Editing Infographic (section)

== Overview ==
Infographics have been around for many years and recently the increase of the number of easy-to-use, free tools have made the creation of infographics available to a large segment of the population.  Social media sites such as [[Facebook]] and [[Twitter]] have also allowed for individual infographics to be spread among many people around the world. Infographics are widely used in the age of short [[attention span]].{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

In newspapers, infographics are commonly used to show the weather, as well as maps, site plans, and graphs for summaries of data. Some books are almost entirely made up of information graphics, such as [[David Macaulay]]'s ''[[The Way Things Work]]''.  The Snapshots in ''[[USA Today]]'' are also an example of simple infographics used to convey news and current events.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/snapshot.htm|title=USA Today Snapshots |website=usatoday30.usatoday.com}}</ref>

Modern maps, especially route maps for transit systems, use infographic techniques to integrate a variety of information, such as the conceptual layout of the transit network, transfer points, and local landmarks.  Public transportation maps, such as those for the [[Washington Metro]] and the [[Tube map|London Underground map]], are well-known infographics.  Public places such as transit terminals usually have some sort of integrated "signage system" with standardized icons and stylized maps.

In his 1983 "landmark book" ''The Visual Display of Quantitative Information'', [[Edward Tufte]] defines "graphical displays" in the following passage:

{{blockquote|Graphical displays should

*show the data
*induce the viewer to think about the substance rather than about methodology, graphic design, the technology of graphic production, or something else
*avoid distorting what the data has to say
*present many numbers in a small space
*make large data sets coherent
*encourage the eye to compare different pieces of data
*reveal the data at several levels of detail, from a broad overview to the fine structure
*serve a reasonably clear purpose: description, exploration, tabulation, or decoration
*be closely integrated with the statistical and verbal descriptions of a data set.

Graphics ''reveal'' data.  Indeed graphics can be more precise and revealing than conventional statistical computations.<ref>{{cite book|last=Tufte|first=Edward|title=The Visual Display of Quantitative Information|year=1983|publisher=Graphics Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/visualdisplayofq00tuft/page/13 13]|location=Cheshire, Connecticut|isbn=978-0-9613921-4-7|url=https://archive.org/details/visualdisplayofq00tuft/page/13}}</ref>}}