Infographics: Data meets Design

Articles April 30, 2014

They say knowledge is power, but how do we make knowledge powerful?

Infographics, a technique we use to communicate information more quickly and clearly. It is where “data meets design” and both cooperates to convey a message through good visualization.

In this motion graphic by  Column Five, they showed some of the visual techniques a designer could use to communicate ideas and information effectively to a specific audience.

How many sevens are there in this number set?

This example shows how a simple change in color, size, orientation and flicker can make it easier for us to count the sevens.

Color

The simple color change made it easier for us to see the sevens almost instantly. You could also tweak the size, orientation, and even make the element flicker to direct your audience’s eyes into it.

Size

Orientation

These changes we do are “visual clues” that an average human brain processes within two-hundred and fifty-two (250) milliseconds.

In infographics, we use these elements to communicate messages such as: color for correlation; size for quantity; and orientation to show trends. The power of design in communicating information doesn’t stop there. It can also be used to visualize processes, hierarchy, anatomy, and chronology.

ALSO READ: Environmental Graphic Design: Architecture meets Graphics

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