If you have questions, comments, or a project in mind, let's talk. Please provide your mail and fill out the message field, and we'll contact you right back.
2 Skelbækgade
København, , 1717
Denmark
+45 51929609
We are an infographic agency doing visual storytelling.
We transform data and information into captivating visuals and makes it easier to understand and remember.
We are visual storytellers that inform and inspires your audience.
Hard-earned lessons from our notebook about information design and infographics. Hands-on, honest and condensed.
Hard-earned lessons from our notebook about information design and infographics. Hands-on, honest and condensed.
You need to know and master the basic rules and best practice for data visualization. But there are always exceptions to the rules. There will often be cases or circumstances where you need to bend the rules – or even ignore them —to achieve the best results. The art is to know when to follow the rules and when to bend them. Start by the following the rules and only bend them when it is necessary to communicate your message better and more effectively.
Visuals should not be generic and vague but clear and exact. Clichés are often fluffy and defocused and not concise enough and should therefore be avoided, if possible. Visual clichés are usually the result of lazy design rather than best practice. Try to challenge the most common and prosaic ideas and choose visual representations that are both distinctive and accurate.
Lorem ipsum doler sit amit... It’s lazy, it’s misleading and it’s not really possible to make good design decisions based on generic lorem ipsum. Use real copy instead. Even temporary messy titles and text are better than using lorem ipsum. In information design, design and writing are intertwined, so write as you design. Work with both text and visuals simultaneously for better and more unified results.
Infographics can't solve everything and are far from always the best solution for communicating information. During the process of making an infographic, your initial idea about how your infographic would solve your communication task might come to a dead end. The visual representation might overcomplicate the message, it is too abstract and vague, or it doesn’t fit the format. Acknowledge when infographics are not working and it is time to kill your infographic.
Data is fragile to human imperfection and you need to be cautious and thorough with your data and data visualization. This goes without saying, but nevertheless, it is relevant advice to most of us. It is easier to check than to fix or change later once the data has been published. Double-check your data and sources and make sure that your visualizations and numbers are in sync.
You have so much data and so much to say. It is tempting to try to fit it all in. However, it will easily turn into a collection of unrelated random facts. That is not how you tell a good story. Resist the temptation and tell one single, focused story. Choose quality over quantity. One well-structured coherent story will be more memorable, more interesting and much more powerful.
The cobra effect occurs when an attempt to solve a problem makes the problem worse as an unintended consequence. When solving a communication problem, this can easily happen when you try to simplify complex information. The information that was initially difficult to understand is now utterly incomprehensible. This means that you need to start over or even kill your infographic.
Crap is the unnecessary information and visual assets we start to add unconsciously because we think it is needed or because we are scared of simplicity. You fail to notice that your visual content is beginning to include a lot of superfluous crap. Don’t be afraid of simplicity or white space. Just cut the crap and get rid of everything that does not seem to help the main purpose of the infographic.
Your audience must rely on your information and trust that it is credible.Trustworthiness and authority should be present in your sources, your data, your visualizations and your design. Treat your data and sources with respect. Don't be cocky, frivolous or too simplistic, as it will make your data visualization lose authority and trustworthiness.
Making good information design is time consuming. That is because it is complex and involves many different disciplines. There is no short cut to a good result. Accept this as a premise. The more time you spend, the better will the result be. There will always be room for improvement and perfecting.
