The Science and Design of Cool Infographics Study Guide

Chapter 1: The Science of Infographics

• The Evolutionary Basis for Visual Communication: Humans have utilized pictorial representations to communicate for thousands of years. This history spans from Altamira bison cave paintings to Egyptian hieroglyphics and modern-day ideograms on signs. Because this method of communication is hardwired into the human brain, humans naturally love using pictures to tell stories.

• Presence of Visual Information: Visual representations are omnipresent in modern life, appearing as charts, maps, icons, progress bars, signs, posters, diagrams, and online visuals. However, not all visual communications are classified as infographics.

• Differentiating Concepts: While the terms are often used synonymously, infographic designers distinguish between "data visualization" and "infographics."

  • Data Visualization: These are visual representations of numerical values. They create a picture from a specific set of data.

    • Example: A stock price chart of the S&P\,500, the $Nasdaq$, and the $Dow\,Jones\,Industrial\,Average$ since the year $1950$ allows a reader to see trends and comparisons across at least $80,000$ data points instantly.

    • Efficiency: Well-designed data graphics allow for the understanding of entire datasets quickly within the reader's field of view, minimizing eye movement and eliminating the need for scrolling or page-flipping.

    • Expert Insight: Dr. Edward R. Tufte, a professor emeritus at Yale University, states that well-designed data graphics are the simplest yet most powerful method for analyzing and communicating statistical information.

    • Heatmaps: The StockTouch iPad app uses a spiral pattern and color-coding (shades of green for increases and red for decreases) to visualize the performance of the top $100$ largest $U.S.$ stocks across nine sectors.

  • Infographics: The modern definition refers to a larger graphic design that integrates data visualizations, illustrations, text, and images into a format that tells a complete story. Data visualizations are tools used within an infographic rather than being the infographic itself.

    • Example: The piece Could You Be a Failure? by Jess Bachman combines $10$ line charts with text, illustrations, and a photo of a Sharpie marker to create a cohesive narrative.

The Objectives and Growth of Infographics

• Communication Objectives: Similar to public speaking, the purpose of an infographic is to inform, entertain, or persuade. They typically contain:

  1. Introductions: To capture attention and provide a rationale for reading.

  2. Conclusions/Calls to Action: To provide the reader with a clear next step based on the information learned.

• Mainstreaming of the Term: Historically, "infographics" was a term used primarily by art directors and print publications. However, Internet growth has made it a household word. Data from Google Insights for Search indicates extraordinary growth in searches for the term "infographic" between $2010$ and $2012$.

• The Problem of Information Overload: Humans are bombarded with news, ads, emails, and social media. The challenge for modern audiences is to filter out irrelevant "junk" to focus on and remember important information.

The Concept of the Informavore

• Human Curiosity: Humans are biologically driven to seek information to make better decisions. In $1983$, George A. Miller, a founder of cognitive psychology, coined the term "informavore" to describe this behavior. The term was later popularized by Daniel Dennett and Steven Pinker.

• Biological Survival: Miller noted that just as the body survives by ingesting negative entropy, the mind survives by ingesting information. Rachel Chalmers compared modern data hunting to early humans hunting woolly mammoths, suggesting the foraging habits are anthropologically similar.

• Decision Pressure: There is immense pressure to make well-informed decisions. Consumers may spend days researching a simple purchase, such as a microwave, because price comparisons, reviews, and ratings are readily available. People want to be perceived as having made smart choices.

The Qualitative Scale of Big Data

• Information Exposure: In $1986$, the average person was exposed to the information equivalent of $40$ newspapers per day. By $2007$, research by Dr. Martin Hilbert at the University of Southern California showed this had grown to $174$ newspapers ($85$-page average) daily.

• Measuring Data Volume:

  • $1\,\text{gigabyte}$: Represented as a $\text{single pixel}$ or a $\text{tiny square}$.

  • $1\,\text{terabyte}$: $\text{Square} = 1,024 \times \text{the size of a gigabyte}$.

  • $1\,\text{petabyte}$: $\text{Square} = 1,024 \times \text{the size of a terabyte}$.

• Data Statistics:

  • In $2008$, Google processed $24\,\text{petabytes}$ of data daily.

  • The entire written works of mankind across all history and languages are estimated at $50\,\text{petabytes}$.

  • Cisco Visual Networking Index projected global Internet traffic would exceed $120,000\,\text{petabytes}$ per month by $2017$.

Cognitive Science: Why Infographics Work

• Dominance of Vision: Vision is the strongest human sense. John Medina, in Brain Rules, notes that vision takes up half of the brain's resources ($50-80\%$ of the brain is dedicated to visual processing including memory, color, and pattern recognition).

• Pattern Recognition: This is a survival instinct. Humans can recognize a lion in the grass and understand danger in a fraction of a second. Data visualization taps into this to accelerate understanding far beyond reading raw numbers.

• The Language of Context: Data visualization provides context by comparing values.

  • A number in isolation (e.g., $2.4\,\text{billion}$) carries no inherent meaning; the brain will fill in its own biased context if none is provided.

  • By showing that the number of global Internet users ($2.4\,\text{billion}$) is over seven times larger than the $U.S.$ population ($313\,\text{million}$), a designer provides a frame of reference.

• The Bias of Visualization: All data visualization is inherently biased. Designers introduce bias by choosing which numbers to include, which to exclude, the timeframes used, and the styles of comparison (e.g., separate circles vs. a pie chart showing parts of a whole).

Memory and the Picture Superiority Effect

• Retention Statistics: When information is presented as text alone, retention after $3$ days is only $10\%$. When relevant images are combined with text, retention jumps to $65\%$. This represents a $650\%$ increase in memory retention.

• Commercial Application: Companies use logos because consumers remember images more easily than names. This influences purchase decisions at the shelf level.

• Famous Examples:

  • James Montgomery Flagg: The $1917$ "I Want YOU for U.S. Army" poster remains iconic nearly $100$ years later because of the dramatic image of Uncle Sam.

  • Sam Loman's "Underskin": This infographic mapped human body systems using the design style of a subway map. It went viral because it applied a familiar visual metaphor to a complex medical topic in a unique, memorable way.

The Art of Storytelling Format

• Three-Part Story Format:

  1. Introduction/Foundation: States the topic, why the reader should care, and provides necessary background information.

  2. The Ah-Ha! Main Event: The dominant visual portion and the reason for the infographic's existence. It should contain new, previously unknown information.

  3. Conclusion/Call-to-Action: Wraps up the message and tells the reader explicitly what to do (e.g., visit a website, buy a product, or save for retirement).

• Case Study: Tower of Beer: This infographic by RothIRA.com targets young people.

  • Foundation: Saving $\$1.00$ per day until age $70$.

  • Main Event: A visualization of a stack of beer cases affordable with those savings, shown to be taller than the Statue of Liberty and the Burj Khalifa Tower.

  • Call to Action: "Learn more at RothIRA.com."

Media Formats of Infographics

1. Static Infographics: The most common and simplest form. Saved as image files (JPG, PNG, GIF), they are easily shared on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest). Example: Voice is King by Nuance Communications.

2. Zooming Infographics: Interactive layers added to large designs to allow readers to see details that would be unreadable on a standard screen.

   • Tools: Microsoft's Zoom.it.

   • Examples: The Genealogy of Pop/Rock Music and Phillip H. Howard's Ownership of Beer Brands and Varieties 2010.

3. Clickable Infographics: Use HTML Image Maps to make regions of the design link to URLs. This keeps the design clean by hiding secondary info.

   • Pop-up Variation: Secondary info appears when hovering (e.g., A Raw Chocolate History).

   • Clickable PDF: These maintain functionality on tablets and smartphones (e.g., Claude Aschenbrenner's Visual Mapping Blogroll).

4. Animated Infographics: Use motion (animated GIFs or HTML code) to stand out.

   • Examples: Jacob O'Neal's Cheetah (animated GIF) and How Far is it to Mars? by David Paliwoda and Jesse Williams (scrolling animation).

5. Video Infographics: Gaining momentum via YouTube and Vimeo.

   • Examples: Royksopp's "Remind Me" music video and the "Did You Know? Shift Happens" series by Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod, and Jeff Brenman. The latter grew from a PowerPoint to a viral series with over $33\,\text{million}$ views by end of $2012$.

6. Interactive Infographics: Allow the reader to control the data displayed.

   • Leaders: The New York Times (e.g., $2012$ Election Map with real-time updates).

   • Tools: Tableau Software (Tableau Public allows users to embed interactive charts like the Inside Super PACs infographic).