2. Why Infographics? (May-June)

Updated: Aug 25, 2020

An Introduction to Infographics

I started researching Infographic Design because of how prominent they have become in everyday society. We can see infographics being used on almost every social media platform, advertisements, TV adverts, educational material, instructions and many more. They come in many different styles, colours and layouts, however they all have on thing in common, and that is to feed information to us through visual communication. "What makes a cool infographic is that they can be extremely effective at explaining every conceivable topic in any industry for any reason" - Karl Gude, (2019)

Fig 2. Anna Vital, How Instagram started (2015)

One of the reasons infographics are so successful, is because most people are visual learners. "Social media has created this intense desire and opportunity to share what we learn. Most of us enjoy sharing ideas, especially when there's a video or a photograph or drawing" - TJ McCue, Forbes Magazine (2013). Fig. 2 is an example of a typical infographic style, many infographics combine charts, data and diagrams with drawings, text and colour.

Science, Comedy and Learning

Infographics have proven to be a great design format to help share scientific information to a wider audience. Not only do children benefit from learning scientific topics through pictures and diagrams, but everyday adults can access them through the internet platforms and applications. "Increasingly in science, infographics are being used to break down and simplify complex messages:. Alex Jackson, Science Communications Outreach (2014)

chemistry, physics, biology, or mathematics can be translated through the use of pictures if done correctly, but keeping the viewer interested in the content is something I needed to know more about. I created a questionnaire to ask the public on what they thought about including humour in infographics to get a better idea. Some of the questions I asked were

Personally, I find watching short, animated videos on Youtube a great way to gather quick information about scientific topics that I don't understand.

The Issues surroundings Infographics

I began thinking about how images and animation could help inform a wide audience about scientific information, and how effective they can be if done correctly. I began looking at what makes an unsuccessful Infographic, and how I can avoid making the same mistakes.

Fig 3 & 4, Design Mistakes, The visual problems of infographics (2015)

Infographic Design if not carefully designed can not only misinform the viewer about information, but also make the viewer struggle to understand what the infographic is trying to explain. Fig 3 & 4 are both examples of how colour and font can impact the way the viewer engages with an infographic. Both designs have a poor choice of colour palette, because the information is not easy to read, and without the use of any semiotic diagrams, it isn't exactly easy for the viewer to understand the information.

Other then poor design choice, It became obvious whilst looking at other infographics and infographic animations that some designs can actually be quite insensitive, and in some cases, slightly derogatory. This is a reminder to my self that I am responsible for making sure that my designs don't offend anyone, especially if I choose to use humour within my work.

Fig 5. Insensitive Infographic from Fox News, Twitter Post (2020)

Showing the public information is very important, especially if it involves showing data that may impact the world in some way or form. However, Fig .5 is a recent example of how infographics can be very offensive to the public, especially when the sensitive content is being taken advantage of to explain data that may impact a certain platform or market, therefore putting the blame onto a recent tragedy. Many viewers, including politicians and human rights activists took to Twitter to express their opinions “appalled by Fox News’ insensitive decision to compare the death of black men to gains in the stock market. This only reinforces the greed and inhumanity that exists in America as it relates to black people. A human life DOES NOT compare to a percentage jump in the S&P 500.” - Martin Luther King III.

Fig. 6, Gun Deaths in Florida (2014)

Figure 6, titled 'Gun Deaths in Florida', I consider to be more of a design fault rather then being obviously derogatory like Fig.5 is. Florida Department of Law Enforcement was called out because of the misuse of information within this chart. The Axis of the chart is upside down, making the viewer read the information upside down, so instead of the death toll reading 1,000, it actually reads 0.