The
Infographic
Project

The Infographic Project gives you a chance to explore the world of data visualization as a vital way of communicating and educating your audience.

There are wide range of infographic types including:

  • map

  • schematic

  • factoid/fun fact

  • timeline

  • decision tree

  • comparison

As a design challenge, this project may requires you to use:

  • photography

  • typography

  • design elements

  • graphs and charts

into a cohesive, clear and compelling work of design. To this end, a considerable amount of research needs to be spent gathering the best possible: layout, fonts, color schemes, photos . . . and statistics.

As a useful Illustrator workflow resource, be sure to download this amazing Ultimate Pizza Infographic. You can also get the font used here.

The big challenge of data visualization is to make the numbers understandable and compelling using the right chart or graph. To help you work with Illustrator’s graphing tools be sure to use this helpful chart reference document.

And for a set-by-step infographic workflow, check out this video series.

Assessment

As with all Pro Projects, keep in mind that your work will be assessed by:

  • Professionalism - Project is done "to spec", follows directions, and fulfills all requirements.

  • Craftsmanship - Project exhibits an admirable application of design principles, an aesthetic style, and use of app workflows.

  • Challenge - There is producible evidence that the final design underwent the entire design process and was significant challenging.

  • Originality - Project content is unique (not copied, derivative, a template, AI generated in part or whole, or a reproduction of a tutorial).

Process

1. Communicate

Because you will be the one to select the topic for this project, you’ll need to give yourself a short questionnaire and come up with a design brief.

Here are the essentials:

  • What are your interests - and what part of your interests are you most excited about (the history, the activity itself, etc.)

  • What stats, images, comparisons, etc would make the most compelling infographic on your personal interest?

2. Research

Based on your design brief, visit the following websites and conduct some related searches:

Google (image search)
Dafont (be sure to use custom sample field)
Google Fonts (be sure use custom sample field)
Coolors (come up with a color scheme)
TextureLabs (great texture library and Ps tuts)
Behance (for layout and style inspiration)
The measure of things (useful visual comparison)

You’ll need to create 2 documents: a moodboard and a research log

Moodboard: As fonts, image, layouts, etc. resonates with you, screen grab them (CMD+Shift+4 on a Mac, Win + Shift + S on a PC). After you have at least 20 or more assets**, drop the collective images into gomoodboard.

*Make sure you do a “large” image search for higher-res photos. If you find something you really like, be sure to download the image not just a thumbnail.

Research Log: As you discover compelling info and stats, copy and paste this in information and the URL to the a word doc or google doc. You’ll need to cite your sources as a list of URLs at the bottom of your infographic.

3. Ideate

Based on your moodboard, grab your sketchbook and draw at least 4 possible layout solutions.

From these initial 4 solutions, selected one. Flip the page over and draw 4 new variations based on the initial solution you selected.

From this second round of 4, pick your top solution.

Before you fully commit, get some feedback from classmates, family, . . . anyone you can. Listen to learn - and be open to suggestions - you might come up with an even better solution with some outside feedback.

4. Formalize

Before you turn in this project - be sure to save 2 versions:

1 Source (for your portfolio) - with all fonts and guides still retained (“last-first-project-01.ai”).

2 Turn-in (for Canvas submission)- as a .jpg (“last-first-project-01.jpg”)

This will give you options to re-edit or share your work whenever you like. (For initial setup, see “Specs and Standards” below).

 

Specs and
Standards

 

Your infographic can take on one of two possible layouts:

  • A 11x17in poster for print

  • A 1200px wide X whatever length needed “scrolling” infographic targeting phones (note: font size - must be legible)

  • 2 design elements (graphics, textures, etc.)

  • RGB

  • Clear title, body, and sources sections.

  • All illustration and icon work must by your own.

As with all course projects, keep in mind that your work will be assessed by:

  • Professionalism - project is done "to spec", follows directions, and fulfills requirements.

  • Craftsmanship - project exhibits an admirable application of design principles and use of tools.

  • Originality/Effort - content is unique (not copied or derivative) and the solution is challenging.

Issues and
Guidlines

Given all the factors at play, the range of potentially great solutions for this project is enormous. With this in mind, below are some common issues and helpful guidelines to consider.

 

CHECK THOSE SPECS

Use the highest resolution photos you can find. Note: going from 72ppi (screen) to 300ppi (print) makes images smaller.

SHOW, DON’T TELL

A wall of numbers is usually not engaging or clear. A wall of type is an article. Make sure to are making a compelling visual/graphical representation of your data.

CITE YOUR SOURCES

Make sure your info is accurate by citing the source - and don’t recycle another infographic's info.

MORE THAN MIN/LESS THAN MAX

Minimal design can be great. But for this project you need to create something that really informs the viewer. Also be careful to filter out any info that is not as compelling.

 

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