Food Innovation - Infographic refinement

Research

I gathered some visual research on the different styles of infographics that I felt would work for the information that the company wanted to publish. The information being shared was about showing a process and then adding little parts within the process to off alternative technologies/methods to improve the farming outcome in the end. 

Figure 1

- line vectors so that it is easy to communicate rather than lots of words

- limited colour palette

- arrows to show the flow 

- dotted arrows to show a different route

- bold and regular typeface to contrast titles from little details

Figure 2

- colour coded 

- bold and vibrant to catch attention and visually communicate data easily

- not so relevant to the information on the infographic I will be developing, but if data needs to be shown then this is a good visual reference

Figure 3

- good use of linking the circles together to make it flow in a sequence

- visually links to the logo

- ensures that the text is short and precise

- if used as reference it would need to be expanded a little to accommodate for the information needing to be published and the need for little options to be shown throughout the process

Figure 4

- good to show a timeline and then can then easily show the improvements at the different parts of the process

- the use of icons and words once again is something that I will look at because of the different languages that may see these infographics

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Initial ideas

I started by designing some fairly neutral outcomes as I was still unsure as to exactly what the logo would be other than it was likely to be circular. I started with a fairly formal and structured layout (fig.5) as it was an easy way to present a fair amount of information. I tried to introduce the use of icons for some of the statistical pieces of information so that cross culturally it would be understood better. Figure 6 shows another fairly simple approach that I could make when designing the infographic with circles as the main graphic element. This utilises the arrow part on the speech bubble and points the information to the correct part of the process. Figure 7 focuses on the online communication side fo the project and idea that the community has been set up for farmer to be able to communicate with others easily. For this design I took the layout of a social media chat room as a way of presenting the information in a more friendly way - conversational. Figure 8 looks to see if the colouring form the logo could be applied behind the fig.2 design. I then looked at how the information may be placed within the logo on a large scale - but I didn't spend much time developing this because I quickly realised that it did not work. 

fig. 5

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Infographic development
Based upon the finalised logo I started to design some of the material in reference to the diagrams that I had been given to include with the presentation to the Rotarians. I took the first diagram and used the outline of the logo to work as the bubbles that will hold each piece of information. The diagram was designed to use the same line weight as the logo so that it all visually worked together. I took out the arrows and kept it as simple lines in order to make the diagram as accessible as possible. The design of figure 12 needed to be a little more thought out as the diagram didn't show exactly what it was meant to, so I needed to change some aspects and general lining up of elements. Once I had the basic layouts sorted out I could start to develop the designs in terms of it fitting with the logo and overall visual style. 

fig.10

diagram provided

diagram provided

fig. 11

fig.12

Design development 
The Food Innovation company sent us over a lot of information about the different technologies that could be used as part of the farming process in order to enhance the farmers outcomes etc. It hadn't refined down to what exactly was needed on the infographic, so I read through it and made notes on the most important parts in my opinion. The annotation on it shows how Misha and I went through and then categorised it further to fit within the infographic. 

I took the title within the logo and used this for each of the titles on the infographics, hand manipulating the type to have the same style shadow. I then took the colour scheme and applied it to the relevant sections of information in regards to the three titles in the centre of the page. The design in figure 13 was shown to be evenly spaced with an equal balance of information on each side and the triangular part of the speech bubble just pointing towards the centre - with not too much intentional direction. The spreading out of the category titles in the centre of the page worked well to then be able to spin each of the bubbles to point at the appropriate on as well as being colour coded. 

fig.13

fig.14

fig.14

For each of the 5 stages it seemed to help explain each part when a little illustration was used in comparison to just words alone. Figure 15 shows the initial outcomes and then to improve this further I changed all of the line weights so that they were of an equal thickness. I then applied the design style of the work above to this and the outcome was sent to Misha. 

fig.15

Feedback on outcome

The diagram worked well but just with a few placements slightly in the wrong place and she sent back the image with the parts circled that needed changing.