A Practical Guide to Graphics Reporting, 2nd Edition

9 Infographics case studies

As the previous chapters have illustrated, information graphics allow us to distill large quantities of information into a digestible package. Through graphics, ideas that might otherwise be abstract become familiar and more easily understood. They shift the balance between explanation and imagery to profoundly stimulate memory and recall. As a result, information visualization has become one of the most powerful forms of contemporary storytelling.

"Our information age more often feels like an era of information overload," writes design professor Scott Murray. "Excess amounts of information are overwhelming; raw data becomes useful only when we apply methods of deriving insight from it."¹ However, the human ability ...