Rise of the Infogeeks
March 9th, 2010
In case you haven’t noticed, infographics are becoming cool. Gone are the days when we had to try camouflaging our nerdy activities under terms such as “graphic reporting” or even ”graphic journalism.” Take a look around and you will see lots of young graphic designers pumping out charts and diagrams – the more complex, the better. Now we just need to convince these newly enlightened infographic freshmen that making things understandable to other people can be as interesting as verbo-visualizing every possible aspect of their own lives and minds.
Now you may be rejecting my premise: Were infographics ever uncool? Haven’t journalists always loved war maps, pie charts and escape-route diagrams, and admired their gifted colleagues who knew how to produce them? And my short answer is: No they have not, and neither have graphic designers. Twenty years ago, the majority of newspaper professionals felt they had to accept infographics because they were told that readers liked them, and hiring an infographic artist was seen as an easy, and relatively cheap, way to make it look as if they cared about what their readers thought.
As for graphic designers, the cool ones became art directors or created corporate identity programs, and the harder it was to understand the ideas behind their designs, the cooler they were. Paradoxical as it may sound, the nature of infographics – the built-in squareness – meant that the craft would appeal mainly to oddballs.
The first time I noticed a change and realized that geekiness might become trendy, was when my daughter started high school and picked the tall, skinny, kind-of strange boy who wore spectacles and dressed like his father for her date at the First-Year Ball – instead of the handsome and charming soccer goalkeeper (over here, we don’t have quarterbacks) from her elder brother’s circle of friends. Ever since, it has only become clearer to me that we have entered an era when young people, at least in some social circles, do not try hiding their eccentricities; quite the opposite, in fact.
A very obvious sign of this development is a change in attitude among students. At the Danish School of Media and Journalism where I have been teaching infographics since 1989, we have had to deal with negative preconceptions at the start of the class for years. My struggle to convince at least some of these would-be ADs that using the graphic language to make other people understand complicated things was not a complete waste, and that not everyone producing visual explanations had to be a total loser, was often a hard one. Now students happily engage in complex visualizations of how the way they get to school varies regarding altitude above sea level, or showing the relation between mentionings of the words “love” and “f…” in their iTunes playlists, or between how old they are, how much they can drink, and how much sleep they need afterwards. Just to name a few examples. (They get these ideas themselves!)
Of course, being their professor, I am having a ball, and I would love to help some of these talented communicators find positions where they can utilize their skills to the benefit of us all. Well executed infographics contribute to making the world a better place. I do, however, see two major challenges on the way to Infotopia.
One is about the money. As infographics demand thorough research and are quite time-consuming to produce properly, there is no little doubt that they make for the most expensive square centimeters with which you can fill a publication. The current media situation does not exactly provide fertile ground for a new infographics revolution, no matter how many potential Nigel Holmeses might be out there.
The other challenge is about subtly adjusting the mindsets of the young infographic generation so that its members will find it equally, perhaps even more, stimulating to produce visual explanations that do not involve themselves and their own personal lives. The Felton Report, which can hardly be over-estimated as a source of inspiration – maybe even the igniting spark which put infographics into the minds of young trendspotters, and those of their pals – is at the same time a scary example of the ever-present self-obsession which we have to oppose. The much-hyped Karlsson Wilker design company is another example of visual rock’n’rollers who sometimes seem to value style over substance.
What do what we can to further enlighten these young talents and turn their fling with infographics into a lasting love, but how do we help them metamorphasize into mature communicators without losing the fun and enthusiasm that got them going in the first place, and where on Earth do we find businesses which can help them exploit their geekiness to actually make a living? Any suggestions?
OLE MUNK is a graphic designer, design and communication consultant, and illustrator, based in Espergaerde, Denmark. He holds an architectural degree from the Institute of Visual Communication at the Royal Academy of Arts in Copenhagen. He has been managing director of Ribergaard & Munk Communication Design (www.ribmunk.dk) since July 1995. He was president of the Society for News Design/Scandinavia 1997-99.
Dona Wong said:
I share your enthusiasm on infographics. Information graphics are powerful and influential. Anyone who wants to engage and change the world uses information graphics to persuade and connect with the audience. A good information designer can turn volumes of data into clear, concise and intelligent graphics. The issue is designers often focus on the design instead of the content, especially with quantitative graphics. They are stymied by the lack of training. This is what motivated me to write “The Wall Street Journal Guide to Information Graphics.” As our world becomes more data-driven, these skills will become even more in demand.
VizThink Blog » Blog Archive » VizLinks | Visual Thinking Bookmarks for March 10th said:
[...] Rise of the Infogeeks – The Society for News Design – var addthis_pub = 'vizthink'; var addthis_language = 'en';var addthis_options = 'twitter, email, favorites, digg, delicious, myspace, google, facebook, reddit, live, more'; —Liked this post? You may find these of interest or relevance:VizLinks | Visual Thinking Bookmarks for February 10thVizLinks | Visual Thinking Bookmarks for March 2ndVizLinks | Visual Thinking Bookmarks for December 10thVizLinks | Visual Thinking Bookmarks for December 10thVizLinks | Visual Thinking Bookmarks for March 7th blog comments powered by Disqus var disqus_url = 'http://vizthink.com/joom/blog/?p=722 '; var disqus_container_id = 'disqus_thread'; var facebookXdReceiverPath = 'http://vizthink.com/joom/blog/wp-content/plugins/disqus-comment-system/xd_receiver.htm'; var DsqLocal = { 'trackbacks': [ ], 'trackback_url': 'http://vizthink.com/joom/blog/wp-trackback.php?p=722' }; [...]
Sreeraman M.G said:
I am a big fan of infographics and used to cut out infographics from newspapers and keep it in a file, when I was a kid. Now I am working as a graphic designer and I find that Infographics are one of the most challenging things to design. None of the works in my portfolio gives me more satisfaction than an Infographic.
Wm Pitzer said:
Ole: I’ve been creating informational graphics for daily newspapers for nearly 30 years and I think they’ve never been more useful or necessary than in today’s mediamorphosis. Infographics work because they explain news and concepts in ways that are understandable and easily consumed. In a world increasingly dominated by visual information, students learning how to effectively communicate with informational graphics will find ample avenues for earning a living. Mobile devices, digital signage, games and simulations, learning systems, short explanatory films, news animations, mobile news design, data-mining visualizations, interface design for kiosks, ATMs, dashboards, and other more traditional media forms, all offer potential outlets for producing infographic content.
Ole Munk said:
Thanks Dona (and Sreeraman and Bill) … “The Wall Street Journal to Information Graphics” – that sounds interesting! Where can I see it?
Kristin said:
Here it is on Amazon, Ole!
http://www.amazon.com/Street-Journal-Guide-Information-Graphics/dp/0393072959
Looks like a good book. I will check it out as well.
In response to your article, I think infographics are very cool. It is disheartening, though, when designers misrepresent the data. It’s even worse when editors think it’s a great graphic because they haven’t been trained visually.
Sha said:
“The other challenge is about subtly adjusting the mindsets of the young infographic generation so that its members will find it equally, perhaps even more, stimulating to produce visual explanations that do not involve themselves and their own personal lives.”
This reminds me of something the writer/poet June Jordan said when asked whether she wrote for herself or for the world, she said she could not just write for one or the other, that she oscillated inbetween the two, etc..
I definitely started out working with data that was personal because it was at hand and relevant, but now it’s hard to justify those self-serving visualizations..
Weekend Fodder | FlowingData said:
[...] Rise of the Infogeeks – Lots of graphic designers have taken a liking to information graphics. [...]
Andrew said:
Infographics sure are time-intensive to create but do help deliver information that we’d never get our audience to consume otherwise. I do think we’re headed in the right direction with both accessibility of raw data to chart, and availability of tools to chart with.
I read Dona’s book; thought it was a great overview. My team has identified some key takeaways from it for our charting library. Simple things that make a big difference such as labeling lines directly rather than using a legend and ordering/rotating pie slices for easier reading.
Ole Munk said:
I am definetely going to read Dona’s book.
By the way, did you all see the Malofiej Best of Show graphic from Svenska Dagbladet? This is SO great. I believe it is going to become a classic – even if the topic may seem a bit “soft” compared to, for instance, Napoleon’s march to Moscow …
Check it out on http://www.svd.se/kulturnoje/nyheter/har-ar-svds-guldgrafik_4415941.svd?service=graphic
- Ribergård & Munk said:
[...] SND website. Read his comments to the sudden popularity of infographics among the young generation here. The bi-weekly magazine of the Danish Journalists’ Union, Journalisten, is publishing website [...]
Things I Learned This Week – #12 | dougbelshaw.com/blog said:
[...] official: infographics are now cool (were they ever [...]
Randy Krum said:
Ole, I’ve seen a very significant increase in both interest and availability of infographics in just the last two years. When I started the Cool Infographics blog, I was actually concerned that I might run out of material. Let’s just say that I don’t have that fear anymore.
As with any growing media form, that means there are more really good infographics being designed, but also more of the really bad stuff as well.
Rosalind said:
As a scientist, I find infographics are far better tools for explaining science to the public than anything else, and I wish we had more crossover with people interested in producing scientific infographics.
Saying that, I would say that getting people interested in creating them is best accomplished by pointing out how they can be applied to situations like that. Someone who is interested in science can make scientific infographics for the purpose of better conveying information. Someone interested in history or psychology or political science could do the same. Pictures were the original form of written communication, and something that people of different interests and academic levels can understand
I also adore Venn Diagrams and put them on my blog weekly
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