Everyone is into fancy, expensively-designed infographics these days. Mainly because bloggers love to repost them, so a cool infographic gets you some nice free exposure.
But Mark Hurst reminds us of their real purpose:
- The entire purpose of a chart or graph is to impart understanding.
- Infographics should be used in cases where they impart understanding better than the written word.
- “Information visualization” does not require a computer. It might even be better created without any digital tools at all.
Then Mark shares this great, hand-drawn image by Chris Fahey (click for close-up):
Mark says, “Notice how Fahey is able to distill a chapter’s worth of material into a single page. You can compare and contrast the three drinks by glancing quickly around the drawing. In other words: You’re learning! Here understanding is imparted more effectively, more efficiently, than even a well-worded written description would have done. In short, this is what infographics should be used for — imparting understanding in a way that the written word can not.”