The InfoGraphic (IG) project asks you to produce a 5-panel infographic focused on a data story that you find worthy of telling. The InfoGraphic project is challenging because it also requires you to harness knowledge of design, genre, media, professionalism, and audience expectations in the production of a data-driven visual experience.
This project requires prototype and final submissions (Version 1, Version 2). All files are submitted to an InfoGraphic folder in your shared course space on Dropbox.com.
For each submission stage, you'll post the following documents:
By your final submission stage, your project folder should contain 5 files for my review. For the full list of core and supporting documents/files, see Submission Requirements.
Like other assignments this semester, the InfoGraphic project brings together elements of research, design thinking, and information design into the construction of a document that is interpreted by creators in a variety of ways. We focus our creative energy on the classical definition of infographic as a data-driven story about a particular topic.
Consider our encounters with infographics so far. Infographics demonstrate all of the following qualities and characteristics.
In constrast to infographics, informative posters communicate meaningful information but are not data driven. That is, they do not rely on gathered or measured evidence the way infographics do. Another way to think of this is that infographics share data to contextualize their subjects (and thus tell a story), and informative posters share details merely to describe their subjects.
Images offer us ways of communicating ideas realistically, metaphorically, and everywhere in between. Words and images both are symbols that stand in for the things we attempt to communicate. Infographic design offers a context for expanding the strategies we use to present concepts and details. If this comes easily to you, extend yourself. Rise to that challenge. If this is difficult for you, begin (and perhaps remain) in the realm of the concrete and obvious.
Document type: memo, infographic
Document length: 150 words (memo), 5 panels (Infographic)
Project value: 250 points (50 for prototype; 200 for final)
Evaluation rubric: _Eval_InfoGraphic.pdf
Recommended tool(s): Adobe InDesign/Canva (including Canva.com), Adobe Photoshop, scanning device/app, digital camera
The Infographic project requires you to construct a 5-panel infographic that presents a data-driven visual story about a topic of your choosing. Your infographic should present its content in a coherent, well-crafted document that relies primarily on images, but that implements contextualizing text and explanations when appropriate and necessary.
To tell a data-driven story, you must have a subject to examine and discuss. In the workshop where we first examined infographics, I directed you to data shared by the United States Census Bureau. You are welcome to draw on those resources for this project as well, if that us appropriate to the topic you present. You need not limit yourself to that resource, however. Past students have focused on a variety of topics:
People compile data on pretty much everything you could think of and share that information in a variety of ways: web sites, videos, articles. You need a subject that is popular enough to matter, so that the likelihood of locating data sources is greater. You need a subject that can be conveyed visually through realistic or abstract images, or a combination of these.
Your infographic is a 5-panel display that presents visual and textual content. In addition to the specifications provided here, use the sample documents I provided through SVSU Canvas (including the teaching document) to guide and inspire your own data story.
Your infographic should incorporate all of the following content elements.
Hint. Consider the way the samples you have viewed combine multiple data points or threads within panels to make a coherent statement about the subject. This is your goal for each panel.
Consult the supporting materials, including articles and sample documents from workshops and for this assignment (see SVSU Canvas Files: Workshop Support and Project Support) for additional guidance.
A memo of transmittal introduces the document it accompanies, providing context for its audience(s). You will craft such a memo for each submission stage of the InfoGraphic project. Your memo should be addressed from you to me.
Your prototype-stage memo should incorporate the following content and design elements.
Your final-stage memo should incorporate the following content and design elements.
Consult the sample documents (see SVSU Canvas Files: Project Support) for additional guidance.
This section is designed to help you anticipate and avoid problems as you work on this project. Therefore, as you work, consider the following hints and tips.
Approach this project as a design strategist. Consider how audience needs and expectations for documents of this type, and how all of the design components coordinate and complement one another. Look at ways that data is presented in published infographics. When does it work? When is it confusing? What can you learn from these observations?
Remember that communication in professional and technical contexts values highly the ability to write and speak with economy, directness, and professionalism. Another way of saying this is to make every word count. Stay focused on the details necessary to communicate effectively with your audience(s). Write and rewrite until your description and contextualization of the subject make sense and represent careful, concise, professional communication.
Edit carefully, seeking to express your ideas clearly and concisely. Edit out loud with the intent of writing in such a manner that your sentences sound professional and focused. Work to meet the design specs. Scrutinize your work so it is consistent, professional, and quality. Refine your document continuously throughout the stages of development.
I assume that you will encounter design processes for tools this semester that are new to you. When that happens, do the research to locate support through web spaces (i.e., for companies that provide the tool) or video services (e.g., YouTube). Doing so puts you in charge of your knowledge acquisition and supports you in the use of the tools and technologies that you have access to.
The heading says it clearly. Do not invest time in a project without also investing in the professional tools and technologies necessary for producing quality work. Take advantage of the university's resources and of the open-source tools that complement them. Part of your bigger goal for the semester is to learn how and when you can incorporate tools such as your personal technologies into your professional development processes.
Use Canva to construct individual data panels if you are new to design. Use Adobe InDesign to assemble your complete infographic. Canva is too clunky and clumsy to assemble the kind of infographic required of you for this project.
The revisions and refinements you make as you prepare your submission may help you understand your design process, and therefore your professional development in more-sophisticated ways. Archive your drafts of this project throughout your its development, and of your final submission when it is ready, so you are able to examine your growth and maturation as you progress through the program.
Read and attend carefully to these submission guidelines. Failure to do so may result in points lost on the final evaluation of your project.
Create a project folder inside your shared class folder on Dropbox.com. Remember, I can only view files that you place inside the shared folder. Until you place files in that space, you have not in practice submitted them.
Name the folder Infographic.
Note. Do not share this folder with me. By placing it in your class folder, you have already shared it by default.
Make sure the files listed below are available to me in the project folder by the project deadline. Post your infographic as a coherent document (i.e., in one file, rather than in multiple files). Export your infographic in a standard image format (e.g., JPG, GIF) or in PDF. Model your filenames on the listed examples:
Note. Do not share the individual files with me. By placing them in your project folder, you have already shared them by default.
Make sure the files from your prototype-stage submission and those listed below are available to me in the project folder by the project deadline. Again, post your infographic as a coherent document (i.e., in one file, rather than in multiple files). Export your infographic in a standard image format (e.g., JPG, GIF) or in PDF. Model your filenames on the listed examples:
Note. Again, do not share the individual files with me. By placing them in your project folder, you have already shared them by default.
This section describes the standards by which your prototype and final submissions will be evaluated.
There are 50 possible points for the prototype stage of this project. You will earn points according to the following standard.
The final project submission is worth 200 possible points. You will earn points according to the standard described on the policies page (see Policies for a description of these categories).
The specific areas of emphasis for the InfoGraphic project are drawn from this description and our discussions of the project (including the supporting teaching materials that I provide to you along the way). Review the project rubric (_Eval_InfoGraphic.pdf) for the specific qualities and characteristics emphasized in each evaluation category.
Remember that I will only post the point values for projects on the Grades page in SVSU Canvas. I will provide the supporting details relevant to that evaluation in your class folder in a project-specific file. Look for a Microsoft Word file in your shared class space on Dropbox with a filename that that follows this pattern:
YourLastName_Eval_InfoGraphic.docx.
This material has evolved over many years of teaching & research, and is protected by U.S. copyright laws.
If you are here because of random chance, or because this content came up in a search, then please feel free to explore the site. If you are a teacher or other professional in any context who would like to use any of my course content in your work, I grant you permission to do so with the following limitations.