Publishers of technology books, eBooks, and videos for creative people

Home > Articles > Design > Voices That Matter

Bringing Infographics And Visualization to the Mainstream: Not Just the Tools, but the Ideas

Alberto Cairo, author of The Functional Art: An introduction to information graphics and visualization, explains that the democratization and commoditization of infographics is a wonderful trend, but it will get even better if it is informed by a solid understanding of certain universal guidelines.
Like this article? We recommend

“Visualization is going mainstream, after all. Big time.”

That's what I thought a few weeks ago, during a flight from San José, Costa Rica, to Miami, where I teach how to use statistical charts, maps, diagrams, and illustrations to make the world intelligible. After my 1-year old girl fell asleep on her mother's lap, and my 6-year old boy immersed himself in a video game, I turned the personal entertainment system on and browsed the movies. I picked The Avengers.

Months before our trip, I had enjoyed Joss Whedon's colorful extravaganza in the theatre. I decided to give it a second look to spot the nerdy jokes the director is so fond of. There are plenty of them, but what caught my eye the most was the use of slick interactive graphics in many of the scenes. There's a certain conversation between Tony Stark (Iron Man) and Bruce Banner (The Hulk) that is a graphics feast. It includes what seems to be an animated stream graph -- a very uncommon, ribbon-like kind of visualization that encodes the change of one or more variables across time. “That's bold,” I thought. “When it comes to visualization, stream graphs are at the cutting edge.”

Geek talk aside, the truth is that information visualization is becoming a commodity thanks to many developments in the past few years. Just a decade ago, if you needed to design good charts, maps, or diagrams, it was almost mandatory to hire a professional designer. That's still advisable in most cases, but today the most common kinds of graphics are within anybody's reach. Just think of Tableau Public (1), Fernanda Viegas' and Martin Wattenberg's Many Eyes (2) ―even if it has not been updated in ages―, Visual.ly, Infogr.am, Data Wrapper, Google Charts, Fusion Tables, and the other many open source or free tools available out there.

Moreover, visualization scripting languages have become friendly even to those folks who feel itchy when they hear words like “variable” or “array.” Take Ben Fry and Casey Reas' Processing (3), or JavaScript, when combined with libraries like D3 (4) and Raphaël (5). In the past ten years we have abandoned a scenario of scarcity (“I'd just use Excel, Illustrator, and Flash”) to enter one of plenty. In fact, it has become so plentiful that sometimes it is hard to decide what tool to use among the many available. My hunch is that this variety will only tend to increase in the near future, software programs will become even easier to use, and their default options will be of higher quality.

There's more evidence of an infographics and visualization boom. Just a few weeks ago, NASA announced its JPL Infographics initiative (6), which is based on “extensive collections of NASA science and mission data, graphics and space images that members of the public can download and use to create their own infographics.” Before JPL, the amount of competitions, conferences, and summits about information graphics was already increasing at a high pace. It is a good time to be in this business. There's much to be done and much to be learned and discovered. There are also challenges to overcome. The most important one is education on the basics.

Search for “best infographics” in Google. You will experience a vexing, oxymoronic revelation: You will find dozens of examples of bad infographics, in which ornaments obscure messages and decoration gets in the way of stories. You'll stumble upon compositions filled with unabashed visual noise, and abstract data visualizations in which the priority of designers seems to have been to show off their programming skills, rather than be true to their role of storytellers, explainers, and intermediaries between complexity and the public.

To a large degree, this phenomenon is the result of marketing, advertisement, and PR agencies arrogating the very word “infographics” without respecting the long and distinguished tradition that this term has in news media. Too many of these agencies strive to create viral messages without worrying much about quality. Their priority is the decoration of some random and unconnected facts and figures, not substance, depth, and context. They don't need you to understand anything; they just want to grab your attention for a few seconds and sell you something: a product, a service, an idea.

Is decoration always bad? My own approach to ornament and playful beauty in information graphics is quite simple: I am not against them in principle, as I am not a strict minimalist, but I stick to what the famous art critic Herbert Read wrote in his 1934 classic Art and Industry: “The only real justification for ornament is that it should in some way emphasize form.” To communicate efficiently by means of graphic representations of data and phenomena, decoration should never hurt clarity, even if your first or only goal is to sell, not to enlighten.

The previous few lines summarize one of the many simple rules of thumb that I believe should always be followed. There are many others “be clear and deep before trying to be cool,” “think about structure and integrity before thinking about type and color palettes”― but it seems to me that they are being ignored by a growing body of designers and other creative types. The democratization and commoditization of infographics is a wonderful trend, but it will get even better if it is informed by a solid understanding of certain universal guidelines. These should be studied while you play around with the software.

Moreover, internalizing principles is advisable before you can thoughtfully break them at the right time. That's why I wrote my own book, The Functional Art (7), and why I recommend my students at the University of Miami, UNC-Chapel Hill, and the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya to keep an eye on people like Edward Tufte, Stephen Few, Steven Kosslyn, William Cleveland, Howard Wainer, Colin Ware, Naomi Robbins, Nathan Yau, Dan Roam, Connie Malamed, Andy Kirk, and so many others (8). The contents of their writings are based not just on personal taste, but on reasoning, science, and logic. You may ―must― disagree with them at some point, but you should never ignore them.

That is for the professionals, but what about the general public? The visual representation of information is such a powerful tool that I am convinced that it has to be formally taught in schools. Graphics are a language, they have a grammar and a vocabulary that need to be learned before they can be used properly (9). We educate our kids on reading words already. Let's teach them also how to extract meaning from scatter plots and choropleth maps, how to design graphics to explore, analyze, clarify, and convey information, how to think with pictures. Rudolf Arnheim made the case for this in his book Visual Thinking (10). We are a visual species, not just a verbal one. Let's use that to our advantage.

(1) http://www.tableausoftware.com/public/
(2) http://www-958.ibm.com/software/data/cognos/manyeyes/
(3) http://processing.org/
(4) http://d3js.org/
(5) http://raphaeljs.com/
(6) http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-222&rn=news.xml&rst=3451
(7) http://www.thefunctionalart.com
(8) A recommended readings list http://www.thefunctionalart.com/2012/06/information-graphics-and-visualization.html
(9) Some schools are already doing this. Read http://www.thefunctionalart.com/2012/04/charts-for-kindergartens.html
(10) http://books.google.com/books?id=DWmtB9szhFsC&printsec=frontcover&hl=es#v=onepage&q&f=false

Peachpit Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from Peachpit and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about Peachpit products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites; develop new products and services; conduct educational research; and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email ask@peachpit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by Adobe Press. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.peachpit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020