We love to read. Long-form journalism, novels, non-fiction tomes and, as one wag once said, “5,000-word stories on roofing shingles in the New Yorker.” We will read almost anything.
But when it comes to conveying a load of complex information in a way that will make a reader pause to really understand, you can’t beat an infographic. Everything from how to make beer to the history of the mankind (really. It’s at the Museum of Science in Boston and it is cool!) can be conveyed in graphics.
Electrical power generation isn’t a very fun topic – or that easy to understand. But we used animated infographics to talk about electricity on a client’s website. An infographic also worked well to depict the 24-year career of a college president when he retired a few years ago. It worked equally well as an online timeline, with photos, text and video, and as 8-foot-tall, stand-alone panels at the retirement party.
I ran across a great book on infographics last year, called “Cool Infographics.”
I’m thrilled to know that it’s also a website and blog. Visit it at http://www.coolinfographics.com
I dare you to spend only a few minutes.
— BOB UNGER