Infographics sort out confusing information

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Feb, 2002

What are those computer-generated thingamajigs and multilayered do-dads popping up more and more in magazine spreads lately? They're infographics--visual explanations designed to help readers navigate complicated data or ideas. They can involve diagrams, illustrations, photographs and text in any combination, explained John Grimwade, graphic arts director at Conde Nast Traveler, while speaking at a seminar titled "Infographics in Magazines: The Inside Track" at the Folio: Show in October. And their purpose is to bring clarity and understanding to complex research, he said. But be careful not to use them too often: "They should never be created purely for art's sake, or just to make a page more interesting. They are only as good as the information they contain. If you are forcing the material to be an infographic, you probably don't need one."

Here are Grimwade's guidelines for making inforgraphics work: Be sure to use the right size. Don't scale small ideas to up to fill space or reduce ideas so they are hard for the reader to deal with--both problems always show. Create an infographic only if there is an overabundance of research. And avoid a lot of commentary with an infographic, since visual explanation is the objective. "Most of all, keep an open mind," said Grimwade. "Infographics usually work best as part of a package that is mainly text and photographs. But a story could even be made up entirely of infographics if a strong idea called for it."