Infographics: The Power of Visual Storytelling

CHAPTER 10

THE FUTURE OF INFOGRAPHICS

The future of infographics is marked by the increased automation of data visualization, powered by software that will make these capabilities more accessible to everyone. This is coupled with the recognition that human creativity will still play an essential role in crafting a strong story and customizing a visualization.

Infographic thinking is everywhere you look. It has officially hit the mainstream, and the message is clear: people want to be informed and entertained. Individuals are also becoming more fluent in understanding data. For example, with mobile apps empowering the quantified-self movement, people engage with visualizations of data gathered from their daily activities in order to make (in some cases) a lifestyle change.

As we have shown, there are many applications in which enticing visuals serve to burn a beautiful analogy into the viewers’ brains to help them retain the information and take action accordingly. You can see a wide range of data-driven imagery in many of today’s wired cities: an attractive visualization of citywide network activity displayed over a train station entrance, augmented reality–style overlays for viewing information at an airport (Figure 10.1), and a car that displays its own vital health statistics. Today, we also have data exhibited as art (Figures 10.2, 10.3, and 10.4) at museums around the world, ...