Agnieszka Tkaczyk - Using infographics in technical communication; soapconf 2014

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Infographics conquered the web. They are used by everyone and for everything. You can come across an infographic which depicts the current demographic trends in the world as well as one that aims at proving the superiority of cats over dogs. But can infographics be used for technical communication? Do they make complex ideas more digestible or are they just a current fad? The presentation provides a handful of tips on creating infographics and some real life examples of how our team used them in the technical context.

Business

INFOGRAPHICS IN
TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION
Agnieszka Tkaczyk
Information Developer, IBM
@aga_tkaczyk

”It doesn't look serious,
like a comic book for children.”
Agnieszka Tkaczyk

COMMUNICATING WITH
PICTURES
Agnieszka Tkaczyk
Cave drawings Road signs
Modern ideogram
Egyptian hieroglyphs

20%
vision only functioning
HUMAN VISION
Agnieszka Tkaczyk
60%
40%
a combination of visions
and touch, meaning,
movement, spatial
navigation, etc.

Text only
PICTURE SUPERIORITY
EFFECT
Agnieszka Tkaczyk
10% 65%
Text with image
People remember pictures better than words, especially over
longer periods of time.

PICTURE SUPERIORITY
EFFECT
Agnieszka Tkaczyk
The picture must reinforce the message from the data and must
draw the attention.

ELEMENTS OF AN
INFOGRAPHIC
Agnieszka Tkaczyk
+
Image
+
TextData visualization

INFOGRAPHIC = STORY
Agnieszka Tkaczyk
CONCLUSION
• Closing thoughts
• Call for action
BODY
• Core of the infographic
• Combination of text, images, and data
visualizations
INTRO
• Gets the readers’ attention
• Introduces the topic
• Combination of a title and a paragraph

TIP 1: FOCUS ON ONE BIG
STORY
Agnieszka Tkaczyk
• Do not combine a few small stories into one infographic
• Make the key message immediately clear
• Eliminate data that is irrelevant

TIP 2: ADD VISUALIZATIONS,
REMOVE TEXT
Agnieszka Tkaczyk
• Reduce the amount of text
• Use visualizations:
• Reduce the time needed to understand the data
• Draw the attention
• Help remembering the information

ADVANTAGES
Agnieszka Tkaczyk
• Reduce the amount of text
• Engage vision and the picture superiority effect
• Boost memorization
• Entertain and inform
• Are fun to create

CONSIDERATIONS
Agnieszka Tkaczyk
• Not everything can be changed into an infographic
• Cannot substitute documentation
• May not be treated seriously
• Time-consuming
• Additional software might be required
• Start a life of their own after publication
• You need a good place to publish them

EXAMPLE 1: INSTALLATION
OVERVIEW
Agnieszka Tkaczyk
Detailed checklist
• 329 words
Content:
Tomasz Bartyzel
Design:
Paulina Malczak
Documentation Infographic

EXAMPLE 2:
INFRASTRUCTURE
Agnieszka Tkaczyk
Topic 1:
• 457 words
• 1 diagram
Documentation Infographic
Content:
Dominik Wietrzak
Design:
Paulina Malczak

EXAMPLE 3: PVU LICENSES
Agnieszka Tkaczyk
Topic 1:
• 605 words
• 3 graphics
• 4 tables
Topic 2:
• 134 words
Documentation Infographic
Content:
Derek Sherman
Design:
Paulina Malczak

EXAMPLE 4:
FIXLETS AND TASKS
Agnieszka Tkaczyk
• Spread among multiple
topics
• Referred to in relevant
procedures
Documentation Infographic
Content and design:
Agnieszka Tkaczyk

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