Infographics overview e&e 20120608_final

Infographics:Best practices &recent case studies,June 8, 2012E&E CallJason Jercinovic, ER4D 1

Overview• Definition• Why & History: infographics• Best practices: How to create effective infographics• Case studies• How to measure success• Appendix: Tools and links 2

Definition 3

General definition Good information graphics = the efficient use of visual metaphor to describe or explain the story behind raw data. 4

IBM definition Good information graphics accelerates forward thinkers understanding of data, so they have the confidence to act. 5

Why Infographics? 6

Why Infographics?• They’re eye-catching & engaging. A great way to bring to life content that would otherwise be dry, uninteresting or unshareable. According to research, 83% of learning occurs visually.• It’s everything you need to know, simplified. Easily digested because they address the valuable ideas, facts and statistics that people want to know. In fact, studies show, people remember only 20% of what they read.• They are shareable. Easily downloaded and shared via social channels.• They improve SEO. Increasing the number of backlinks to your website improves visibility to search engine‟s algorithms. As a result, page rankings become higher. 7

Edward Tufte: Literally wrote the book on Information Design “One of the Best 100 books of the 20th century." Edward Rolf Tufte is an American statistician and professor emeritus of political science, statistics, and computer science at Yale University. He is noted for his writings on information design and as a pioneer in the field of data visualization. 8

David McCandless‟ TED Talk: “It feels like were all suffering from information overload or data glut. And the good news is there might be an easy solution to that, and thats using our eyes more. So, visualizing information, so that we can see the patterns and connections that matter and then designing that information so it makes more sense, or it tells a story, or allows us to focus only on the information thats important. Failing that, … visualized information can just look really cool.” http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/david_mccandless_the_beauty_of_data_visualization.html 9

Creating effectiveinfographics 10

3 Types of Infographics Infographics can also be categorized according to how they present graphic information 1. Static: Balance between information display and design. Information presented at once and in its entirety. These graphics have a quick and immediate impact on the reader. 2. Interactive: Exemplify your infographic to make it interactive, allowing multiple layers of data to be streamed in a single interface, creating a unique experience for the viewer. Information is presented according to the reader‟s choice. 3. Dynamic: Display of information over time. Can also be interactive or even a video. 11

3 Types of Infographics: Demonstrated with GDP 1. Static: http://en.rian.ru/infographics/20120425/173008889.html 2. Interactive: http://www.maps.igemoe.com/fact_gdp_growth.htm 3. Dynamic: http://www.gapminder.org/world/#$majorMode=chart$is;shi=t;ly=2003;lb=f;il=t;fs=11;al=30;stl=t;st=t;nsl=t;se=t$ wst;tts=C$ts;sp=5.59290322580644;ti=2011$zpv;v=1$inc_x;mmid=XCOORDS;iid=phAwcNAVuyj1jiMAkmq1iM g;by=ind$inc_y;mmid=YCOORDS;iid=phAwcNAVuyj2tPLxKvvnNPA;by=ind$inc_s;uniValue=8.21;iid=phAwcN AVuyj0XOoBL_n5tAQ;by=ind$inc_c;uniValue=255;gid=CATID0;by=grp$map_x;scale=log;dataMin=282;dataM ax=119849$map_y;scale=lin;dataMin=12;dataMax=83$map_s;sma=49;smi=2.65$cd;bd=0$inds=;example=75 12

Tips to create effective Infographics What is the business goal? Tell a story. Don‟t create infographics for Ensure that you add something. infographics sake. Keep it simple Start with good data. Get to the point ... visually. Ask a question to your data. Remove the text and to see if the story Does this data tell us something new & is clear without words. different? Is the data interesting? What is your launch strategy? Support the business goal. Use your network to launch. Timing, relevance and insight. Know your audience. Paid syndication possibilities. Who is going to be using your infographic? Why would they be interested? 13

What Makes Good relevance meaningInformation Design? novelty Information• Must have balance between Information and Design truth• Need to have all 4 to be consistency usability - good (or great) accuracy usefullness1. Interestingness2. Integrity3. Function4. Form Design beauty structure Adapted from David McCandless www.informationisbeautiful.net appearance 14

A New Chart ofHistoryJoseph Priestley, 1769This classic masterpiece ofinformation design shows acorrelated timeline ofcivilizations organized bygeographical area.Note the dominance of theRoman Empire which latersplits off into the Byzantineand Holy Roman Empires.IntegrityInterestFormFunctionGood design 15

Napoleon‟s MarchJoseph Minard, 1869This flow map ofNapoleon‟s disastrousRussian campaign of 1812is widely considered to beone of the greatestinfographics of all time.In addition to the vividdepiction of the army‟shuman losses during thecampaign, it plots severaladditional variables,including the army‟sposition, its direction oftravel, and the temperaturealong the path of retreat.IntegrityInterestFormFunctionGood design 16

Snake Oil?David McCandless, „10This „bubble race‟infographic visualizes thescientific evidence for healthsupplements mappedagainst their popularity (asmeasured by number ofGoogle searches).This enormously popularinfographic has since beenextended into an interactiveexperience oninformationisbeautiful.netPowered by a google doc. Dynamic VersionIntegrityInterestFormFunctionGood design 17

The World CupPredictedWired UK, June 2010This infographic predictsthe 2010 World Cupoutcome based on theGDP of each country andthe experience of theteams.The prediction wasincorrect, but theinformation design isexcellent. (Full marks forintegrity due to thepredicitve nature of theinfographic)IntegrityInterestFormFunctionGood design 18

The History ofScience FictionWard Shelley, 2011This gorgeously designedflow map traces Shelley‟sinterpretation of thehistory of science fictionfrom its roots in ancientmythology.Time moves from left toright, tracing the figure ofa tentacled beast derivedfrom H.G. Wells War ofthe Worlds.IntegrityInterestFormFunctionGood design 19

When Sea LevelsAttackDavid McCandless, 2010This elegant infographicuses a simple but effectivebar chart design to showhow rising sea levels mayaffect major cities aroundthe world.Note how the main point ofthe infographic can beunderstood before evenreading the legend.IntegrityInterestFormFunctionGood design 20

Over UnderEngineeringDegree.net,2011This landmark infographicprobes the criticalquestion of toilet paperorientation.Take it at face value, andit falls into the „useless‟category. But of coursethat‟s not the point, so fullmarks for its brilliantribbing of info-geekery.IntegrityInterestFormFunctionGood design 21

The Three TrillionDollar WarAthletics DesignCollective, 2011The only true informationin this cluttered design isconveyed in the calloutson the right. The rest ofthe execution is acollection of icons andwords that are visuallyhard to parse and conveyno meaning.IntegrityInterestFormFunctionUgly, useless 22

Web Trend MapAthletics DesignCollective, 2011This infographic attemptsto map the main webindustry players onto theTokyo subway map.Unfortunately, despite itsappealing design, itconveys no actualinformation except for abasic grouping ofcompanies by type.IntegrityInterestFormFunctionBoring, useless, rubbish 23

Knot TiedTimko & Klick forgood.is, 2009This infographic wasintended as a timeline ofgay marriage laws in theU.S.Despite some interestingdesign elements, thisexecution does not readlike a timeline and thestylized pie charts do notvisually convey theintended percentagesplits.IntegrityInterestFormFunctionUseless 24

ER4D Case Studies 25

Digital IBMer (Static) 26

URLS of Infographics• http://www.flickr.com/photos/ibm_media/7065042077/• http://www.ibm.com/ibm/ideasfromibm/zz/en/securesocialsmart/pdf/ibm_classof2012_infographic_050112.pdf• http://www.ibm.com/ibm/ideasfromibm/zz/en/securesocialsmart/pdf/ibm_homesecurity_infographic_050112.pdf• http://www.ibm.com/ibm/ideasfromibm/zz/en/securesocialsmart/pdf/reputation_id_cCard_sb_0501v4.pdf• http://www.ibm.com/ibm/ideasfromibm/zz/en/securesocialsmart/pdf/ibm_cyberattacks_infographic_050112.pdf 27

PureSystems Press Infographic (Static) Results: 6,114 views on Flickr and appeared in 10 publications. 28

PureSystems (Interactive) http://www.ibm.com/ibm/puresystems/infographic/charts/project-delay.html http://www.ibm.com/ibm/puresystems/infographic/charts/budget-schedule.html http://www.ibm.com/ibm/puresystems/infographic/charts/ongoing-support.html http://www.ibm.com/ibm/puresystems/infographic/charts/downtime.html http://www.ibm.com/ibm/puresystems/infographic/charts/time-spent.html 29

Interactive Dynamic Infographic Prototype+ Globe (example) Live prototype:• http://euro.superfaddev.com/ibm/• User: ibm_planet• Pwd: euro_2011• Use Google Chrome or an HTML5 compliant browser 30

Impressive Example (not IBM): We feel fine .org• We Feel Fine is an exploration of human emotion.• Along the top row you‟ll find fly-out options to sort the data. Their criteria include age, gender, weather location, and even date. The project offers an extremely detailed analysis of the entire world‟s emotions at any given point.• As you click anywhere in the canvas the flying boxes will scatter about. If you mouse over one of them it‟ll provide a bit more detail, and clicking will open a whole new bar at the top. http://www.wefeelfine.org/wefeelfine_mac.html• Many of the results are pulled from Twitter and actually include photo/video media as well. The number of emotions and feelings are beyond belief. 31

Measuring success 32

How do we measure success:• Views• Shares• Placements• Volume of conversation• Sentiment of conversation 33

Infographic Tools:• IBM‟s Tool: Many Eyes – http://www- 958.ibm.com/software/data/cognos/manye yes/ – There are a ton of features available to members plus the added benefit and security of storing personal data sets. If you get lost spend some time browsing• Visual.ly – Visual.ly is built with social networking features in mind to connect members all around the world. Designers are able to submit their own projects on data visualization and infographics into their site gallery. The showcase can be broken down and sorted into further categories – Check out the Labs (visual.ly/labs) 35

Infographic Resources• http://dailyinfographic.com/• http://davidwarlick.com/graphicaday/• http://www.instantshift.com/2011/03/25/what-are-infographics-and-why-are-they-important/• http://www.readwriteweb.com/enterprise/2011/11/6-reasons-most-infographics-do.php• http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/10/14/the-dos-and-donts-of-infographic-design/• http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/why_your_infographic_is_evil_and_three_ways_to_fix.php• http://naldzgraphics.net/tips/reasons-why-infographics-are-important/• http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-small-business/post/how-can-businesses-use- infographics/2012/04/06/gIQAjbbh4S_blog.html• http://sparkboutik.com/ideation/why-infographics-work/• http://www.marketingtechblog.com/why-use-infographics/SLIDESHARE http://www.slideshare.net/jess3/how-brands-can-use-data-visualization-to-make-an-impact-11976833• http://www.slideshare.net/ripetungi/why-are-infographics-important 36

Infographic Examples• State of the internet: http://www.onlineschools.org/state-of-the-internet/soti.html• Slavery Footprint: http://slaveryfootprint.org/ – http://slaveryfootprint.org/survey/#whats_on_your_plate , http://slaveryfootprint.org/survey/#jewellery , http://slaveryfootprint.org/survey/#closet_clothing• Presidential Poll Tracker Slider : http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/presidential-poll-tracker• Candidate match game: http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/candidate-match-game• Edlundart : http://www.edlundart.com/pages/is-the-internet-awake.html• What‟s Your Economic Outlook? : http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/business/2011-economy-sentiment.html• Evolution of the web : http://evolutionofweb.appspot.com/• http://mashable.com/2011/10/23/top-mashable-infographics/• http://mashable.com/2011/09/16/airlines-social-media-infographic/• http://news.xerox.com/pr/xerox/photo.aspx?fid=146374&id=E0C17733• http://venturebeat.com/2011/10/21/how-the-enterprise-is-adopting-tablets-infographic/• http://gigaom.com/2011/11/02/what-do-young-workers-want-social-media-device-freedom/ 37

Twitter Data Visualization Twitter tools to create data visualization (dynamic infographics with the twitter firehose) – http://moritz.stefaner.eu/projects/revisit 38

Pinterist 39

http://www.scoop.it	68
http://www.linkedin.com	4
http://www.twylah.com	2

Infographics overview e&e 20120608_final

by Jason Jercinovic

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