Before you ask for an infographic

Chiqui Esteban, infographic journalist at Spain’s Publico, offers his ten advices for editors and writers who ask for a graphic to tell their story.

Publico is an youngest daily newspaper in Spain. It has been launched in September 2007.

Esteban is a well known expert on visual story telling. He has been a consultant to the Innovations Media Consulting Group. Examples of his works are available at News Page Designer website.

On his blog ”Infographics news” he offers an excerpt from a ”little handbook” that his team has written for Publico’s editors and reporters.

”Many of [these advices] are extensible to the general journalism, but sometimes we must make visible that infographics are journalistic products. At least, those on newspapers,” explains Esteban.

Here just a list. For details go to his blog.

1. Infographics are information, not decoration: Graphics are not to make pages more beautiful.
2. Information in the graphic gives the size of it: We must not make the layout and then ask for the graphic.
3. If you wouldn’t do it with the text, you can’t do it with the graphic: Data on graphics can’t be less rigourous than in the text.
4. Graphics are not made for those who don’t want to read: We don’t have smart readers who read the texts and fools who looks at the graphics.
5. Do not repeat the data on graphic and text: If you have nothing to tell apart form the data on the graphic maybe you don’t need a text.
6. Quality of the infographics depends on information and time: Information for graphics is like the screenplay for a film.
7. Say no to the big reports culture: It’s not unusual to have big mountains of papers with reports of some enterprise or institution. and they are usually full of little graphics.
8. Graphics must be visual: Graphics are not not texts + photos. Texts and photos are texts and photos.
9. Go for the good ones: Sometimes the big topic of the day doesn’t need a graphic.
10. Trust the infographic journalist: when an infographic journalist tells you to have the infographic smaller or even not making a graphic is not because he doesn’t want to work.

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