Infographics vs Data Visualisation
I often get enquiries from clients about designing an “infographic”. The word infographic has become a bit of a buzzword, especially in the world of marketing, and everyone wants to get involved.
However, more often than not, the client is not actually looking for an infographic, but some sort of diagram or chart. These types of graphics are formally known as “data visualisations”, or “data viz” for short.
WHAT IS “DATA VIZ”?
Data viz has become commonplace in our lives. Since COVID-19, we have become all-too familiar with terms such as “trends”, “rolling averages” and “exponential growth”. And we have seen all types of visualisations in the media, while we try to “flatten the curve”. (The Financial Times have produced particularly great ones.)
But even before COVID, data viz had become prevalent as we become more mindful and aware of data and statistics around us. Whether it’s a television graphic during a match showing your team’s statistics, or a complicated spreadsheet at work, we are constantly surrounded by data.
Our task, as designers, is to translate this data into an easy-to-understand visual.
Effective data visualisation is a delicate balancing act between aesthetics and function. A good visualisation removes the noise and highlights the important information. It’s important to make it visually engaging, while still understandable and legible. For example, a simple bar chart might be too boring to capture anyone’s attention, but a beautifully designed visualisation might be impossible to understand and could frustrate a reader. In summary, data visualisations should be useful, accurate and visually appealing.
It’s worth noting that the term ‘data visualisation’ refers to a range of visuals, from a simple bar chart like the one below on the left, to more complicated graphics, like the one on the right. These are both examples of data visualisation.
Image credits: Resonate Design (left), Financial Times (right)
TYPES OF DATA VIZ
There are loads of types of data visualisations to choose from. Everyone is familiar with bar, line and pie charts. Some may even know what a gantt, scatter or area chart is, but very few could put a name on the ones below!
Image credit: Data Viz Project (datavizproject.com)
Obviously the data will determine the type of chart which will work best for a project, but it’s good practice to look around for inspiration and try alternatives to the predictable options so that your visualisation stands out from the crowd.
This website is a great resource for different types of data visualisations. The images above are from this site.
INFOGRAPHICS V DATA VIZ
So what’s the difference between an infographic and a data visualisation?
Infographics, fundamentally, tell a story. (I’ve discussed this topic in more detail in this blogpost). They combine text, illustrations, icons and data visualisations in a structured format. What’s important to note is that the narrative is predetermined and the infographic is created around telling that specific story, so they are subjective to the designer/client.
A data visualisation is a graphical representation of data. Unlike infographics, the data is factual and objective; the audience can process the information and draw their own conclusions.
Generally data visualisations are comprised of one dataset. This might then be included as one component of an infographic.
In contrast, an infographic is normally a larger visual, which includes additional information and context alongside the data visualisation(s) to help tell its story.
For example, the image on the left below is a stand-alone detailed data visualisation while the image on the right, shows a more detailed infographic. The infographic was created using the same main visualisation but with added text and graphics. This helps give context to the data and ensures key points or statistics are highlighted.
(Read the full case study about this project here)
WHICH TO USE WHEN?
Infographics are great for marketing, blog posts and case studies when a story or process needs to be explained.
Data visualisations are more suitable for showing factual information in reports, research publications and editorial use.
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SUGGESTED TWITTER ACCOUNTS TO FOLLOW
@beautiful__news
@infobeautiful
@GuardianData
@hotinfographics
REFERENCES
https://www.tableau.com/learn/articles/data-visualization
https://datavizproject.com/
https://www.toptal.com/designers/data-visualization/data-visualization-best-practices
https://venngage.com/blog/misleading-graphs/
Posted by Andrea
Resonate Design
Feel free to get in touch with any comments or queries!