When I was just a college lad, I took a class called “Information Graphics.” Of course, I didn’t really understand why my school chose such a bland name for the class that everyone got the most excited about – the one where you got to learn Photoshop and InDesign. Then, once I had a few projects under my belt, I realized that the phrase “information graphic” really just describes a graphical organization of information. Go figure.
Just around the time I graduated, infographics BLEW UP. Everyone was using them – PR people, creatives, account service people. Their success quickly outgrew their effectiveness, as most things do in the hands of the masses. Before long, they were good for little more than impressing clients and consumers alike with their bright colors and fancy fonts.
Now, you would be hard-pressed to skim a Twitter feed without spotting at least one daily infographic, shamelessly amplifying some inconsequential statistic that looks far more impressive than it actually is solely because of some drop shadows and gradients.
Maybe I’m the only one who has a problem, but I am of the belief that many of these may be information, and others may be graphics, but few of them are actually infographics.
Sure, I believe an infographic requires both information and graphics. But let’s not stop there. I think each of these two components should add something to the other that isn’t there on its own.
Let me show you. These are a few examples found simply by Googling the term “infographic.” Having pictures does NOT make this blog an infographic.
Neat, right? It’s got that M.C. Escher feel to it, right? Why? Someone please tell me why this designer felt it appropriate to demonstrate this long-winded vision in rhombi? I’ll tell you why: someone got a new Mac and discovered the promising world of gradients. But aren’t you happy that the smattering of elegant fonts and the obvious eye-flow made these staggering numbers jump off the paper? No thanks.
This one just sort of makes me angry. I mean I get it – the components of a blog network can be compared to the actions demonstrated by these delightful, little avian characters. But let’s not pretend that all these speech bubbles properly communicate the way blog components build upon each other just because they’re all in the same tree… or that Link Sharing can actually carry that apple all by itself.
Apart from the unsettling feeling after realizing which of these categories you fall under, this one’s actually a little funny. Unfortunately, you can take away all the pictures in the image, leaving only the words, and what have you got? The exact same effect. That is not an infographic. It is words with a background.
I think this about sums up my feelings:
Now stop it.