I can't remember if it was Johannes Gutenberg or me who said, "There are few visual successes more elusive than a well-designed infographic." Hand anyone a couple paragraphs of copy and a folder of beautiful photography, and most likely they'll gin up a fairly good layout. Hand someone instructions like "display the likelihood of contracting H1N1 by age group for every county bordering the Great Lakes " and you're likely to see a trainwreck.The folks at GOOD Magazine have a gift for conveying information in a surprisingly creative way. Witness the above graphic showing where the city of New York gets it's water. (It's part of a much larger infographic, complete with a key explaining why just one of them is wearing a pink sweatshirt.) The information could've been displayed in a number of ways, even as a simple table. But GOOD chose to convey not just the data, but also the spirit of the piece. The fact that GOOD regularly does this -- all the while making it appear effortless -- is downright enviable. Heck, even Gutenberg would be jealous.
Many more of GOOD's infographics can be found here.
As a person who loves words, I have to say that these infographics are really great! Often I find infographics only reiterate the highlights of a story, and seem to be intentionally subordinate to the text. But GOOD creates a whole story with their infographics that is both eyecatching and layered in its meaning. I love them--even though they don't have many words:)
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