Thursday, June 14, 2012

10 Steps to Designing an Infographic

Josh Smith (2012) proposes that the creation of infographics entails a 10-step design process:
Information can be useful -- and even beautiful -- but only when it’s presented well. In an age of information overload, any guidance through the clutter comes as a welcome relief. That’s one reason for the recent popularity of information graphics. Infographics are visual designs that help to explain complicated data in a simple way (mental-health emergencies at Burning Man, anyone?). But how are they created? What can we learn from the designer’s process? And what does an infographic designer know about storks delivering babies?
Josh Smith's 10-steps include:
  1. Gathering Data
  2. Reading Everything
  3. Finding the Narrative
  4. Identifying the Problems
  5. Creating a Hierarchy
  6. Choosing a Format
  7. Determining a Visual Approach
  8. Refinement and Testing
  9. Releasing It to the World
Read More


[click image to enlarge]

I tend to be skeptical of "steps" and prefer to view processes as iterative. Nevertheless, Josh Smith's proposed methodology is instructive for those of us who deal in data and infographics professionally. Follow the link below to read Josh Smith's entire article in Fast Company.

Source: Smith, J (2012, June 13), 10 Steps to Designing an Amazing Infographic, Fast Company.

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