How to know better different kinds of fonts

Hey bloggers!

Today I want to share with you a very useful infographic for the goal of my blog, which is explaining infographics from a very simple basis! Probably most of your have struggles in choosing which type of font you should use in your infographics. So, this infographic might clarify you a little bit more...

This graphic has also been taken from the site I already recommended you which was: infographically.com and it is a Type Guide.

I think the old-school style of this graphic is very efficient because it reaches the goal of giving the reader a guide of the different fonts we can use in our works and it's also aesthetically pleasant because the reader can feel that there is an equilibrium between the different parts of the graphic.

It think this graphic present a duality. It's figurative because it shows exactly which are the kind of fonts that we are talking about, but at the same time is abstract because it uses some a pie chart. 

As for the density, I think it's a little bit dense because there are many kinds of fonts which are explained and but as it's well organized as I said I don't believe that anyone could feel overwhelmed in front of this infographic. 

The graphic is rather functional because it uses all its elements with an informative purpose, there are few things (only the title and the speaking boxes of the What's it saying?) which only aim to embellish the graphic. 

As it's talking all the time about fonts and its characteristics and meanings I think it's unidimensional. 

I think this graphic is original inits topic because it's making methaliterature, using the words to talk about the how the words are composed itselfs (in this case of fonts). However, in its inside graphics it's not that original because everyone is used to speaking boxes, pie charts or rectangles.

It explains different characteristics and functions of different types of fonts and so the graphic it's novel because it's always adding new information.

I hope you make a look through the graphic because it's very interesting and could help you a lot in understanding and choosing better your fonts!

Sara.

Another unemployment graphic

Hello bloggers!

In this post I want you to look at one of the infographics I found doing a little research in order to get inspiration for my own UE unemployment graphic, which I have already commented on the last post.

Its source is http://one-europe.info/, which is an on-line platform who wants to promote the international debate for the emerging European society, under the motto: Society, Democracy, Europe.

This infographic was accompanying an article about the situation that youngsters suffer from the economical crisis in Europe, which has led an increasing of unemployment. It was published on July of 2013.

This graphic is clearly very well organized. The hierarchy is well established and also directs the eyes of the reader through its different information. It's also not very dense, because although there's quite information it doesn't overwhelm the viewer, perhaps because it's well organized. 

The graphics used are also rather familiars, because everyone knows maps, bar charts, pie charts, and so. There are some decorative elements (like the boy with the videogame) which give more coherence to the topic and unify the style. 

I liked this graphic because it depicted the topic of unemployment in a serious, but not boring way. That's why I used myself a neutral background like this one in my EU unemployment infographic and also used a colored map to make the reader a more clear idea of the overall situation in Europe.

Sara.

EU unemployment graphic

Hey bloggers!

Today I want to share with you another infographic I made at class with InDesign. This one is about the unemployment at the European Union.

Style (colors and fonts):

I've chosen this colors because I wanted to make it look serious enough as the information comes from an official source (the EUROSTAT). I also wanted to play with the blueish tonalities of the European Union flag, so that's why the titles and the background are in this tonality. As for the map I wanted to depict the countries in two groups: the green ones (that have a good unemployment situation) and the red ones (that have a bad unemployment situation). This two divisions follow if they are under the average EU unemployment ratio or if they are over this ratio.

As for the fonts, I though that having chosen a rather serious colors I had to pick up a eye-catching font for the title in order to avoid the reader being bored at a first glance of my graphic.The explanation text are in a more serious and simpler font because I believed that the important thing of the explanations was the information, the data they were giving and so I didn't want to distract the reader with a funny or more complex font.

Organization: 
I've divided my work into three sections, each one containing one graphic. I also wanted to make clear the hierarchy by marking the questions which entitle each sections with big blue circles or with a lateral band.

Goal: 

I think this infographic results quite familiar, because all the graphics are commonly understandable and easy to recognize. So I think that it could aim to an adult audience who is interested in economics, politics and the European Union. I guess it could be publishable on a website, together with an article explaining how the economic crisis has affected the EU.

I'd like to hear your comments on my graphic, because I think that there are some points that can still be improved. I'm not very glad of the bottom graphic, I think it looks very plain and simple compared with the others. What would you do about it?

Sara.

Art heists infographic

Hey bloggers!

Today I want to share with you my art heists infographic. The goal was doing a graphic which explained a sequence of chronological events, in this case the art robbery in the Isabella Gardner's Museum at Boston in 1990. Thus, the information should be explained the more graphically possible in order to make the reader get the process the thieves followed to perpetrate this heist.

Structure:

So, I thought it would be interesting to depict this sequence of events through a footsteps path in order to follow one of the main principles of graphic desginers,which is to direct the eyes. 

Style: 

I did a little bit of research on another information graphics related with crimes and also art in order to get inspiration.

I got to the conclusion that a sober backgournd was the most suitable for this topic. I also wanted to look for a sort of "detective", "investigation" style, that's why I placed the target icon in front of the museum's image and also why I did a kind of radar location of the robbery place.

Errors:

The bottom part is the one of which I'm less convinced about, because I think that the bar chart doesn't really fit the other styles in the graphic- Perhaps I should have unified this a little bit more. I also know that I failed in the organization and the hierarchy of the graphic, because, although the initial idea of the footsteps path was good I didn't made it work in a such efficient way :(

I'd like to hear what you think from this graphic, because I think the initial idea was not bad, but I'm aware that there's a lot to improve! Help me with your feedback!

Sara.

Airplane crashes

Hey bloggers!

Today I bring you another infographic that I made at class. This one is about airplane crashes in the U.S. The purpose was doing a graphic based on an Excel document with many data about all the airplane crashes in the world since the beginning of the last century. I though it would be interesting to focus only in one country and that's the reason why I chose the United States. 

Who could it be addressed? I think this graphic would be interesting for being addressed to the American audience, probably could be publishable in a newspaper beside an article explaining the dramatic consequences of plane crashes. I've also made the graphic quite simple and understandable for everybody (maps and linear graphics are very familiar to everyone), so I think it could aim to every American adult.

Colors:

As the topic was quite serious I wanted the graphic to focus on the information that was given rather than on the colors. That's why I chose a neutral background, to give seriousness and formality to the graphic. I've also chose not very bright, saturated colors on the maps because as I said I wanted to give it a serious, more journalistic style. 

Fonts: 

As for the fonts, I chose this neutral, very simple and plain black font for the data and the explanations and this purple more impacting font to catch a little bit more the attention of the reader. 

Organization:

I though it would be interesting to cover the main questions that an American adult could answer himself in front of this topic. That's why I distributed the work into three different graphics. First, a map of where had most accidents happened (concretely in which State) and where not. Secondly, a line graphic in which we could see the evolution of the amount of airplane crashes from 2000 to 2009, that answers to the question: In which years have there been more plane accidents? And lastly, in which has died more people, focusing on the three "worst" States that have suffered most fatalities in their plane crashes.

Style: 

In order to give it a more dynamic style, because I was aware that if not the graphic could seem quite dull, I've found nice to connect all the graphics with a plane icon and its fly path. With this I also aimed to follow one of the principles of graphic designers that is directing the eyes. This way the reader is given an extra guidance through the graphic and the order in which the information has to been processed is clearly established.

Errors:

I'm not quite sure about the distribution of space in this graphic, because at first I thought it was good, but now that I see it again I find that there is many blank space and that the text explanation in the second graphic looks like if it was floating there for no reason. I guess I should have managed that better.

I hope you've like it and I hope you can leave me your suggestions and opinions on my graphic!

Sara.

Another Solar System infographic

Hello bloggers!

Today I want to share with you another version of the Solar System infographic. This one is the one who did my classmate Ariadna, in whose blog (www.cinemagraphic.blogspot.com.es) you can find interesting cinema graphics commented by her!

Organization:

This is how the infographic should have really been done, because she made very clear the distance between the planets and also organized the information into main topics. I really like the style of the bottom text boxes, because it looks like a textbook style. I think she should have unified the other text boxes with that style. 

Colors:

She chose depicting the planets in a more abstract way, which is completely fine because she had already a great amount of text and I think that this way she ensured to give the reader less visual charge. 

In my opinion, the background is too light. I should have put a more intense black picture of the outer space as the background. But that's only a matter of likes I guess!

What do you guys think about Ariadna's infographic?
Don't be shy, lave your comments below :)

Sara.

My CV

Hey bloggers!

Today I want to share with you my CV project, as we did in class a task consisting on represent your CV (or in my case how I wanted to be my CV in the future) in a graphical way.

Style and colors chosen:

As I had previously looked for other CVs graphically depicted on Google, I did realized that the more easier and clarified the information was, the more understandable was the CV. So, I've chosen blue colors (light blue for the background and navy blue for stressing on some titles and graphics) because they look very serious and professional and there are also very quiet colors that don't look too loud. I also complement the CV with white, as I think it complements very much the blues in this task of making the CV look professional. In the end, I picked up orange for the title in which there is my name and for cheering up the CV, because if not it could look too boring. Orange is a color which transmits positivism and energy and I think that this two adjectives suit my personality, so I would like to transmit it too in my CV!

Distribution:

I organized my CV in: Education and Training, Work Experience, Languages, Interests, Skills, Desired Employment and Contact Me. 

I though that locating the Contact Me on the upper part was essential so the interested people who could possibly hire me, had no troubles in finding my email, mobile phone or so. I also like the idea of attempting to do a time-line with my education. I don't know if this aim is clearly fulfilled and it looks like this in the graphic, but this was the initial purpose! As I don't have work experience I tried to make how I'd like my CV to be like in the future. So I though that it could be easier for the reader to identify the places in which I "have" worked if there were if a map. As for the Desired Employment (in which title now I've seen there's a spelling error!), I though that it would be more clear if I organized the fields in which a journalist can work in a wheel. 

Errors:

Looking at it again, I'm not very happy of how the Interests part looks. I think the "comic style" of this smiling face doesn't really suit the other part of the graphic. When I did it I was thinking in how to depict my interests and I though it would be interesting to represent it in a human brain, but as I didn't know how to draw a brain I drew this possibly in a more "childish" style. I also don't like the right-bottom part, the Skills one, because I think that the last rectangle looks like floating there for no reason at all. I should have though in how to organize this in a more effective way.

I want to know your opinion about it! So please leave a comment below and tell me what I can change in order to make this infographic better!

Thank you for reading,

Sara.

First infographic ever made

Hey bloggers!

Here there is the first infographic I made with InDesign! 

The point was making an infographic that showed graphically the distribution of the Solar System and its planets and also show some information of the International Astronomical Union. 

My work was clearly not very well. I tried to depict the information in a representative way to make it more realistic and interesting but I failed on making the graphic attractive. It looks very dense as I charged too much the page with information! I think I should have organized better the text, with subtitles and grouping the similar topics, because if not is too heavy for read it. The reader would easily get tired of reading all the information. However, I think that the idea of representing the background like the outer space looks nice and gives the infographic a very eye-catching style!

I would like to hear what you think about this infographic and if you could give some advice on how ameliorate it, it would be great!

Sara.

But, how we get started?

Hey bloggers!

In today's post I want to share with you how you can get started in this world of creating infographics. Mastering some programs like Adobe InDesign which enable you to create amazing infographics is crucial, but also difficult at the beginning. That's why we, at the Graphic Design course, started with basic exercises in order to learn how to deal with the pen tool. The pen tool is a basic staple to create good infographics because (and this is a VERY important thing) the more visual an infographic is, the more likely that the information is going to be perceived and processed by the reader. And how could be more visual than drawing your own figures for your infographic? I have to admit that at the beginning the pen tool was a nightmare for me, so don't pay much attention of the quality of the figures I did, but on the process that it's behind. You'll need lots and lots of concentration of what you're doing and also precision, but it's known worlwide: PATIENCE and PRACTISE is the key to improve in everything!

Here I leave you the exercise we did, in case you want to practise on your own.

Good luck!
Sara.

Graphic Analysis

Hi bloggers!

Infographics are very present in our everyday life. We can see them in many occasions in the newspapers, the Internet, the TV, etc. And maybe we don't pay them too much attention as this pieces combining information and design are required! As the aim of this blog is to share from the most basic level the things I've learned of infographics in this past months I think I will begin for understanding HOW TO ANALYZE AN INFORMATION GRAPHIC. 

We can look at a graphic from a simple user point of view and not think very much about what is behind this graphic, but when we start to giving it a more deep looking we have to notice this six main aspects.

Taking for example this graphic focused on the average data that a U.S. citizen consumes in one day, I'm going to analyze it in a more exhaustively.

This graphic has been taken from this site: http://infographicality.com, there you can find very useful and clear information about infographics. The site is not so complex and very well organized, there is a side classification of the different topics that infographics can treat. And has also very simple posts which will make you easier the comprehension of the sometimes complicated infographics' world. I think is a worth visit to complement the goal I'm trying to attempt in my blog!

Abstraction vs. Figuration:

This graphic we could say that it's more abstract than figurative, because it doesn't really depict the human brain as it physically is. It does a metaphorical comparison of the amount of data we can get in one day with the inner space that is inside our heads, in our brains.

Functionality vs. Decoration:

It's rather functional, but we can also identify some decorative elements that don't give any extra information like the glasses, the eyes and the ears, but which are useful to give more coherence to the graphic and to complement the human head figure.

Density vs. Lightness:

I think this graphic is rather light because the information given is affordable to be processed and it doens't overwhelm the viewer. It is also very hierarchically and clearly organized, as the main information is given in biggest sizes and so, this makes easier its comprehension.

Multidimensionality vs. Unidimensionality:

This graphic is unidimensional because it only looks the information from an only point of view: how much data our brain gets in one day and where does it comes from. The point of view is always the data consumption.

Originality vs. Familiarity:

I think that in some way it's quite original because we are not used to this kind of metaphorical association, as the author's doing here comparing the human brain with a computer, as both a device for saving data. (And clearly with a critical purpose). But on the other hand, it's familiar because we are used to this kind of segmentations of a whole into different pieces, to express its portions, as it's done here with the human brain.

Novelty vs. Redundancy: 

The information given in each little piece of the brain is novel, because each one is adding something more to the information it's already said in the others.

We also have to add a final conclusion in which we explain whom this graphic could be addressed and also where it could be pusblished. In this case, I think that this graphic could be addressed to an average U.S. adult, as it isn't very complicate and could be published on a printed magazine because of its fresh, colored and informal style.

Where does all this come from? It could be longer to explain but basically, it comes from the Tension Wheel of Alberto Cairo (a famous graphic designer), which established the basic features you can observe in a infographic.

I hope you have found this explanation very easy and that it has been useful for knowing how to look through a graphic with a more critical view.

Thanks for reading,
Sara.

Beginnings aren't always easy...

Hey there everybody!

This blog borns with the purpose of approaching infographics to those who don't know nothing or not so much about them. I am a Journalism and Political Science student in the Abat Oliba University of Barcelona and the idea of creating this blog comes from a subject that we are currently coursing called Graphic Design. This subject has introduced us to the world of information graphics, very useful for future journalists.
So, here what I want is share with you all that I have learned from zero during this lasts months. That's why this blog is called infographics for dummies, because when I started this subject I knew nothing about this topic, but as it's said: beginning aren't always easy...

Hope you like it and that little by little you know a little bit more about infographics.

Sara.