eye-catching science: finding the visual story in your data

Eye catching science

Finding the visual story in your data Part 2: Making it look good

FUTURE EARTH POP-UP

WEBINAR SERIES

Quick recap:

• You’ve established where this graphic fits into your strategy

• Established who’s going to consume it

• Established how we’re going to deliver or publish it

• Established the key messages it’s going to deliver

• Established what tool/s we’re going to build it

• Researched some good examples of how other people have solved their communications problem

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Design = lining things up?

• Aligning the physical & the metaphorical:

- Your style with your message

- Your metaphors with your story

- Your heading sizes with each other

- The positions of things

- The visual style of any graphical elements you use with each other

- Your colour choices with their meanings

Working with layouts

Heading Heading

Sub Heading

Where do things go?

Create a grid

Align objects to grid

Add items that you need. You can ‘span’ columns where necessary, but be careful…

Some grids can be very complicated, but more complicated = harder to use

HeadingBlurb for the the page verit que aspis secusamusam harum aturiscite voluptaquod quam hitat. Sam quatem eicae cus as quiscii scimus ullut pore volorporum dolorro

You can feel free to break away from your grid just make sure you have a good reason

Youcan be

but still respect the grid

'VIEXMZI

Learn to love space

Chapter 2

Sub Heading200.1%50000

Sub Heading

Use open space to: Emphasise section breaks

Sub Heading

Sub Heading

Use open space to: Emphasise certain information

Type A Type BUse open space to: Group and separate information

Use open space to:

Sub Heading

Sub Heading 2

Sub Heading 3

Timeto

think

Sub Heading 4

Allow time for the eye to rest in the document

You don’t have to fill every space, let your space work for you.

Learn to love alignment

When an object is too close to another object without aligning properly, it creates a kind of visual ‘stress’ which can distract your reader.

Fix this stress either by moving the objects far enough apart that it disappears or align them properly.

Example Text

When an object is too close to another object without aligning properly, it creates a kind of visual ‘stress’ which can distract your reader.

Fix this stress either by moving the objects far enough apart that it disappears or align them properly.

Example Text

When an object is too close to another object without aligning properly, it creates a kind of visual ‘stress’ which can distract your reader.

Fix this stress either by moving the objects far enough apart that it disappears or align them properly.

Example Text

When an object is too close to another object without aligning properly, it creates a kind of visual ‘stress’ which can distract your reader.

Fix this stress either by moving the objects far enough apart that it disappears or align them properly.

When an object is too close to another object without aligning properly, it creates a kind of visual ‘stress’ which can distract your reader.

Fix this stress either by moving the objects far enough apart that it disappears or align them properly.

When an object is too close to another object without aligning properly, it creates a kind of visual ‘stress’ which can distract your reader.

Fix this stress either by moving the objects far enough apart that it disappears or align them properly.

Learn to love your text

Never stretch your text to fit a space.

Fonts have been very carefully designed and stretching can ruin their visual balance. A

A A

Avoid complicated effects.

It is harder to make complicated effects look professional, so keep it simple, unless you have a good reason.

It is also usually better to avoid complicated, gimmicky presentation effects.

Avoid complicated effects.

It is harder to make complicated effects look professional, so keep it simple, unless you have a good reason.

It is also usually better to avoid complicated, gimmicky presentation effects.

This is more powerful.

Avoid body text that is too small, or too big.

If your text is too small, it is difficult to read.

If it is too big, it can also be difficult to read in large blocks

This is too small for paragraph, or body text. Smaller text may be okay for things like image captions, image credits, footnotes etc, but if you make your text too small in a document, people will have to work too hard to understand the document.

Avoid body text that is too small, or too big.

If your text is too small, it is difficult to read.

If it is too big, it can also be difficult to read in large blocks

This is too big for paragraph (or ‘body’) text. Larger text is great for headings and pull quotes, but not for long sections of text. It takes longer to read in a block and can limit your readers’ understanding

Avoid using ‘justified’ text in narrow columns.

In wider columns it looks neat. In narrow columns it looks messy.

Narrow columns a n d b i g w o rd s messy set to full justified alignment Hendundis aspitis d o l u t o m n i s t i o f f i c i m i , odiciusdam, sinum essin et asperatios rest ios exceper spidus qui volorum, s u n t i n t i l i q u i s molupta

Avoid using ‘justified’ text in narrow columns.

In wider columns it looks neat. In narrow columns it looks messy.

Narrow columns and big words messy set to full justified alignment Hendundis aspitis dolut omnisti officimi, odiciusdam, sinum essin et asperatios restios exceper spidus qui volorum, suntint iliquis molupta

Sick of your default fonts?

google.com/fonts

“But which ones do I use?”

labnol.org/internet/best-google-font-combinations/

Choose the right colour for the job

DANGER!

image © Ard Hesselink

Red might mean danger, food, love or heat...

GO!

image © Jim O’Neill

Green might mean ‘go’, nature, freshness or even poison...

BLACK LABELBLACK LABELBLACK LABEL

BLACK LABELBLACK LABELBLACK LABEL

Black might mean death, mourning, elegance or expense

Blue might mean calm, sincerity, trust, or royalty...

image © Jim O’Neill

Choose a job for the right colour

Use colour to:

• Add emphasis and clarity to information• Highlight difference• Create relationships

A kind of default - everything has a different colour

Type A Type B

What if there are relationships we can highlight with our colour choice?

Try not to think of colour as a decoration,

but as another information tool

Why some colours aren’t friends

Colours are close in TONE - not enough contrast is difficult to look at

Increased contrast - easier to look at

Still need help choosing your colours?

color.adobe.com/explore

Choosing the right chart type for your data, example 1

fusioncharts.com/charting-best-practices/selecting-the-right-chart/

Choosing the right chart type for your data, example 2

extremepresentation.typepad.com/blog/2006/09/choosing_a_good.html

There are many other visualisation methods to consider, research is key

informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/the-billion-dollar-o-gram-2009/

informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/billion-dollar-o-gram-2013/

Infographic design process example

Brief: Create some small infographics to complement a blog post on a legal report concerning governance in Peru

Brief:

Create a graphic or series of graphics to support blog piece on the findings of a legal report into governance jurisdictions in Peru.

INTERACTIVE INFOGRAPHIC Complexity of Governance:The complicated multi-level, multi-jurisdictional landscape of Madre de Dios, Peru

RAW INPUTS

“…”

STATE OWNED LANDS

OIL PALM PLANTATION

TIMBER CONCESSIO

N

REDD+ CONSERVATION PROJECT

NATIVE COMMUNITIES

SMALLHOLDER COMMUNITIES

Regional Directorate of

Agriculture (Titling)

National

Ministry of Agriculture

(Regulation)

Regional Directorate of

Agriculture (Titling)

National

Ministry of Culture

(Regulation)

National Ministry of Forestry

(Regulation)

District Government (Permitting)

National Ministry of

Environment (Regulation)

RAW INPUTS

RAW INPUTS

Process sketches

Process sketches

Process sketches

Process sketches

http://www.cifor.org/gcs/landscapes-governance-peru/

Interactive conversion

Thanks for joining!

Need some inspiration?

visual.ly/view

informationisbeautiful.net

pinterest.com

Still accepting submissions

futureearth2025@gmail.com

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futureearth.org/blog/pop-webinars