The Infographic Project

Note: The Infographic Project is a major assignment in Professional Writing, an undergraduate writing course on workplace writing.

Infographics are stories conveyed primarily via visual language.

The Infographic Project has two major and two minor deliverables:

Major Deliverables	Minor Deliverables
1. An original Infographic 2. A Memo on Design Choices.	1. A heuristic exercise 2. A video pitch 3. Two peer reviews

Key Words: Digital Literacy; Infographic; Peer Review ; Visual Literacy; Visual Rhetoric

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[ Course Syllabus | Schedule ]

Student Learning Outcomes

Becoming more aware of how and why visuals work will help you engage in visual literacy practices. By the time you’ve completed this module, you’ll be able to

• employ design principles to improve the clarity and persuasiveness of your texts
  • Learn to argue with visual data, understanding and implementing various principles of format, layout, and design of documents that meet multiple user/reader needs.
• write in a professional genre, particularly Video Pitches and Infographics.

Students who work collaboratively to produce the infographic

• will utilize collaborative skills to plan and execute a rigorous project central to the course learning outcomes, employing flexibility, and internal conflict resolution as necessary
• will identify, acknowledge, and manage conflict
• will support sa constructive team climate by doing the following: Treats team members respectfully, motivates teammates, and provides assistance and/or encouragement to team members.

Assignment Guidelines

Compose one of the following types of infographics:

1. A data visualization infographic that focuses on numbers to inform or enlighten readers
   • Develop an infographic that tells a story about data (with a heavy emphasis on numbers).
2. An information infographic that focuses on concepts to simplify or teach complex ideas
3. An editorial infographic that focuses on making an argument to persuade or call readers to take action

Required Content

Your infographic must

1. include one original chart, table, or graph (i.e. one you created yourself).
2. use data visualization strategies to help readers understand a complicated concept and illustrate data in a way that helps the reader understand what the data means (i.e. helps reader see “the story” in the data.)
3. cite at least two sources for the information or editorial infographic. Cite all referenced data sets in the footer of the infographic or some other discreet place. Use APA, MLA., Chicago, or any other appropriate style sheet.

Overview of Tasks

1. Begin by familiarizing yourself with the genre of infographics and assignment guidelines. Understand what distinguishes infographics from visualizations. Google and review infographics on topics of interest to you.
2. Familiarize yourself with Data Visualization, Play around a little bit with Ralph Lengler and Martin J. Eppler’s Periodic Table of Visualization Method
3. Complete the the heuristic exercise for The Infographic Project. That will help you get started.
4. Try a hand sketch of your infographic
   1. If you are working on a Data Visualization Infographic,
      1. Review Data Visualizations
      2. Locate credible sources of quantitative (numbers, statistics) data on your topic of interest. Check out Information Is Beautiful’s Data Visualizations page
      3. Engage in Critical Literacy practices. What is the Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, Purpose of the datasets your used
      4. Select appropriate data visualization strategies to represent different types of quantitative data.
   2. If you are working on a narrative or editorial infographic
      1. Locate credible sources of qualitative data (stories, narratives, theories, anecdote, thick description) on a topic of interest to you
      2. Engage in Critical Literacy practices.
         1. What is the Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, Purpose of the evidence your used?
5. Evaluate and select production tools that are appropriate for your skill level and the demands of your communication task
   1. Use your document design and text formatting skills to design a visual text that tells one story.
   2. Develop one original chart, table, or graph (i.e. one you created yourself) that uses a data visualization strategy from the Periodic Table of Visualization Methods
6. Engage in two peer reviews and revise your infographic and memo based on critical feedback
7. Provide the bibliographical information for the datasets and evidence you used.
   • Use the citation styles your audience would expect (e.g., MLA, APA, or Chicago). Place the bibliographical information as discreetly as possible on the infographic. If you have loads of references, it’s fine to link out to a separate page for the complete list of references.

Deliverables

The Infographic Project has two major deliverables:

1. An original Infographic
2. A Memo on Design Choices