The purpose of this assignment is to work with a dataset to visualize it for a particular audience. The infographic could be editorial in nature (such as exploring the effects of climate change), or it could be promotional (such as a company touting its sales and market share statistics). The infographic should help tell your client's story, about their products or services, to their target audience.
The trick is to find the most compelling data for your audience, extract it, and feature it in a way that is engaging.
The criteria for a good infographic is that it should “make the numbers come alive”. The layout of the elements should have a good balance, with some important features highlighted. There should be a graphic consistency to the design elements and typography. A visual theme should emerge from the design that is appropriate to the data and to your audience. Here is a good article about best design practices for infographics:
https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/28436/10-Traits-of-Amazingly-Awesome-Infographics.aspx
This site provides a very good synopsis of Edward Tufte’s design principles applied to graphics and the web:
http://staff.washington.edu/larryg/Classes/R560/zz-tufte.html
There are some examples of student infographics here.
As per the demo in class, you should use a vector graphics tool to create the infographic, such as Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape. I recommend a standard letter size (8.5 X 11 in) at 300 ppi. You should work in layers, where each datapoint and its associated graphic or chart is on a separate layer. In Illustrator you can export the file as svg or png formats. If you export the infographic as a png file at 72 ppi, the rendered file will be 614 X 794, which is a good size to display in your documentation.
When you have updated your documentation you should email the URL to uidev@cs.stonybrook.edu, with Infographic in the subject line.
Rubric
1. Followed the instructions:
• An approximately 8.5 X 11 infographic was uploaded to the student’s web site, and the URL was sent to the course email
2. Met the design criteria:
• Appropriate datapoints (for target audience and client’s business) were chosen to illustrate.
• Design was informed by the branding for the client (logo, typography, color scheme)
• Visual elements have a good balance, with key points emphasized
* Consistency in look and feel for illustrations
• Typography is legible
• Has a call to action (QR Code, URL)
• Includes references for data
• Appropriate layout (timeline, flowchart, editorial) or thematic design employed.
• Good technical execution (crisp edges, clean shapes)
That’s 10 criteria, or approximately 1 point each.