INFOGRAPHICS: VISUAL ART OR VISUAL CONFUSION ?

INFOGRAPHICS: VISUAL ART OR VISUAL CONFUSION ?

Image:http://www.sxc.hu/photo/584107

Whenever a new concept makes it way from experimental realms into the mainstream, mostly it results in confusion. Infogrophic art is going through the same phase.   Here is a run down of what I think is NOT the purpose of an infographic--

• An infographics is NOT a glorified flyer/pamphlet. Increasing use on Pinterest has resulted in far too many promotional brochures in the form of infographics.
• It's NOT a glorified map/stats holder. Infographics started out as a visually better way of documenting boring statistical figures. Don't just stop there.
• It's NOT a visual mashup of your blog post.
• It's NOT a substitute for a blog post. It should be used as an independent entity but that doesn't mean you do away with text based contents, such as, blog posts.

Even though I have also been flaying some of the above rules I strongly believe that infographics have a place and purpose in the vast online content-o-sphere. Visual is often ( not always) better than written. So this is a natural progression that we are using more and more visual data. 

An infographic is a canvas where you tell a story. That;s it. There has to be a narrative that you create with images, charts, maps, text and the negative space. An infographer, hence, has to be an artist- who understands both the nuances of visual as well written storytelling. That's where this skill becomes a rare art. Not for long, I hope.

So what will you use your infographs for??

Hersh Bhardwaj