Simple Guide to Creating Infographics

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Big Studio Beer & Brainstorming SessionFacilitated by Emily Lee on 9.18.14

Simple Guide to Creating Infographics

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About theSession

What is Beer & Brainstorming?

Beer & Brainstorming is an opportunity for the Big Studio team to explore design thinking principles and use rapid brainstorming exercises to get to unique solutions.

Oh, we also sample delicious beers from around the world.

OverviewThe goal of this session is to understand what makes a compelling infographic.

• Our warm-up exercise featured translating common and unusual words into self-explanatory icons.

• We split into teams to create infographics on different subjects.

• Each team pitched their ideas and voted on a winner.

WARM-UP EXERCISES

WHAT AREINFOGRAPHICS?

CREATE ANINFOGRAPHIC

TEAMPITCHES

10 min. 10 min. 25 min. 10 min.

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Warm Up Exercise (10 min.)Translating words into unique icons

Idea

1st word

Marriage

2nd word

Observe

3rd word

Caregiving

4th word

Mental Exercise

5th word

Grandparenting

6th word

Renewable Energy

7th word

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Rapid Listing of Icons

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What are infographics?

Visual Storytelling

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1. Gather Data

Read through the data. Once you understand it, prioritize the most important and

interesting facts to craft a great story.

2. Find Inspiration and Sketch It Out

With a written story at hand, sketch ideas that best describe your story in a graphical way.

Find inspiration on the internet or in magazines.

3. Create a Stellar Infographic

Infographics come in all shapes and sizes. There are infographics that use graphics,

animation, and physical objects. What is the ideal medium to tell your story?

3 Steps to a Compelling Infographic

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3 Examples of Infographics

Using Icons Using Physical Objects Using 3D Models

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Team Challenge (25 min.)Each team randomly selected a subject for their infographic

Designers’ Work Styles

Team A

Designers' Commute to Work

Team B

Predetermined Subject A Predetermined Subject B

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Team A: Designers’ Work Styles

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Result:

Team A examined each designer’s profiles. They found and mapped core similarities among Big Studio folks.

The infographic featured people’s work styles plotted on a graph with the x-axis measuring introvert and extrovert personalities and the y-axis measuring specialties in data-driven and feeling-driven designs.

Team A: Designers’ Work Styles

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Team B: Designers' Commute to Work

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Result:

Team B examined information on each designer’s commute to work. There were 4 factors to note: how far people are from Big Studio, how people commute, how long the commute takes, and finally how the commute feels.

The infographic featured the commute on a map. They identified each of the factors by distance, iconography, numbers, and thickness of the line respectively.

The challenge was to graphically demonstrate each factor, relative to, and independent of one another.

Team B: Designers' Commute to Work

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Key Takeaways

• Explore new visuals for common icons and unusual words

• Understand what creates a compelling infographic

• Create infographics about Big Studio designers

Team A Conclusion:

The content displayed was revealing about

perceptions of colleagues’ work styles from

within members of Team A. By quantifying

and graphing these perceptions, Team A

established a baseline upon which we could

understand our work styles relative to one-

another.

Team B Conclusion:

Team B did well to display the information

gathered in a creative format. Using a map

of Boston, color coding, iconography, and

line density, they were able to convey a

great deal of information about each

designer’s commute in a format effective for

at-a-glance understanding.

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