Using of Infographics

If you remember the previous course you were supposed to be part of, concerning the creation of your own website, note that you can choose another subject for today, as well as keeping the same. If you choose the same, because it would be something you’ve already known, you should look deeper into it or find another approach. But if you choose a new one, you will start from scratch. It’s really up to you! 

2.1 Find a subject, topic

As I already said, even if you take the same subject that the last time, you are going to take another look at it. The work will not concern developing the most as you can on this topic, because it is already done, and because this time you have to find a front door to explore deeper, without hope in being exhaustive : you won’t be, and that one of the purpose of this lesson ; to learn how to be concise, go to the point. 

And if you need a new subject, I invite you to refer to the previous lesson and the steps which were itemised to find it. For now, you just need to outline it, have an insight of it. 

Maybe it could be, if you have the same subject as before, the other roads mentioned during the last chapter of the previous course : these other roads you would like to follow, sometimes unexpected, but you didn’t have the time to do that yet. 

Or maybe it could be, if the subject is new, the most obvious roads that occur to you right now.

Define your approach:

Whatever your choice is, the next process is the same : define your approach. Make a draft of this one on a notebook or elsewhere ; in trying to give shape to it. 

Maybe it could be, if you have the same subject as before, the other roads mentioned during the last chapter of the previous course : these other roads you would like to follow, sometimes unexpected, but you didn’t have the time to do that yet. 

Or maybe it could be, if the subject is new, the most obvious roads that occur to you right now.

Ask question:

Don’t hesitate to ask questions to yourself, to your own subject and what you want to talk about : express a question, a question on which you don’t have the answer yet.

Even if your subject is, at first sight, the same as before. It won’t be the case anymore very soon, when you will find another door to explore in the same theme.

Research:

Why do I suggest you do not know the answer ? Because in Research, the first person that will be able to discover the outcome of your own Research, your own question, is obviously you. So, foremost, the first person who will be able to delight in discovering it, is also logically you. It’s much more rewarding to really have the feeling of discovering something new, something you ignored, rather than just corroborating what you’ve already known. 

It’s, of course, recommended to find a subject that matters to you, but in which you don’t have a perfect knowledge of, and many grey areas on which you would like to put light and understanding : discovering something that you are passionate about, is a really beautiful way and approach to see Research. 

So ask questions and wonder about them, but the answers to that will be our last chapter, our last step : it will be what you cannot see yet beyond the clouds.

2.2 Define your audience:

Defining this point is extremely important and useful because the tone, difficulties, visuals and everything else that you are going to use, will depend on this factor. 

If the audience is children ; you are not going to use too much complicated datas, nor are visuals too overloaded. You would prefer opting for simple datas, but playful visuals.

But if your audience is a very specific public, with specific knowledge that you master as well as them, you will allow yourself to use more complicated visuals, datas, and technical vocabulary… But, without falling into too obvious mistakes. 

So, define your audience, and these mistakes will be our next footfall. 

2.3 Mistakes to avoid:

In this website, some mistakes to avoid are listed : 

What Makes a Good Infographic?

We are going to look deeper into each of them, to make you understand as well as possible why there are mistakes and how you could avoid them as efficiently as possible. 

Mistake 1:

So, according to the person who wrote the article aforementioned, you have to avoid : 

·“Misleading with false information or datas distorsions”

⇒ that means how important it is to do your Research properly, exactly in the same vein as before, in the previous course. So, just a recap of a few points and tricks regarding that, mentioned in the previous course, to see if sources are proved or not : 

·make research on the person who writes the article : he is known and/or specialised in the sector in question ? 

·Then check date of the publication, and ensure yourself that none other and future information is came contradicting or enriching the statement of the article

·Collect other information on the same subject to make them matched or not

·Read the “à-propos” of the article, to know more about the mainline of the website, who are the journalists behind, if it is amator or not 

·Put attention to the spelling or grammatical mistakes.

So put a high attention to where you collect the information.

Mistake 2:

·“Overloading your infographic with visual distractions or clutter”. 

⇒ sometimes, when we discover the capabilities of visuals and when we have a visual creativity, we envy using everything at our disposal. It can be difficult to make a choice, and to use just some of them. But it’s yet essential : the aim of Infographic is to be attractive, on the contrary of a word processing sometimes boring because overloaded. 

Visuals are supposed to lighten information, get to the point, not getting lost in unnecessary things or details. So explore each visual if you want, but without forgetting to finally, at the end, make choices and prune your final outcome. 

Mistake 3:

·“Overloading your infographic with visual distractions or clutter”. 

⇒ sometimes, when we discover the capabilities of visuals and when we have a visual creativity, we envy using everything at our disposal. It can be difficult to make a choice, and to use just some of them. But it’s yet essential : the aim of Infographic is to be attractive, on the contrary of a word processing sometimes boring because overloaded. 

Visuals are supposed to lighten information, get to the point, not getting lost in unnecessary things or details. So explore each visual if you want, but without forgetting to finally, at the end, make choices and prune your final outcome. 

Mistake 3:

·“Neglecting to value and include all types of people”. 

⇒ a very important aspect that you can neglect by inattention even if you are a very inclusive person. So, whatever your audience that you just defined in the previous footfall, inside it, you have to be the most inclusive as possible. That means : be addressed to man, woman, the most nationalities/ethnic groups as possible, whatever sexual orientation, disables or not, and many others. This article embodied in the website explains in a very clearly and detailed way what it does mean to design for diversity, with visual and infographics examples, so very interesting and necessary for you to take note of that : https://venngage.com/blog/designing-for-diversity/

Mistake 4:

·“Refusing to correct these mistakes (we all make them)”. 

⇒ of course, the most important aspect because in lacking it, every other points mentioned lose their usefulness. It’s very important, no only for this exercise, but even for your future tasks and professional experiences, to ask yourself, become aware of your mistakes or lackings, to accept learning and sometimes to change your manner of thinking. 

It’s not an exhaustive list : maybe you will notice other mistakes in which it’s easy to fall ; in that case, maybe you could share them with the other schoolmates.

Conclusion:

Alright, after discovering the main lines of Infographic during the first step, you’ve just grasped on this second step, the main lines of using Infographic.  

You’ve just gone over the second landing in finding your subject, defining your audience, and listing the mistakes to avoid. 

You can climb over this second step to reach the next landing : the one of the Research.