I am sick of infographics.
There I said it.
So what is an infographic? Wikipedia gives this definition;
Information graphics or infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge. These graphics present complex information quickly and clearly, such as in signs, maps, journalism, technical writing, and education. With an information graphic, computer scientists, mathematicians, and statisticians develop and communicate concepts using a single symbol to process information.
There are infographics that are useful, the stylised subway maps are much easier to use than a true and accurate map would be. They are also fantastic for visualising huge amounts of data, it would take volumes to convey the information that Hans Rosling gets across in his data visualisations. Here’s his explanation of improving health in history, but all his videos are fascinating.
Recently there has been a fashion for infographics, and there is now a plethora of infographics on every conceivable subject;
- why your Brand colours matter
- how smart phone users are jerks
- how executives are using social media
- a global view of women in the board room
- what type of twitter user are you?
- how to win Rock, Paper, Scissors ” (no word on when a version might be developed for Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard and Spock)
- how to be happy
Social media seems to be a particularly fertile ground for infographics, with 29 million results for the search query “infographics social media” which is about 10 million more than for “infographics” alone. Here’s a selection from pinterest.
The use of infographics is spreading and some are now thinly disguised advertising material including the most pointless graphic I’ve found (so far) is the “what your luggage says about you” one. Which offers the startling conclusion that a woman with a stroller is a multi-tasking mum, someone with carry-on is on business, and someone with a backpack is not.
There are too many pointless infographics out there, ones that;
- use very long images that require you to scroll to the bottom of the page,
- that present data in rather suspect ways such as 3D bar graphs
- make rather dodgy connections between data sets
- present information that could as easily been presented in a single paragraph or a short list
- one last complaint – what’s with the use of retro styling?
Just before I got completely fed up with infographics I found a fabulous selection of infographics that specifically mock infographics. Very meta, very 2012.
image infographics
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