The Functional Art: An introduction to information graphics and visualization

8. Creating Information Graphics

A large part of the infographic’s intrinsic appeal seems to lie in its visual reductionism of complex information. Reductionism itself is not inherently bad—in fact, it’s an essential part of any kind of synthesis, be it mapmaking, journalism, particle physics, or statistical analysis. The problem arises when the act of reduction—in this case rendering data into an aesthetically elegant graphic—actually begins to unintentionally oversimplify, obscure, or warp the author’s intended narrative, instead of bringing it into focus.

—Reif Larsen, from “This Chart Is a Lonely Hunter: The Narrative Eros of the Infographic”

Good content reasoners and presenters are rare, designers are not.

—Edward Tufte, from an AdAgeStat ...