You Gotta Have Art

by Gale A. Workman, PhD

Forbes magazine calls them "charticles". Newspapers call them "infographics". Some journals call them "art". Whatever the label, writers must call on the power of charts, tables, maps, and diagrams to tell their stories.

If a story includes numbers, try pulling the quantitative information out of the narrative where cumbersome numbers bog the reader down. Tell that part of the story graphically. The copy becomes shorter, and the new art elements give the designer more freedom to create an attractive page.

Many readers are first attracted into a page by art—photos, illustrations, graphics, or type used as art. These elements are called entry points. Narrative text is not an entry point. What all this means to non-fiction writers is that they must learn to think visually. They must decide which parts of the story are best told in narrative text and which parts are best told with infographics.

A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words

Infographics come in six basic types: fever chart, bar chart, pie chart, table, map, and diagram. Content drives the form. In other words, select the style of infographic that best tells the story. Here are some examples:

A fever chart is a line on a grid that shows how quantities change over time—just as hourly body temperatures are plotted on a medical chart. Fever charts work well to show total sales for each month in the year, or school enrollment for each of ten years.
A bar chart compares quantities by showing each quantity as a bar or column. A bar chart doesn’t show change over time. Try one when you want to compare the annual budgets of several towns, or the response to a survey question that has multiple responses.
A pie chart shows the parts that make up a larger unit. Pie charts are perfect to show how budgets are allocated. Avoid using more than eight segments, though. The slices become too small to be meaningful.
A table is words and numbers arranged in columns. Use a table when presenting exact information is important. A stock report is an example. A table can show how many doctors live in each county in a given region, or the average salaries of military officers in the different branches of service.
A map orients the reader to the focus or action of the story. Avoid a busy look by using a minimum of cross streets, landmarks, and other reference points. Every travel story needs a map, but don’t forget to use them in people stories, too. Use a map to show where in Florida a beekeeper lives, which country an exchange student comes from, or where the branch libraries can be found in a city.
A diagram is a drawing that explains or illustrates how something is made or how it works. Diagrams must include clear labels and just enough detail to tell the story. Too many details will confuse the reader. Use a diagram to show how to apply eye shadow or to explain how a landfill is constructed.

Five Easy Pieces

An infographic can vary from a black line on grid paper to a full-colour illustration suitable for framing, but all infographics need five elements to tell a story.

The headline is the infographic’s label. Use a few specific words to summarize the content of the infographic and to attract the reader’s attention—just like writing a headline for a story.
The explainer is a short paragraph (or maybe just a sentence) that explains why the graphic is important to the reader. The explainer ensures that if readers ignore the narrative, they will still understand the infographic. Some designers compare the explainer to the lead of a news story.
The body is the data—written, or drawn, or both—that the infographic is designed to communicate to the reader. The body is the number and the categories on the charts and tables, the landmarks on maps, and the labels on diagrams.
The source of the data in the infographic must be identified, just as the source of a quote in a story must. Usually, the source is shown in agate type at one of the bottom corners of the infographic. It can be as simple as "Source: World Book Encyclopedia."
The credit line or byline can also appear in agate type. The credit line tells the reader the names of those responsible for the infographic. If a writer provides the data and a designer creates the display, the infographic can show a double byline.

Make a List; Check It Twice

You don’t have to be an artist to tell parts of a story with infographics—just train yourself to think visually. When you use numbers, think graphics.

Start with the story you’re working on right now. Make a checklist of the five elements of an infographic and fill in the blanks. Send your checklist to the editor with your narrative text. If you have been thorough and accurate, a graphic artist can easily turn your checklist into a handsome and informative infographic. Here’s a sample checklist for a pie chart:

Headline: Where does the penny sales tax go?
Explainer: Since September 1996, when Essex county voted for an additional penny sales tax, the county has collected $12 million. Half went to road repair.
Body: A pie chart that shows how the $12 million was allocated. Road repairs, $6 million (50 percent); new library books, $1 million (8.3 percent); establish Spencer Park, $2 million (16.6 percent); and renovate Essex Homeless Shelter, $3 million (25 percent).
Source: Essex County Third-Quarter Report, 1996.
Credit line: Chris Smith and Tony Watts

The Bottom Line

Writers want readers. Readers are attracted by graphics. Writers can use infographics to hook readers and tell part of the story at the same time. It’s a win-win situation.

Gale A. Workman PhD, a journalism professor at Florida A.&M. University, has previously worked as a reporter and editor, and a public relations professional. She has coached hundreds of writers in classrooms, newsrooms, and seminars, teaching them to be tighter, brighter writers.

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