Infographics, topic of the moment.
A quick blog article posted in reaction to the recent Newsnight debate on infographics involving Graphic Design luminary Neville Brody and Information Designer David McCandless of the website “Information is Beautiful”. The debate was at first glance to talk about infographics – but it was steam-rolled by Brody in to a larger political debate – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing for our sector – but it did sort of leave the substance of the topic behind, which is ironic really – as that was Brody’s opinion of many infographics!
If I were to decide to use Infographics, and I do, then it would be to keep the reader’s attention span when an article were long and dense in content. Innovative use of graphics can draw the user into what was once unsavoury reading. It can’t be denied that a large mass of statistical data does not inspire reading. Infographics can be used to interest people in things, shedding light on some hidden facts they were previously uninterested in.
“Can we get some interesting graphics like the Guardian to help explain the data?” This is an often quoted phrase within the studio by our client base, and we’re not knocking it – the Guardian do it very well, and we enjoy rising to the challenge if it’s the right thing to do. But that’s the point isn’t it? Do it if it’s the right thing to do, but personally, I sometimes find that infographics do stray into the territory of the designer’s personal wants (or clients even), negating their intended use (of delivering a wide range of complicated information in a concise and appealing manner) and being put into use when they aren’t entirely necessary.
If you wow someone with too intense and beautiful a picture, they may well become entranced with the picture itself, rather than the message it is intended to display. This happens all too often in our industry as it is, and it’s not just restricted to infographics either – how many times do you see a beautifully crafted logo without any substance, or a printed piece without any real content?
Evaluate why you are doing it. Don’t just let the image become the main feature. It’s intention is to visually communicate the data.
What do you guys think?
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August 10th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
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August 10th, 2010 at 8:28 pm
I’ll apologise in advance for still having my information designer’s hat on outside work time.
I’m afraid that film brought me close to banging my head on the desk, mainly because I found myself nearly agreeing with Neville Brody. A lot of the examples shown are illustrations of an area that use the ‘infographic treatment’ as art: dare I say ‘infoart’.
Infographics have traditionally been used to make either large amounts of, or particularly complex information easier to understand. I think it would be hard to argue that infoart makes anything simpler – just more likely to be looked at and admired.
I think your point about using infographics to engage readers with an article is spot on, although if it’s ‘to keep the reader’s attention span when an article were long and dense in content’ then I think that’s a fault of the content.