What Is the Difference Between an Infographic and a Logo? – What Are Infographics?-1
Today’s beginner graphic artist, who is training in graphic design, would likely develop a logo first before creating an infographic. Infographics must be more accurate factually, while a logo we can consider more like an ancient stamp. Yes, it represents a company, but in a more abstract and sometimes ambiguous way, it is just a design. What it actually represents may not be important as long as it satisfies the client. This is not to say that creating a logo does not take time and effort. But with an infographic, often the design is more elaborate requiring many components or steps, and you really need to do your research to get the information or data correctly displayed. We will discuss this more in Chapter 2. Refer to Figure 1-34.
Figure 1-34. A basic pictorial logo and infographic with numerical steps
An Infographic in Its Basic Form
An infographic does not need to be complicated, but it should in some visual way reveal data and answer most if not all the questions of who, what, when, where, why, and how.
Here I will explain briefly how a simple infographic could be constructed visually. Let’s begin with a drawing of three animals: a lion, a bear, and a parrot. These three animals appear to be placed among plant life that kind of resembles a jungle-type setting. Refer to Figure 1-35.
Figure 1-35. A basic pictorial infographic with wildlife on a sign
While it is a nice drawing, we really don’t know what it means. To you, the viewer, it could mean or represent a number of things. Maybe you like animals or you like the colors or the general layout of the picture. Could it be something to hang on a wall as artwork? A parrot lives in the jungle, but what about the lion and bear, why are they represented here? If you saw this picture on a sign outdoors, what would you think it meant? The next thing we need to add, to give us some more clues, is an arrow. Refer to Figure 1-36.
Figure 1-36. A basic pictorial infographic with wildlife on a sign and an arrow
If the arrow points in some direction, it may tell us how to get there. This tells us that if we go that way, something involving possibly these animals will be there. But are these animals real, or are they only puppets or stuffed animal toys? The final thing we need to add is text, in this case, the text that could be added is “Zoo.” Now it has become an official infographic and has given us many clues. Refer to Figure 1-37.
Figure 1-37. A basic pictorial infographic with wildlife on a sign, an arrow, and the word zoo