Smashing Magazine wrote an article back in October about The Do’s and Don’ts of Infographic Design. Infographics, in case you’re unfamiliar with them, are graphical representations of certain ideas, concepts or statistics — a way to convey information to a user through the use of imagery rather than boring them with a bunch of words and numbers. Some call this “data viz,” which is short for data visualization.
One of the first tips described in the article is that you shouldn’t write out in text what you can easily show in graphical form.
“As an infographic designer, you may or may not determine the concept and compile all of the research for the final design, but either way you are responsible for turning that information into a visually stimulating, cohesive design that tells a story and that doesn’t miss a single opportunity to visualize data.”
Remember the design aspect of infographic design, as well. Don’t just throw a bunch of charts and bar graphs into an image with a few labels — create a relevant visualization that takes into account the industry or topic whose information you’re transforming into an infographic.Last but not least, resist the urge to rely heavily on fonts. While fonts do have their place in numerous types of design, an infographic ultimately should be about the information or data you’re representing graphically, not about the typeface you’re using.
If you follow these tips, your infographic design will definitely be on the right track.
