Since the days of the caveman, we’ve been using information graphics or “infographics”, as visual shorthand to convey information to the viewer that might take paragraphs or pages to explain in words. We interact with infographics on a daily basis, from the stick figure telling us when to cross the street, to icons in a web navigational menu. The field of infographics is exploding, with Edward Tufte being the current leading expert. There are many great examples to be found, that run the gamut of information displayed:
Timelines
Data Maps
(via Smashing Magazine)
and even recipes…
Some useful:
(via NixLOG)
And some not so useful…
(via Smashing Magazine)
One extremely common use of infographics on blog sites are tag clouds, but given that blogs are tools for communicating information, it seems we could be making more frequent use of infographics to engage readers, rather than always writing paragraph upon paragraph for them to sift through.
Sketchcasting
One fascinating idea recently is “sketchcasting“, in which the video podcast is used to discuss a topic as the author draws on a “whiteboard”, explaining the concepts with infographics as they talk. While it’s not useful for every topic certainly, there are some things that just lend themselves to being more easily explained with accompanying pictures. Take a look at this sketchcast that explains RSS in a way that even a complete computer newbie could understand.
Simile’s Timeline Widget
At MIT the Simile project has released a widget called Timeline for visualizing time-based events. It is like Google Maps for time-based information. Using a simple XML file to supply the data, you can create a clickable, dragable interactive map, with several datasets of events. There are many possibilities for uses, from historical timelines, to current events.
And, here’s a blog entirely devoted to using charts and diagrams to visually communicate a little humor. For more examples, check out NixLOG, and Smashing Magazine’s article on the subject.
What are some examples of infographics that you find to be particularly useful or interesting?
This article was written by Randa Clay. Read more about design, marketing, blogging, branding and all things creative at RandaClay.com.
Originally posted on September 20, 2007 @ 6:04 am