Not An Infographic

THIS IS NOT ANINFOGRAPHIC

Does this ➡look familiar?

The slender frame, the vibrant colors, the boldfont face, the gratuitousillustrations, the blocks of text, the callouts, the big numbers, the graphs and diagrams...

Looks like aninfographic. You know,one of these things thathave taken the internetby storm and seem toreproduce at ageometric rate?

Let’s not call it that.

100% AMOUNT OF THIS AMOUNT OF THIS BEING AN BEING INFOGRAPHIC SOMETHING ELSE

There is good reason to call the things we witness on theinternet New Media. The ways we display and have usersinteract with information in digital media are still evolving.g

Naturally some innovations in the process of exploring thepotential of New Media involve a certain amount ofstyle over substance. MEANS OF USEFUL DISPLAYING MEANS OFINFORMATION DISPLAYING INFORMATION TIME TIME

Infographics should never fall in that category.

A liberal use of diagrams and makeshift datavisualization does not an infographic make. Veracity iskey there. PEOPLE WHO THINK THIS IS A ∅? PEOPLE WHO THINK THIS IS NOT VENN DIAGRAM A VENN DIAGRAM * * ME

Instead of merely condemning sub par information design,let us acknowledge that where there is a trend people aredrawn to, there is a reason for this to happen: People enjoyconsuming information presented to them in certain ways.g

What about this ➡ then?

Text based information isdisplayed in bite sizedchunks and arrangedalong a visual axis that isenhanced throughgraphic design elements.

The scrolling habits ofpeople using theirbrowsers have probablyled to the widespreadprominence of a verticalaxis in these things.

Bits of simple data visualisation like charts, bar graphs anddiagrams put numbers into perspective. Color schemes,eye catching typography and decorative illustrations lendstickyness for lack of a narrative cohesiveness. It’s the fastfood equivalent of information design and it’s perfectly aptto satisfy fleeting attention spans, so why not put it to use?fd

SO... IS THIS AN INFOGRAPHIC? NO.COULD ANYBODY HAVE CREATED THIS? YES.IS IT SOMETHING USEFUL? IT DEPENDS.I rather enjoy some examples of this, especiallythe humorous kind. But I’d like to point out thatthese things are not good examples ofinformation design. Not when you want to be ableto communicate clearly and condense data orinformation in a meaningful way.

That is why I’d rather not call them infographics.

So you can call this whatever you like. * * YOU CAN ALSO USE IT HOWEVER YOU SEE FIT, BTW.

SOURCES? YES.MAY I REPURPOSE AND DISTRIBUTE THIS? YES.THE GAME? YES.EXPLORING MEANING IN COMMUNICATION? YES. HTTP://JOCHMANN.ME TWITTER: @JOCHMANN

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Not An Infographic

by Jakob Jochmann

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