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 you prototype submission, post the following documents:
For you final submission, post the draft and final versions of the following documents:
Document type: memo, infographic
Document length: 150 words (memo), 5 panels (Infographic)
Project value: 250 points (50 for draft; 200 for final)
Evaluation rubric: _RPW233_Eval_InfoGraphic.pdf
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 combines images and contextualizing text.
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. 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. You need a subject that is popular enough to matter, so that the likelihood of finding articles, data, and so on is greater. You need a subject that can be conveyed visually through realistic or abstract images.
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 as inspiration and guidance for how to imagine your data story.
Your infographic should incorporate all of the following content elements.
Hint. Consider the way the samples we 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.
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 memo should incorporate the following content and design elements.
Your final memo should incorporate the following content and design elements.
Consult the sample documents (see SVSU Canvas Files: Project Support) for additional guidance.
Recommended tool(s): Adobe InDesign/Canva (including Canva.com), Adobe Photoshop, scanning device/app, digital camera
This section offers guidance for how to interpret the project and how to proceed with your work on it. Consider the following 3 strategies.
Consider our encounters with infographics. Infographics demonstrate all of the following qualities and characteristics.
An informative poster communicates meaningful information, but is not data driven. That is, it does not rely on gathered or measured evidence the way an infographic does. Another way to think of this is that infographics share data to contextualize their subjects, and informative posters share details to describe their posters.
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?
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.
This section is designed to help you anticipate and avoid problems as you work on this project. Therefore, as you work, consider the following 5 hints and tips.
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.
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.
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 delays in receiving feedback on the draft of your project, or 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 draft 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 draft and final submissions will be evaluated.
There are 50 possible points for the draft stage of this project. You will earn points according to the following standard.
There are 200 possible points for this submission. You will earn points according to the following standard: content development (40%); design execution (20%); professionalism and attention to detail (20%); and impact of revision (20%). The specific areas of emphasis for this project are drawn from the description and discussion of the project, and are detailed in the evaluation rubric (_RPW233_Eval_InfoGraphic.pdf).
Remember that I will only post the point values for projects on the Grades page in SVSU Canvas. I will post the details relevant to that evaluation in your class folder in a project-specific file.
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