These slides come from our second #popupwebinar on using free tools to create infographics and datavisualisations to tell the story of your scientific data.

1. Eye catching
science
Finding the visual story in your data
Part 2: Making it look good
FUTURE EARTH
POP-UP
WEBINAR
SERIES

2. Quick recap:
• You’ve established where this graphic fits into your strategy
• Established who’s going to consume it
• Established how we’re going to deliver or publish it
• Established the key messages it’s going to deliver
• Established what tool/s we’re going to build it
• Researched some good examples of how other people
have solved their communications problem

3. In case you missed it:
futureearth.org/blog/pop-webinars

4. Design = lining things up?
• Aligning the physical & the metaphorical:
- Your style with your message
- Your metaphors with your story
- Your heading sizes with each other
- The positions of things
- The visual style of any graphical elements
you use with each other
- Your colour choices with their meanings

5. Working with layouts

6. Heading Heading
Sub Heading
Where do
things go?
Create a grid
Align objects
to grid
Add items that
you need. You
can ‘span’
columns where
necessary, but
be careful…

7. Some grids
can be very
complicated,
but more
complicated =
harder to use
HeadingBlurb for the the page
verit que aspis secusamusam
harum aturiscite voluptaquod quam
hitat. Sam quatem eicae cus as quiscii
scimus ullut pore volorporum dolorro
You can feel
free to break
away from your
grid just make
sure you have
a good reason
You
can be
but still respect the grid

8. Learn to love space

9. Chapter 2
Sub Heading20
0.1%
50000
Sub Heading
Use open space to: Emphasise section breaks

10. Sub Heading
Sub Heading
Use open space to: Emphasise certain information

11. Type A Type B
Use open space to: Group and separate information

12. Use open space to:
Sub Heading
Sub Heading 2
Sub Heading 3
Time
to
think
Sub Heading 4
Allow time for the eye to rest in the document

13. You don’t have to
fill every space,
let your space
work for you.

14. Learn to love alignment

15. When an object is too close to
another object without aligning
properly, it creates a kind of
visual ‘stress’ which can
distract your reader.
Fix this stress either by
moving the objects
far enough apart that it
disappears or align them
properly.
Example Text

16. When an object is too close to
another object without aligning
properly, it creates a kind of
visual ‘stress’ which can
distract your reader.
Fix this stress either by
moving the objects
far enough apart that it
disappears or align them
properly.
Example Text

17. When an object is too close to
another object without aligning
properly, it creates a kind of
visual ‘stress’ which can
distract your reader.
Fix this stress either by
moving the objects
far enough apart that it
disappears or align them
properly.
Example Text

18. When an object is too close to
another object without aligning
properly, it creates a kind of
visual ‘stress’ which can
distract your reader.
Fix this stress either by
moving the objects
far enough apart that it
disappears or align them
properly.

19. When an object is too close to
another object without aligning
properly, it creates a kind of
visual ‘stress’ which can
distract your reader.
Fix this stress either by
moving the objects
far enough apart that it
disappears or align them
properly.

20. When an object is too close to
another object without aligning
properly, it creates a kind of
visual ‘stress’ which can
distract your reader.
Fix this stress either by
moving the objects
far enough apart that it
disappears or align them
properly.

21. Learn to love your text

22. Never stretch your text
to fit a space.
Fonts have been very carefully
designed and stretching can
ruin their visual balance.
A
A A

23. Avoid complicated effects.
It is harder to make complicated
effects look professional, so keep
it simple, unless you have a good
reason.
It is also usually better to avoid
complicated, gimmicky
presentation effects.

24. Avoid complicated effects.
It is harder to make complicated
effects look professional, so keep
it simple, unless you have a good
reason.
It is also usually better to avoid
complicated, gimmicky
presentation effects.
This is
more
powerful.

25. Avoid body text that is
too small, or too big.
If your text is too small, it is
difficult to read.
If it is too big, it can also be
difficult to read in large blocks
This is too small for paragraph, or body text. Smaller
text may be okay for things like image captions, image
credits, footnotes etc, but if you make your text too
small in a document, people will have to work too hard
to understand the document.

26. Avoid body text that is
too small, or too big.
If your text is too small, it is
difficult to read.
If it is too big, it can also be
difficult to read in large blocks
This is too big for paragraph
(or ‘body’) text. Larger text
is great for headings and
pull quotes, but not for long
sections of text. It takes
longer to read in a block
and can limit your readers’
understanding

27. Avoid using ‘justified’
text in narrow columns.
In wider columns it looks
neat. In narrow columns
it looks messy.
Narrow columns
a n d b i g w o rd s
messy set to full
justified alignment
Hendundis aspitis
d o l u t o m n i s t i
o f f i c i m i ,
odiciusdam, sinum
essin et asperatios
restios exceper
spidus qui volorum,
s u n t i n t i l i q u i s
molupta

28. Avoid using ‘justified’
text in narrow columns.
In wider columns it looks
neat. In narrow columns
it looks messy.
Narrow columns
and big words
messy set to full
justified alignment
Hendundis aspitis
dolut omnisti
officimi,
odiciusdam, sinum
essin et asperatios
restios exceper
spidus qui volorum,
suntint iliquis
molupta

29. Sick of your default fonts?
google.com/fonts

30. “But which ones do I use?”
labnol.org/internet/best-google-font-combinations/

31. Choose the right
colour for the job

32. DANGER!
image © Ard Hesselink
Red might mean danger, food, love or heat...

33. GO!
image © Jim O’Neill
Green might mean ‘go’, nature, freshness or even poison...

35. BLACK
LABEL
BLACK
LABEL
BLACK
LABEL

36. BLACK
LABEL
BLACK
LABEL
BLACK
LABEL
Black might mean death, mourning, elegance or expense

37. Blue might mean calm, sincerity, trust, or royalty...
image © Jim O’Neill

38. Choose a job for
the right colour
Use colour to:
• Add emphasis and clarity to information
• Highlight difference
• Create relationships

39. A kind of default - everything has a
different colour
Type A Type B
What if there are relationships
we can highlight with our colour choice?

40. Try not to think of colour
as a decoration,
but as another
information tool

41. Why some colours
aren’t friends

42. Colours are close in TONE - not enough contrast is difficult to look at

43. Increased contrast - easier to look at

44. Still need help choosing your
colours?
color.adobe.com/explore

45. Choosing the right chart type
for your data, example 1
fusioncharts.com/charting-best-practices/selecting-the-right-chart/

46. Choosing the right chart type
for your data, example 2
extremepresentation.typepad.com/blog/2006/09/choosing_a_good.html

47. There are many other visualisation
methods to consider, research is key
informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/the-billion-dollar-o-gram-2009/
informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/billion-dollar-o-gram-2013/

48. Infographic design
process example

49. Brief:
Create some small infographics to
complement a blog post on a legal
report concerning governance in
Peru
Brief:
Create a graphic or series of
graphics to support blog piece
on the findings of a legal report
into governance jurisdictions in
Peru.
INTERACTIVE INFOGRAPHIC
Complexity of Governance:The complicated multi-level,
multi-jurisdictional landscape of Madre de Dios, Peru

50. RAW INPUTS
“…”

51. STATE OWNED LANDS
OIL PALM PLANTATION
TIMBER
CONCESSIO
N
REDD+
CONSERVATI
ON PROJECT
NATIVE
COMMUNITIES
SMALLHOLDER
COMMUNITIES
Regional
Directorate of
Agriculture
(Titling)
National
Ministry of
Agriculture
(Regulation)
Regional
Directorate of
Agriculture
(Titling)
National
Ministry of
Culture
(Regulation)
National
Ministry of
Forestry
(Regulation)
District
Government
(Permitting)
National
Ministry of
Environment
(Regulation)
RAW INPUTS

52. RAW INPUTS

53. Process sketches

54. Process sketches

55. Process sketches

56. Process sketches

59. http://www.cifor.org/gcs/landscapes-governance-peru/
Interactive conversion

60. Thanks for joining!

61. Need some inspiration?
visual.ly/view
informationisbeautiful.net
pinterest.com

62. Still accepting submissions
futureearth2025@gmail.com

63. Did you miss the previous
Future Earth pop webinars?
futureearth.org/blog/pop-webinars