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.