Contents

1.Designers are not scientists

2.Good infographics are about more than good facts
3.A completely unscientific taxonomy of facts
4.Inspirational Infographics
5.Good designers worth working with

Designers are not scientists

They won't understand half of the content you send them

As communicators of science, we need to take the data which are scientists
give us and translate it for the designers

Lots of fiddly little things you need to be responsible for:

1. Clearly identify scientific units and population sizes
2. Ensure units are consistent (Gt and Mt)
3. Ensure sourcing is consistent
4. Ensure data label requirements are clearly outlined

Good infographics are about more

than the facts

They are about a story

The message is as important as the fact
Representing the message visually requires good communication cues

Examples:
Facts

Message

Visual Cues

Bacterial growth rates

approximately double
with every 10 C rise in
temperature above 10 C

Climate change will affect

food safety

Spoilt food

Agriculture contributes
some 56% of global nonCO2 greenhouse gas
emissions

Agriculture is the largest

contributor of non-CO2
emissions

Cows

Sample template for briefing designer

A completely unscientific and

incomplete taxonomy of facts

Qualitative statements

One big number percentage or absolute frequency:

Agriculture emits 5 billion tonnes of CO2 every year

To meet global food demand in 2050, agricultural production must be 60% higher by weight than in 2005.

Percentage of a population facts:

Due to droughts, trees are becoming more vulnerable to higher mortality rates

Agriculture contributes some 56% of global non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions

Changes in absolute frequencies univariate or multivariate

The current population is 7.2 billion. In 2050 it is going to be 9.6 billion. In 2100 the total population is 10.9
billion.

Causal Relationships

If women had the same access to productive resources as men, they could increase yields on their farms by
2030%. This could raise total agricultural output in developing countries by 2.54%, which could in turn
reduce the number of hungry people in the world by 1217%.

Different facts lend themselves to different infographics and impose limits as

to what designers can do

Qualitative statements

Tips and Tricks:

These are hard to make look scientific
Need to brief the designers with very strong visual cues

Big numbers as absolute frequencies

Tips and Tricks:

There are not many options with facts like this.
You only have one fact and dont have the population size it belongs to.
BLOW THE NUMBER UP: make sure to get the balance of text to numbers to
pictures right
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Big numbers as absolute frequencies

Tips and Tricks:

You only have the percentage change figure
Scientists often think theyve given you more
detail than they have
No absolute frequencies mean no data labels
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Percentage of a population facts as

infographics

Box Charts

Focus on Numbers

Pie Charts

Tips and Tricks:

Can use really simple charts
Think of every chart as a stand-alone piece, is all the data on their if people
want to use it in a presentation?
Do you want to include frequency numbers of population sizes on charts as
well as percentages?
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Comparative data one variable across

different region/ populations/time etc

Tips and Tricks:

Lots of options for charts this is what scientists tend to be after
Keep simple and add a clarifying qualitative statements
Think about data labels, scientific units, etc

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Comparative data different variables

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Causal relationships

Flow-charts with icons

Traditional Flow-Chart
Flow chart with icons
and data

These can be tricky for designers and require the most oversight and
direction. We normally sketch a traditional flow chart and write down the data
labels and text that need to be added
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Example concept sketch for a causal

relationship infographic
About a third of all food produced is lost in the food supply chain
100% of food supply

agriculture

Food Supply

66.6 % of food supply

Storage

Transpo
rt

40%

Possess
ing

of food losses

in low-income countries
occur at storage, transport
and processing levels

Retail

Consum
er

40%

of food

losses in high-income
countries occur at
retail and consumer
levels

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