Visual Communication advices x4

The swedish design magazine CAP&Design asked to four visual communicators (me among them, something I really have to thank to Jonas Mattson, the writer of the article) for some advices on infographics.
The article is in swedish, so here you're a translated briefing (with Google Translate, don't think I'm so smart) with the advices on infographics:

Christoph Niemann
Has his own bussiness, with clients such as New York Times, New Yorker, Wired, Business Week, Newsweek, Google, Nike, Amtrak, Moma...

- Make it legible
- Check that a simple text won't explain it better than your infographic
- You could think turquoise is a very ugly color, but you can use it if you have a really good excuse (as to make graphics for Miami Dolphins).
- Avoid light stockphoto picturea for the background.

Chiqui Esteban
That's me! New Narratives director at lainformacion.com, infographics consultatn for Innovation and editor of this blog

- Do not limit yourself
- Think first what you want to tell, not how you want to tell it.
- Don't think in terms of beautiful and ugly, think on meaningful and meaningless.
- Talk with writers and specialists, don't try to do everything by yourself
- Use color as a guide for readers

Stefanie Posavec
Cover designer for Penguin, but she also produces computer based infographics.

- Visualizations must have an input, which provides information that helps the reader to analyze the data, if they wish
- Visualize information that has never been visualized in the past instead of using concepts that most people understand
- As photographers use his medium to capture the beauty of everyday life, you can analyze data as a way to discover the beautiful design details that are hidden around us
- Get your inspiration in the topic you want to visualize
- Remember that visualizations not only represent the data, they can also act as a visual metaphor that can be used to stimulate feelings in the viewer

Derek Kim
Wieden + Kennedy and freelance, with clients as Esquire, Nike, Target, Artist As Citizen, Coca Cola, Youworkforthem, Die figure...

- Keep it simple. Simplify your information so your readers can better understand the data
- Present information visually and not by words. Otherwise, the reader loses focus
- Do not compromise function for form's sake
- Take advantage of color. Colors are visual markers that can help the reader to focus on a particular area in your infographics
- Keep the information focused


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