A recurring theme from class to class, assignment to assignment, has been the power of narrative. In my background, journalism, I always knew this. Knowing your audience, crafting an angle to a story to appeal to readers and viewers, alike. Word choice. Writing format. Writing style. Each of these components all came together to tell a story. That, the story, is what people remember. Yet, it was not until the recent weeks that things have begun to click. I realize that while I may not be the journalist I once envisioned years ago, I can’t let go of the power of narrative, because it is only recently striking me just how present and powerful story-telling is in everything we do.
Advertising. Social Media. Site layout and design. Typography. Branding. Public Relations. Corporate Identity. User Design. Portfolios and resumes. The list really never ends…
And recently added to my personal list, is the art of story telling with not just words, but hard information. Prior to being assigned to create one, I had never even heard the term info-graphic. Although I had not heard the technical term, I absolutely had seen several before. Long ago are the days I picked up an actual newspaper– just like everyone else, I too have moved digital… Hello? IMedia student! But I remember back home, when I would pick up the newspaper scattered around, the small visualizations printed along side a story. These graphs and charts, another means of ensuring the readers knew the story– voter turnout, and weather predictions, and growing crime rates.
What I don’t remember? The intricacy, and interactivity, we find in today’s online info-graphics. They are serving the very same purpose they have for decades, but just like most things in our digital age, are telling the same story in a very new way. Even before the documentary, Journalism in the age of data, posed the question, I couldn’t help but wonder, is the shift in info-graphic technique making for better stories, or only better aesthetics? Some would argue one is not possibile without the other, yet I would have to disagree with this notion.
People learn and remember information based on concepts, thus it seems information design, too, should be based on conceptual design (and often is, when done well). We have seen several examples from the NYT in which the data visualization is done not only in new ways, but in better ways. Interactivity lends itself to users of different motivations and learning styles, always a plus when reaching a vast audience with vast needs. But is that always the case?
Of course not! I see it in class all the time, incredible skill work in Flash, Illustrator, and Photoshop, but when it comes to the information? It’s at extremes– completely empty, and if not empty, then way to deep. The balance between information, user, and understanding isn’t easy to find, and must be treated as so. An info-graphic should be interesting not confusing, well-designed not distracting, informative not overwhelming. The information must tell a story and if it doesn’t, for whatever reason, then the info-graphic is a failure. The example given of the ebb-and-flow info-graphic the NYT created on box office sales is a perfect case of a poorly executed story, with beautiful design. Even experts (well-educated, well-read, and info-graphic savvy) could not retain the information presented in the graph.
What would be the point in printing a story like this? Even if the reader or viewer may be attracted to the pleasing design, the frustration or confusion to follow would lead him/her away from your site, again a failure in such a competitive industry. I thought about my own experiences telling a story, so much flowery language and metaphors that when an editor is through my clean white page, once angelic and heavenly, resembles a battleground covered in the blood of their red ink…
I’m sorry I don’t even know where that went. You see you got the idea… there was a powerful image or two, strong word choice… but I lost you, didn’t I?! Honestly, somewhere around angelic, I lost myself and had to regroup. The same has happened in my, and other’s, information design. You become so enthralled in one aspect of the project, that other important factors ( you know petty things like, audience attention and information retention) becomes secondary. I am quickly realizing the power of collaboration amongst several fields– design, content, and user profiling, to create the most effective, beautiful, and accurate info-graphic.
The saying is: the girl should wear the dress, not the dress wear the girl. Well for us media professionals, use technology to aide in story telling, rather than depending on the bells and whistles of technology to tell your story.