WHAT IS AN INFOGRAPHIC?
Infographics are traditionally viewed as visual elements such as charts, maps, or diagrams that aid comprehension of a given text-based content. Thus, a newspaper infographic on a breaking news accident is expected to faithfully record, using visuals, what has been explained in the accompanying text.
Visual representation of information can be more than just the manner in which we are able to record what has been discovered by other means.
They have the potential to become the process by which we can discern new meaning and discover new knowledge.
A classic example of an infographic that not merely illustrates the content but interprets it in a manner that was not possible otherwise, was produced by Dr. John Snow to identify the cause of cholera epidemic in Central London. By plotting the two available sets of data about number of deaths and their corresponding locations, Snow was able to pinpoint the notorious contaminated pump well.
fig. 1 Original map by Dr. John Snow showing the clusters of cholera cases in the London epidemic of 1854
Communication is always affected by the context in which it occurs.
Infographics, because they use a combination of images, words, and numbers, operate in a hybrid system of both the verbal and the visual.
Consequently they offer us the greatest opportunity to increase the effectiveness of our communication.
A given representation can be characterized by its degree of abstraction. The ease of interpretation varies with the level of abstraction of the representation.
As highly concrete, realistic representations are simplified, they become easier to interpret – up to a point, beyond which further abstraction begins to obscure its meaning.
We get best results by eliminating non-characteristic details and exaggerating defining features.
Representations that successfully manage to communicate are easily visible, simple, immediate, cohesive and general in nature.
INFOGRAPHIC DESIGN: A FRAMEWORK
There are 3 major challenges in designing a successful infographic.
1. To clearly understand what type of information it is trying to communicate – whether spatial, chronological, quantitative or, as is usually the case, a combination of all three.
2. To conceive a suitable representation for that information as a cohesive whole – a whole that is more than the sum of its constituent parts such as, charts, diagrams, maps, timelines etc.
3. To choose an appropriate medium for presentation – static (paper or computer screen), motion (animation or video), or interactive (increasingly web or other electronic device-based, but could be something as simple as a paper-based pregnancy wheel).
Read the full illustrated essay or download the Information Graphic Framework
