With exactly two weeks before my year-end evaluation I have been given the task of designing an infographic, or information graphic. The purpose of these graphics are to create a visual representation of information, data, or knowledge, and do it in a creative way that presents complex information quickly and clearly. A sign, for example, could be considered a simple infographic because it presents information to a reader through the use of a single symbol.
The design of information graphics is complex because the designer must take the information that is to presented to an audience and arrange it within a certain hierarchy. They must ask themselves, what information needs to be presented first? What is the most important? What should the reader walk away knowing?
Not only does the designer have the task of arranging this information in a way that presents all of the important information to the reader quickly and clearly, but they are also expected to do it in a way that is creative and visually appealing. How can this information be arranged to make people come up and read it in the first place? Perhaps it is through the use of a strange headline, or a grotesque photograph, whatever it might be it needs to draw attention.
The following are some examples I have come across recently that I felt demonstrated multiple ways of executing this specific type of design.
