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[Easy_G]

Well, not all infographics. But lately I've noticed that they're becoming increasingly more popular. It seems people are going out of their way just to think of subjects to turn into infographics. And most of these things dumb down the facts to the point where they're no longer useful, they stop short of coming to any useful conclusions, and they are made first to look good, not to convey information.

Take this one titled "Is your boss older than you?" Only the first two data points are relevant. It then goes into stick figures of varying shades of pink to demonstrate nothing.

Here we have a graphic that doesn't actually use graphics to visualize any information. It's just 20 names with words floating around.
Did you know pie charts are not clear enough, and actually need to be encircled by bar charts to become useful?

I get the impression that there are armies of graphic artists out there competing to make the worst infographic so they can get their 15 minutes on digg. I apologize for wasting your time with this complaint, but man it's annoying.

 

[ToxicAdam]

I agree. Wired's been running them and they usually suck.

 

[Salazar]

And miles (multiples of 1.6 kilometres) to go before I sleep.

 

[Big-ass Ramp]

I wonder how many people don't like infographics. If only there was a way to easily digest that kind of information in a simple, easy to read sheet of info.

 

[NotWii]

I love infographics!

 

[Scuba Steve]

Well, not all infographics. But lately I've noticed that they're becoming increasingly more popular. It seems people are going out of their way just to think of subjects to turn into infographics. And most of these things dumb down the facts to the point where they're no longer useful, they stop short of coming to any useful conclusions, and they are made first to look good, not to convey information.

Take this one titled "Is your boss older than you?" Only the first two data points are relevant. It then goes into stick figures of varying shades of pink to demonstrate nothing.

Here we have a graphic that doesn't actually use graphics to visualize any information. It's just 20 names with words floating around.
Did you know pie charts are not clear enough, and actually need to be encircled by bar charts to become useful?

I get the impression that there are armies of graphic artists out there competing to make the worst infographic so they can get their 15 minutes on digg. I apologize for wasting your time with this complaint, but man it's annoying.

Some are great, some aren't (the ones you mentioned)

I could make a topic saying "Who hates books/movies/games" and point out horrible examples too

 

[scorcho]

 

[Peronthious]

Boo

You're just not reading the right infographics.

http://flowingdata.com/2010/05/06/the-boom-of-big-infographics/

 

[Easy_G]

Boo

You're just not reading the right infographics.

http://flowingdata.com/2010/05/06/the-boom-of-big-infographics/

And that link explains my hatred. Interesting though!

 

[Dead Man]

Perfect. :lol

 

[Slavik81]

Take this one titled "Is your boss older than you?" Only the first two data points are relevant. It then goes into stick figures of varying shades of pink to demonstrate nothing.

Personally, I find that data interesting, and since it's appropriately sourced, can cite it in the future. Labour demographics are interesting and I'm not sure why you feel such an need to keep it narrowly focused on whether your boss is older than you or not.

What bugs me more is that their first sentence on the right is missing a word.
"Percentage of workers that find difficult to report to someone younger"

Did you know pie charts are not clear enough, and actually need to be encircled by bar charts to become useful?

The bars show different things than the individual pie slices. You could mentally add the pie slices together to get the same idea, but I'm not sure why having a bar pointing it out precisely is such a problem.

 

[xbhaskarx]

I love infographics, when they are done right.