The document discusses infographics, providing definitions, best practices for creating effective infographics, and case studies. It defines infographics, explains why they are used and provides a brief history. It outlines tips for creating infographics including determining the goal, using good data, knowing the audience, and ensuring a balance of information and design. The document presents examples of both effective and ineffective infographic designs and discusses tools for measuring success and creating infographics.

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

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

3. Definition
3

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

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

6. Why Infographics?
6

7. 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

8. 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

9. David McCandless‟ TED Talk:
“It feels like we're all suffering from information
overload or data glut. And the good news is
there might be an easy solution to that, and
that's 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 that's
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

10. Creating effective
infographics
10

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. What Makes Good
relevance
meaning
Information Design?
novelty
Information
• Must have balance
between Information and
Design
truth
• Need to have all 4 to be consistency usability -
good (or great) accuracy usefullness
1. Interestingness
2. Integrity
3. Function
4. Form
Design
beauty
structure
Adapted from David McCandless www.informationisbeautiful.net appearance 14

15. A New Chart of
History
Joseph Priestley, 1769
This classic masterpiece of
information design shows a
correlated timeline of
civilizations organized by
geographical area.
Note the dominance of the
Roman Empire which later
splits off into the Byzantine
and Holy Roman Empires.
Integrity
Interest
Form
Function
Good design
15

16. Napoleon‟s March
Joseph Minard, 1869
This flow map of
Napoleon‟s disastrous
Russian campaign of 1812
is widely considered to be
one of the greatest
infographics of all time.
In addition to the vivid
depiction of the army‟s
human losses during the
campaign, it plots several
additional variables,
including the army‟s
position, its direction of
travel, and the temperature
along the path of retreat.
Integrity
Interest
Form
Function
Good design
16

17. Snake Oil?
David McCandless, „10
This „bubble race‟
infographic visualizes the
scientific evidence for health
supplements mapped
against their popularity (as
measured by number of
Google searches).
This enormously popular
infographic has since been
extended into an interactive
experience on
informationisbeautiful.net
Powered by a google doc.
Dynamic
Version
Integrity
Interest
Form
Function
Good design
17

18. The World Cup
Predicted
Wired UK, June 2010
This infographic predicts
the 2010 World Cup
outcome based on the
GDP of each country and
the experience of the
teams.
The prediction was
incorrect, but the
information design is
excellent. (Full marks for
integrity due to the
predicitve nature of the
infographic)
Integrity
Interest
Form
Function
Good design
18

19. The History of
Science Fiction
Ward Shelley, 2011
This gorgeously designed
flow map traces Shelley‟s
interpretation of the
history of science fiction
from its roots in ancient
mythology.
Time moves from left to
right, tracing the figure of
a tentacled beast derived
from H.G. Wells' War of
the Worlds.
Integrity
Interest
Form
Function
Good design
19

20. When Sea Levels
Attack
David McCandless, 2010
This elegant infographic
uses a simple but effective
bar chart design to show
how rising sea levels may
affect major cities around
the world.
Note how the main point of
the infographic can be
understood before even
reading the legend.
Integrity
Interest
Form
Function
Good design
20

21. Over Under
EngineeringDegree.net,
2011
This landmark infographic
probes the critical
question of toilet paper
orientation.
Take it at face value, and
it falls into the „useless‟
category. But of course
that‟s not the point, so full
marks for its brilliant
ribbing of info-geekery.
Integrity
Interest
Form
Function
Good design
21

22. The Three Trillion
Dollar War
Athletics Design
Collective, 2011
The only true information
in this cluttered design is
conveyed in the callouts
on the right. The rest of
the execution is a
collection of icons and
words that are visually
hard to parse and convey
no meaning.
Integrity
Interest
Form
Function
Ugly, useless
22

23. Web Trend Map
Athletics Design
Collective, 2011
This infographic attempts
to map the main web
industry players onto the
Tokyo subway map.
Unfortunately, despite its
appealing design, it
conveys no actual
information except for a
basic grouping of
companies by type.
Integrity
Interest
Form
Function
Boring, useless, rubbish
23

24. Knot Tied
Timko & Klick for
good.is, 2009
This infographic was
intended as a timeline of
gay marriage laws in the
U.S.
Despite some interesting
design elements, this
execution does not read
like a timeline and the
stylized pie charts do not
visually convey the
intended percentage
splits.
Integrity
Interest
Form
Function
Useless
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25. ER4D Case Studies
25

26. Digital IBMer (Static)
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27. 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

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

29. 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

30. 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

31. 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.
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32. Measuring success
32

33. How do we measure success:
• Views
• Shares
• Placements
• Volume of conversation
• Sentiment of conversation
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34. 34

35. 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)
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36. 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
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37. 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/
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38. Twitter Data Visualization
Twitter tools to create data visualization (dynamic infographics with the twitter firehose)
– http://moritz.stefaner.eu/projects/revisit
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39. Pinterist
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