teaching the subject in the past. However, I have found there to be a misconception amongst many people, even among my students and especially on the Internet, about what actually constitutes infographics.
The current zeitgeist is seeing a surge in of interest in data, and this is often requiring information graphics to communicate that data effectively. This trend is propagated by and large by the internet, through popular blogs and sharing over Tumblr and Pinterest feeds, but also because of the mere fact that the world has more data to deal with than ever before. You can see that by looking at the Data section of The Guardian to see how much more prominent data is becoming in understanding current affairs.
The misconception I’m concerned about derives from this propagation over the internet. Much of what you find online is poorly considered pieces of communication, often intended to be viral in some way. There are certain qualities you can use to identify where a piece of design stands; either between being information graphics, or merely information.
Majority of the piece is text and not much else.
Often the first indicator. An infographic needs to be as concise and direct as possible and over complicating it with text can often harm the piece of communication. Text needs to be balanced appropriately with graphic data.
Slap-on graphics in an attempt to beautify numbers.
Placing large numbers next to a pictogram is not infographic. Digits are not effective in understanding relative scale, importance, or context, and pictograms are redundant if they are not being utilised to represent data — this is the whole point of information graphics.
Lack of data comparison for the information to really mean anything.
Turning numbers into a graph is good communication, but not great. The information used will need to be considered within some kind of context and comparative data is extremely helpful in truly understanding its significance.
Taking into consideration these simple points will help identify both successful and unsuccessful information graphics, as well as guide designers to create convincing and well considered pieces of information design.
