Idea 2of 22Builds onAn infographic tells one story
Decide the one message first
What do you decide before you draw anything?
Today you'll discover
- why the message comes first
- how to check it against the data
- how it guides every other part
Think firstGrade 5's yard vote: the data
Before drawing anything, what should you decide first?
Decide first, then press Next. Ask what the reader should walk away knowing.
An empty poster with only a table of the yard vote: garden beds 18, outdoor games 16, reading space 10, art wall 6. Then a title and the message Garden beds won, just ahead of games. Then a total row of 50, then the bar graph and share table. The last step shows Room 12's counts: walk 8, bus 6, car 4, bike 2.
See the whole ideathe big idea and the key word, in one place
The big idea
Decide the one message first, check it against the data, then choose every part to show it.
Good messages“Garden beds won, just ahead of games.” “Walking is Room 12's most common way to school.” Each one sentence, each true for its data.
Easy to get wrongWrite the message from the counts, not from what you hoped. If the data shows a tie or a small lead, the message says so.
Key word
- message
- the one main thing an infographic wants its reader to learn, said in one sentence
Ready to use it?
- Choose the message a data set supports.
- Check a message against the counts.