expert in representing complex events as easy-to-see graphics. That’s
why a magazine editor commissioned him to create an illustration for an
article on the formation of hurricanes.
The assignment set off a flurry of activity in Glasgow’s Woodbridge,
Virginia, studio as he struggled to understand the climatic forces that
produce hurricanes. For days, his fax machine spouted a flood of
background information sent to him by the magazine’s writers. Ideas
swirled in his head, and soon a storm began to brew on the screen of
his computer.
Glasgow’s challenge was to find a way to visualize the essence of a
tumultuous, swirling, ever-changing hurricane. To do so, he worked his
way through a checklist that every infographic artist would do well to
consult:- Research carefully. You’ve got to be an expert on the sub-
ject, because your readers will be relying on your accuracy.
Do your homework. Read the story, study photos and talk
to experts. - Focus tightly. Pinpoint precisely what you need to explain
before you begin. What’s most essential? What’s most
interesting? Whatever you choose, the resulting image
must be as clean and simple as possible. - Design logically. Let your central image give structure to
the design. (In Glasgow’s case, he chose an aerial view of
farmland as his background and placed the hurricane in
the foreground.) If you’re using a sequence of images, find
a perspective that lets you show the steps in the most logi-
cal order. - Label clearly. Make sure you can identify every detail in
the infographic. Details are often identified with what are
called callouts or factoids, that take the form of words with
arrows, lines, or boxes.
(^368) PRODUCING THE NEWS
There was a time when the only map appear-
ing in most newspapers was on the weather
page. Graphs and charts were largely found in
the financial pages. The rest of the information
was presented through words or photographs.
Today it is difficult to imagine how readers could
have grasped such news events as the latest
Shuttle mission, airplane hijacking or terror-
ist bombing without the use of infographics.
“Infographics are not simply pretty pictures
to decorate pages,” explained George Rorick,
director of graphics for Knight-Ridder, one of
the nation’s largest newspaper chains. “And
they are not type in a box. They are the care-
ful and painstaking efforts of professional art-
ists, illustrators, writers, editors, researchers, art
directors and designers. That’s commitment.”
Source: Adapted from “Serving readers through infographics”
by H. L. Hall, CJET.
GEORGE RORICK DIRECTOR OF GRAPHICS FOR KNIGHT-RIDDER