One surprise this summer is the discovery that I have both an interest in and (maybe) an affinity for infographics. The biggest takeaway regarding infographics that I can share is that you don’t need fancy tools to create professional-looking pieces. All of these were done in Apple’s word processor, Pages.
The hard part about infographics is finding a good visual metaphor for the idea you’re trying to represent. I recommend the book, “Infographic Guide to Literature,” not because it discusses how to create infographics, but because it provides some clever example pieces that model how to think about representing information visually. The fact that the subject is literature is just a bonus.
Below is an infographic from our discussion about technology tools to try in the coming school year. Click the photo for a larger version.
Here is another, created for the OWP Creating Arguments class, but made better by this class. I want to thank everyone who gave me feedback when I posted the original to our class. The version below is a (slightly) revised version that features less text and a larger font, based on your comments. Based on one suggestion, I learned that I can embed links into the graphic if it is posted as a .pdf. The problem with the .pdf format is that it displays inconsistently inside web browsers, usually relying on external apps or plugins to display. The use of actual image files insures that the graphic displays the same everywhere.
sources listed below
My first attempt at an infographic this summer was a self-reflection on my teaching, which mimicked the style of the website, Rate My Teacher.
Having spent some time working on the process this summer, I’m pretty sure that my students will be spending some time both using infographics as a source of information and developing visual metaphors to organize their own infographics. The website Piktochart.com, which several of my classmates reviewed and used for this course, looks like a great, student-friendly resources for that journey.
Public Discourse Sources:
- http://grist.org/article/2010-03-30-post-truth-politics/
- http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download? doi=10.1.1.594.93&rep=rep1&type=pdf
- https://www.uscis.gov/citizenship/learners/citizenship-rights-and-responsibilities
- http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/presidential-campaign/305794-rediscovering-the-role-of-public-citizen-and-the-art