SAM K R02

A mastery of visual hierarchy and simplified forms is a must in successful information designers, and this chapter seems to cover the basics quite well. It starts by explaining the four elements which can be adjusted to give a graphic visual hierarchy: Color, Value, Shape and Size. Infographics are, after all, all about making comparisons, so one must contrast these elements.

I was already fairly aware of this, though it’s been a long time since I’ve named and listed hierarchy strategies. One thing that I haven’t thought about in terms of infographic design is negative space. Never before have I thought so clearly about it with Josef Albers’ idea of 1 + 1 = 3. A clear example of this theory is on page 13, where the heavy, black shapes trap and force the negative space to become active and prominent. From this section of the reading, it seems that heavily weighted outlines of shapes just shouldn’t be used—there’s always a better way to separate information.

Which is why I find the river graphic so odd. I appreciate it for its high detail and superb line quality. I agree with the author’s assessment that the mountain range’s information seems too stylized and arbitrary to share any meaningful information. However, when it comes to the high detail and proximity of the rivers, I’d say 100 writing lines + 100 writing lines = 300 bizarre shapes. Upon first glance, the white space between the rivers appeared to me as contorted stalactites, or a row of pillars from an ancient roman construct. Even once it’s clear that each twisting river line should be observed as a single entity, the labeling is such that it’s hard to tell which river it belongs to. If all this graphic needed to express was the compared lengths of these rivers, they could have simplified the information and only labeled what was completely necessary. As it is, they should be spread out, and perhaps each river and its labels should alternate in color. The mountains should be removed to give the graphic more breathing room.