Information vs decoration

Through Gabriel Sama's blog I could know some famous videos that are travelling around the web called '... in plain english'. They try to explain this new phenomenon of web 2.0 using little drawn papercuts. It looks like the perfect way to make people understand that information is not decoration. Design in infographics is a tool, not a goal. Communication does not depend on the beauty of the words we speak, but on the meaning they have, and so, on infographics, we don't need spectacular rawings, but effectives way of communicating. Anyone has his own concet of beauty, so let's make our information messages univocal.

See you on monday

The job has taken me these days out of Spain, so I'll be disconnected until next monday (May 12)
See you then!

Ten tips to become an infographics artist

Some days ago, Armando Sotoca,blogger of the great graphic design site Criterion (in spanish), ask me to ellaborate a decalogue about journalistic infographics. You can access the article directly clicking here. But, in case you don't speak spanish, here is a translation

1. INFORMATION
In journalistic infographics, information goes first. The goal of the graphic is to give information. Design in this discipline is a tool, not a goal. Rigor and make information accessible and understandable are above stethics. Spectacle just for spectacle doesn't hel the reader.

2. ORGANIZING INFORMATION
Graphics are fast reading elements. The content must be organized to guide the reader and don't waste his time.

3. COLOR
To guide the reader, color could be our best tool. And it doesn´t matter if we print on B/W. Clear tones for the less important, dark for those elements on which we want to focus teh attention. John Grimwade and his 'red line' became famous for his good use of color on inforaphics


(Click to enlarge on John Grimwade's portfolio)


4. CLEAN AND CLEAR
If we want color to focus the attention, the rest of the elements should be clean and clear. Not just on their tones. Avoid horror vacui. Baroque graphics usually doesn't work on newspapers.

5. SHOW DON’T TELL
Always think on this sentence. Newspapers are full of text. Use graphics to explain things on a visual way.

6. COMPARE AND MEASURE
In journalism, context is very important. Infographics help a lot on this field. Comparations, measurementa and actual scales make information easy to understand in many cases.
An example, about the steps of Buzz and Aldrin on the moon:

(Click to enlarge on StrangeMaps)

7. DON'T BREAK SCALES (IF IT'S NOT ABSOLUTELY NECCESARY)
Many tiemes, on economics issues above others, we use to break teh scale to show a trend. But we're changing the real trend doing this. If we have to do it, include a locator of the actual scale.

8. DOCUMENTATION
To develop good graphics, many times we need great amounts of data. A graphics needs mre information than a text. A text could say 'in Somalia'. When you do a graphic, you need to place the spot on a exact place.

9. WRITERS ARE ALLIES
On every job, team is basic. On this one, when we don't know what does the client (reaers) exactly wants and the perception of it is subjective.

10. KEEP LEARNING
Keep attention on new trends, and not just on infographics: design, rests of journalism, infovis... Never think that what you know is enough. That is a mistake on any professional field, but more on this one, where the product lasts one day maximum.

Of course, comments with additions, rectifications or any different ideas are absoluteley welcome. Thanks in advance.

The bests sports graphics of the year according to Sports Designer

Reading Maquetadores, I could know that Sports Designer awarded some days ago its 2007 awards for the best of this discipline. At the infographics category, the big one was for Washingtong Post,with this piece by Laura Stanton and Bonnie Berkowitz



And these were the other finalists:


Washington Post. Todd Lindeman and Bonnie Berkowitz


The Boston Globe. David Butler, Ed Wiederer and Brian Gross


The Boston Globe. Daigo Fujiwara and Brian Gross



Washington Post. Todd Lindeman and Bonnie Berkowitz

Moonwalking on a soccer field

I always try to avoid the area comparisons with soccer fields. It's too obvious, and, I always avoid it in cases like 'as 400 soccer fields'. It doesn't explain anything at all. But I must recognize that this one works.



Via Strangemaps

Charles M Blow, infographic columnist

Yesterday I knew two news of big importance from Alberto Cairo. First, Charles M. Blow leaves National Geographic and get back to The New York Times. This is just another (although very important) of the great amount of movements we're having on the infographics scene. But the real new is that he does it as'inforaphic columnist'. Here's his first column:



The New York Times is used to have graphics on its opinion section, as it did with its famous (and sometimes polemic) OP charts. But this is a step further. Is an infographics artist as columnist, the graphic made column. But it has one problem. Alberto uploaded on his blog the column as it was published:



And I agrre with him on the problem. The graphic should talk by itself. The text shouldn't benecessary. Maybe that's the next step.

But I would like to highlight a sentece from Cairo's analysis:

The infographics community has spent decades complaining about the little respect that directors and staff writers have to information visualization, Blow keeps showing what should be obvious: respect always should begins by ourselves. The graphics department of the NYTimes has earned the importance they have inside and outside the newsroom; step by step, story by story, always struggling for a bigger rigor, bigger quality, an increasing seriousness, defining the bounds between art and visual information. To the point that someone thinked that, oh miracle, a graphic artist could write on the opinion section, at the same page that Krugman, Kristof or Herbert. Blow, a 'grahic columnist' is just the culmination of a process started years ago.

Organizing information

'I'd love to work at the infographics department, but I' very bad drawing'
How many imes have we heard this from our colleagues at the newspaper? Me, a lot. And I always answer the same: drawing is useful, but it's not necessary. Myself draw not very well, not bad, but I can't call it as one of my skills. Bu I've neer needed it. The most important skill, in my opinion, is organizing information. And today, taking a look to the New York Times web I found a perfect ally to keep this idea:



Is a big article condensed, clarified, simplified. It takes the reader understand the information fast and easily. And I could bet that much more people have accesed the information that would have done it with a plain text and photo. And we just needed a simple diagram.