Unit 7 Reading

Chapter 8 : Create Information Graphic

In this chapter, Cairo introduced us the process to create effective information graphic on any topic. The author used many examples to tell us the importance of each step in creating information graphic steps. First of all, with any topic, all we need is summarizing the main story of that topic, what story that topic telling about and even other related story produced from the main topic. From this part, we will have a brief overview about that topic by taking note and researching information on internet, books, or other resources. 

The author also mentions that we should not always trust your intuition when you rely on data. We just gather the data into a brief which can compel the audience to read. With the notes took from the article, we should then sketch out to imagine how the information graphic could be looked like. Thus, we will figure out the layout with invisible rectangles of data cells. And then edit some more graphic elements into computer like two or three colors and appropriate fonts (two fonts limited) with good looking contrast for headline and body copy.

At bottom line, “Before you think about style, must think about structure”

Profile 6: Visualization in Academia

In the interview with Geoff McGhee, who has many years’ experience in interactive data visualization and multimedia storytelling, Geoff told that there was a gap between the newsroom and academia. He is a professional visual designer, and he figured out that there are people with other skill sets will help the people in the newsroom to focus on the current topic. Because students in academia are people who always focus on the main story of the topic more than the people in newsroom although academia students have less experience than them. And this cooperation could help to summarize the topic into brief and then newsroom will use that to sketch out the layout and their ideas on the print version.

Geoff mentioned that translation print information graphic into Web version could be rough because of the drawbacks. He had to translate the information graphic print version into a static raster image and display the data in a more dynamic way.

He also told that after researching, there are a lot of information data, so he broke down that data into two major categories: “data visualization for exploring on your own, for analyzing and seeking out patterns; and data visualization for explanation”. And also algorithmic data visualization is a powerful analytical tool to help designers understand the source data in basic and particular domain.

This interview is related to Chapter 8 where the author shows us the step to create information graphic. And the very important step is the very first step that we need to focus on the main story where it leads us to research the data sources. Therefore, we will solve the problem easily without start the research on wrong way.


Links:
How to Make Information Graphics and Data Visualizations
 This article helps us to figure the different between Information Graphic and Data Visualization and their importance in graphic design.
The author also summarized seven steps to create Data Visualizations:

1. Acquire – Obtain the data, whether from a file on a disk or a source over a network.
2. Parse – Provide some structure for the data’s meaning, and order it into categories.
3. Filter – Remove all but the data of interest.
4. Mine – Apply methods from statistics or data mining as a way to discern patterns or place the data in mathematical context.
5. Represent – Choose a basic visual model, such as a bar graph, list, or tree.
6. Refine – Improve the basic representation to make it clearer and more visually engaging.
7. Interact – Add methods for manipulating the data or controlling what features are visible.

10 Steps To Designing An Amazing Infographic
These10-step creating infographic process is similar to what Cairo mentioned in his books:
1. gathering data
2. reading everything
3. finding the narrative
4. identifying problems
5. craeting a hierarchy
6. Building a wireframe
7. Choosing a format
8. Determining a visual approach
9. Refinement and testing
10. Release into the world

note: really like the fonts using in this site: FC Zizou slab for the Heading, and Museo San for body copy.