Enter the World of Clever Representation of Information
Infographics (or information graphics) are a graphic visual representation of information, knowledge or data. These special graphics are known to present, clearly and quickly, complex information like signs, technical writing, journalism, maps and education. Scientists, statisticians and mathematicians use infographics to develop and communicate certain concepts by using only one symbol to process the information.
Information design is close and strongly related to the field of information graphics. Infographics actually represent a certain discipline within the field of information design. Richard Wurman, the founder and author of the TED is considered to be the father of the phrase “information architect” and you may have seen that many of his books helped propel the notion of “information design”, turning it from a concept to an actual job category.
In short, what is an infographic and what is its use?
– it helps you understand the information faster;
– it is a creative visual explanation which helps you understand, do or find something more easily;
– it is a visual design and, when necessary, it integrates pictures and words in a dynamic, fluid way;
– it is an universally understandable graphic;
– it is a stand alone graphic and it is completely self explanatory;
– it can reveal information that was previously hidden or submerged.
Click on the title to go to the source or on the image to see the whole infographic
Which are the elements of an information graphic?
As the name states, the basic element of an information graphic is the information, data or knowledge that the specified graphic wishes to present.
– When it comes to data, the graphic designer or creator may use some automated tools like graphic software in order to represent the data with boxes, lines, arrows and other pictograms and symbols.
– Infographics sometimes feature a key which defines the visual elements of the graphic in plain English.
– In creating information graphics, scales and labels are also pretty common.
The elements included in an info graphic don’t have to be a realistic or exact representation of the data, it can be a simplified version.
Home Improvement Trends in 2011
Click on the title to go to the source or on the image to see the whole infographic
What makes a good info graphic?
Design – One of the most important aspects of an infographic is the design, because it’s all about the visual perspective. It must look nice from the first glance, to capture your attention. You should choose carefully the fonts and the colors you plan to use in your info graphic. Even if the overall look is based on a certain subject, the info graphic should be easy to read – so choose fonts that are easy to read, complementary colors, a font point that is big enough to read without needing a magnifying glasses.
10 Reasons You Should Vacation in Vail Infographic
Click on the title to go to the source or on the image to see the whole infographic
Data – This element is as important as the design, so the info graphic should be grounded in hard data. When adding information to an info graphic, you need to do have good sources to review and you need to get your facts and statistics from a reliable source.
One more thing: if the data you found is older than 18 months, you should really dig for some new data sources – if that doesn’t work out, you should think of conducting your own research and you can start by gathering some proprietary data. The newer your data is, the better it will be perceived by viewers.
Christmas Tree Facts Infographic
Click on the title to go to the source or on the image to see the whole infographic
Clever Visualizations – In order to impress you, an infographic needs to get out of the box, meaning it must present data and information in a way that surprises you but in the same time it makes perfect sense. So you must push the design beyond pie charts and bar graphs – be creative and clever!
Point of view – It’s not enough to do some research and to compile an info graphic based on that info. The purpose is to create a great info graphic, which has a strong point of view (a thesis) and can educate and persuade people. If you have a great quality design and you back that up with a great point of view you are sure to have an exceptional piece of work.
The anatomy of an infographic – Solving Global Warming
Shareability – It’s not just about creating the ultimate info graphic, you also have to share it with every one and earn some exposure. Viral content is considered too interesting not to share. You need to make people say “This is awesome, I need to share this with my friends!”. So make it happen! Embed badges, codes, Facebook and Twitter buttons or anything else you can think of to make sharing the info graphic as easy as possible.
The success of an info graphic comes from the number of views it has, so you need to make sure as many people as possible are exposed to your work.
Infographics about Internet
The Internet can be a source of interesting and revealing facts and statistics. Graphic designers and creatives of all types tried to give us an idea with their info graphics about how big is the Internet and how fantastic statistics can be. The info graphics presented below are executed quite well, having an easy to understand presentation and a creative manner.
How Bigger The Internet Would Become By 2020
Social Media Infographics
Social media has known an increasing impact on communicating information in the past few years. In the same manner, info graphics have become a preferred method of communicating facts, data, figure and statistics about a certain topic of interest. Social media helped their popularity and growth and now we can find a large number of info graphics targeted at social media itself.
Nowadays you can find infographics analyzing the growth and the history of social networks or a certain social network or infographics with various social network related statistics and comparisons – all that information you could need on this subject in an easy to read and comprehend format, how great is that?
Social Media Demographics: Who’s Using Which Sites?
The CMO’s Guide To The Social Media Landscape
If you want to read about how you can create a visually powerful infographic, check out this awesome post by Sneh Roy.
Your turn now.
Do you know any other great infographics? Or want to create a great infographic?
There’s a great infographic on http://lovecraft.tumblr.com/post/3747372897/the-deceptively-organised-history-of-science about the history science fiction. I actually use this when I am looking for new books and writers to read.