What is the Future of Infographics

[Hiram Henriquez]

Hello all,

My MFA Graphic Design thesis will focus on The Future of Infographics as the print media  — newspapers and magazines which were the driving force behind infographics' popularity — is on its way out.

So where are infographics headed now? Surely the World Wide Web as interactive presentations and animated video, but what about its purpose?

In print media, it was mostly used as a means to portray complex data in a visually engaging way, or in its more misused application, a way to simply decorate the data, the page it was displayed on, and to entertain the reader

So now what? Is this still the reason for infographics to exist, or will it go to some higher form, perhaps a means to educate society or help shape it?

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Hiram Henriquez

Former graphics editor at National Geographic magazine and The Miami Herald, as well as  senior graphics reporter at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

[Misty S. Brown]

Have you heard of Ed Henninger? Look him up on LinkedIn. He posed the question about the future of graphic design a few years ago, but I can't remember the name of the paper or publication it was in. Some of the insight provided might be of assistance to you in your question about infographics. I personally have always viewed infographics as a way of educating people about otherwise boring or difficult to understand topics. I think infographics can profoundly impact society... a more educated society will fare better in many ways... socially, economically, politically... 

Also, have you heard of augmented reality? I work at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and we've launched an app called Plus - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for the iPhone and Android. It will bring photos to life with video... sort of like Harry Potter. If anything, I can say that infographics could also benefit from this technology and make them even more important than ever. (Of course, advertisers will benefit from this too... which ultimately will help keep the print media around a little longer.)