Information graphics (IG) are basically a different way of representing information, in an easy and clear way. As opposed to other ways of representing information, such as through essays, books, maps etc; information graphics are a more decisive and (in most cases) efficient way of producing information.
IG’s are being used more and more frequently in the media. It can be seen in a variety of different mediums which it has helped to gain popularity, and is continuously evident in our day to day life. ‘The dashed line in use’ demonstrates the incredible explanatory power of IG’s, as Arnell discusses the seemingly simple use of the dashed line to communicate a number of different types of information ranging from graphs to simple signs to paths (2006).
IG’s are related to archives, in that the development of information graphics and its efficiency is closely linked to our desire to archive, aka archive fever. Whilst archiving is the aggregation and organisation of data, IG goes one step further and involves the distribution process. Like archiving, it is necessary to organise the information that has been presented, however it is also about presenting (distributing) the information in the clearest and most efficient way possible.
Whilst information graphics fundamental role is to explain in the simplest way what cannot be explained in words,
It can also be quite complicated at times:
I think that the sudden increase in information graphics is a reflection and manifestation of people’s fascination and seeming obsession with archives, as both relate to collecting and organising data, and IG's effectively complement archives. Described by Friedberg (2007) as the "entangled forces that contribute to the evolution of technologies of vision", the sheer volume of data that we are subjected to on a daily basis is extraordinary, and information graphics is a way of categorising this data and effectively reading it. It also improves our level of communication on a global scale, as with the case of much information graphics these days, the language of the graphics is global, and although there may need to be some explaining, it is generally easier for a range of cultures and languages to understand one another through IG’s much easier than if they were trying to communicate verbally or textually.
Of course we must be careful not to trivialise IG’s, and use it for important information, lest we end up like this:
Bibliography:
Arnell, Timo (2006) ‘the dashed line in use’, <http://www.nearfield.org/2006/09/the-dashed-line-in-use>
Friedberg, Anne (2007) ‘The Virtual Window Interactive’ Vectors, 2(2) <http://www.vectorsjournal.org/index.php?page=7&projectId=79>
Wikipedia, 'Information graphics', <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_graphics>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_J8QU1m0Ng
Information graphics image search results:
Simple:
http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://coreldesigner.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/info-04.png%3Fw%3D500%26h%3D512&imgrefurl=http://coreldesigner.wordpress.com/2009/10/03/designing-better-information-graphics/&usg=__g7ubyi5Rvm5rCgqFGp5uI0fGF2U=&h=512&w=500&sz=98&hl=en&start=1&zoom=1&tbnid=hXyCK0ZjQ-QD0M:&tbnh=131&tbnw=128&ei=Tu2UT72YHqOpiAe29f2EBA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dinformation%2Bgraphics%2Bsimple%26hl%3Den%26gbv%3D2%26tbm%3Disch&itbs=1
Complex:
http://www.google.com.au/imgres?q=information+graphics+examples&um=1&hl=en&qscrl=1&nord=1&rlz=1T4SUNC_enGB375GB376&biw=1366&bih=609&tbm=isch&tbnid=mbl1qRFMvP9AoM:&imgrefurl=http://p-adamek0912-dc.blogspot.com/2010_04_01_archive.html&docid=JxNGLZfQ-v8NEM&imgurl=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKsLKoR7LMKcDIJoAC0KH-_H-WGW95fYEIZn-WqBKK9sGv3Fiw3Yru-EmsNQx_E5JPZkDSTgjhyphenhyphenNSR8hbUHCW7um0pEVou74A9DkCx2qIPQpVUugwnYeoJnrkuyM5S2KInBFi4w9dYZ6Y/s1600/GTF%252B-%252BDDD%252BGallery%252B50%252BProjects.jpg&w=392&h=550&ei=AQ_DT4jgIKaEmQXjhPnMCg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=267&vpy=210&dur=1204&hovh=266&hovw=189&tx=103&ty=204&sig=111442489915568246197&page=3&tbnh=128&tbnw=93&start=47&ndsp=29&ved=1t:429,r:9,s:47,i:192
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