Animated infographics checklist

Posted on June 12, 2007 by Melissa Worden

In the Online Journalism Review story quoted below, Cairo also shares a checklist for deciding if an animated infographic is the best option asa multimedia component for a given story:

>> Can the story be explained using a map, a statistical chart or a diagram? If you need to show the “where” of the story, you definitely need a map.

>> Are there size, length, distance, amount comparisons involved? Then, you need a chart.

>> Is there any process or procedure hat can be better understood by means of a visual display? Create a diagram.

>> Do you need to recreate the scene where the story took place? In this case: do you have enough information to recreate it accurately, without making up details? This is crucial. The old infographics motto says: if you don’t know how it is, don’t draw it. I’ve added my own corollary to that motto: if you don’t know how it moves, don’t animate it.