Possible Clients

This week begins with brainstorming potential clients for an infographic. Infographics are definitely an effective method to efficiently get data or marketing across to the reader. After giving it some  thought, I figured out three clients that I would enjoy making an infographic for:  Yoobi, the EPA, and IMAN Chicago.

Yoobi is an amazing company that sells colorful school supplies. The name YooBi means "one for you, and one for me" which pretty much sums up the company mission. For every item sold, Yoobi donates an item to a classroom in the US. I have a few Yoobi highlighters and pens I bought (and love) from Target a while back. However, I only recently realized the company has this charitable side. Therefore, I would really enjoy making the company an infographic that would help them better market their products. This way, customers can better understand how Yoobi provides something more meaningful than just supplies.

The next group I would like to advertise for is the EPA. The Environmental Protective Agency is currently being largely defunded. In addition, the head of the current EPA is not someone who believes in climate change. I would like to help scientists and the department of government out in creating infographics using raw, nonpartisan data from around the world. I'd like to make them simple and straightforward enough to get the message across to the congress (and all our citizens). Hopefully, then there can be no disputes in the unfortunately controversial subject.

Lastly, I think it would be helpful to make an infographic for IMAN Chicago. The Intercity Muslim Action Network is a nonprofit organization that is based in the south side of Chicago. This organization focuses on community, the arts, and activism. I currently am volunteering with IMAN in a larger campaign to address the food desert the south side is currently in. There is little to no access to fresh produce or substantial groceries. IMAN is working with the corner stores within the south side to bring produce and healthy items into the community. I would like to put the data we collect into an infographic. I think many types of people can benefit from this. This can be a method of advertisement to garner more volunteers and outside donations. Additionally,  this data will serve as a means to bring more corner stores into the initiative and possible support from the local city and town government.

Below is my Hubspot inforgraphic pdf file:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx_2xqC-z85XbV9hYW5ONjhaZFE/view?usp=sharing

Piktochart Infographic Remake

This week I recreated my first infographic using Piktochart. I actually really enjoyed using the software and would possibly consider it my favorite thus far. I used the website once before in highschool to make event fliers, so I was already quite familiar with it. The interface is so simple to use and maneuver. There is no lagging and there are plenty of options to choose from. I really love the picture frame options (and all the free photos). The frames are an effortless way to make the infographic look clean, unique, and still professional.

Some text frames, backgrounds, and pictures are not as personalizable as I would have liked. The colors and dimensions are typically preset and so an element of customization is lost. I do not like the Piktochart watermark at the bottom of the PNG that can only be removed once upgraded. While there are few templates that are free, the upgraded templates are still viewable and serve as inspiration. 

The site does remind me of Canva, however, Canva had more free templates but limited backgrounds, pictures, and icons. This made making a completely free infographic quite difficult on Canva, but relatively straightforward on Piktochart. The tool option sets Piktochart apart from both Canva and Powerpoint because it makes adding graphs, maps, and videos very easy. The graph feature stood out because some graph options including the doughnut, stack venn, and the icon matrix are unique to Piktochart (that even excel doesn't support).

I chose to remake my first infographic entitled, "The Good and Bad of Having Your Own Business". Firstly, inorder to truly declutter, I decided to change my topic to only benefits instead of both pros and cons. Then, I added some fun information to provide a short background to the topic. While the graph and photo frame are extra, I do not think they clutter the infographic, but rather add visual enhancement. In particular, I utilized the principles of similarity and enclosure. The colors and fonts coordinate throughout and provide harmony and uniformity to the infographic, something the original version lacked. Also, the remake has adequate white space that helped balance it as well.

Effective Visuals

This week I created an infographic using Hubspot's free templates. This method was slightly easier than Canva because I am more familiar with using Microsoft Powerpoint. I chose the Tree Facts template and altered it to better suite my topic. The colors were similar as I kept the general feel the original template had. 
In terms of visual effectiveness, I placed the facts along the stem. I hope this made the graphic pleasing and easier to read. Overall, I do think power point is another fun tool for making straightforward infographics. Also, I saved the slide as a png file in order to upload it here.

I Like Pretty Graphs" Video Review

This week, the video"I Like Pretty Graphs: Best Practices for Data Visualization Assignments" by UWDesignLab proved to be quite insightful. Overall, the teaching style was very concise, there was not a massive amount of information to take in and the information given was broken down into various categories and points. I particularly liked how there were two narrators speaking. It helped keep me engaged as it almost felt like a discussion between friends on a podcast verses a monotonous lecture. Also, the teachers' use of plentiful examples not only demonstrated what they were speaking about but also reinforced their key points in my head.

Their focal breakdown of the Basics of Graphic Design into 4 Goals, 3 Building Blocks, Principles of Effective Design, and Manipulating Visual Elements was particularly effective. The Basic Building Blocks, divided into visual elements, typography, and space, provide a basis for understanding what infographics contain. The slides and breakdowns he provided may be slightly oversimplified, but I do no think of it as a vice since it is easier for me to retain and refer back to information when simplified.They provided websites to utilize like colorschemedesigner.com and typeconnection.com. I definitely appreciate these references because they are tools that will help in the future.

Interestingly, many of the example infographics they show do not have titles. Just something that I noticed, but I suppose the visuals really try to speak for themselves (and are not dependent on the explanation a title provides). That being said, some other examples of infographics seemed very confusing with strong contrasting colors, shapes, and overcrowding. It made me wonder if the visuals really made the data easier to read, given it was taking me just as long to decode the message the author was trying to get across. The Left verses Right graphic and the Generic Names of Soft Drinks by County graphic are two examples that I felt this way about. They left me agitated trying to figure out what was going on. In addition, the last 15 minutes got pretty dry and flat as they lost momentum and lacked visuals. However, overall I think the video was a nice introduction into a larger study.


I included an infographic I liked from the website dailyinfographic.com, a website the two guys recommend to check out.