visual:

design:
scholarship
Research Journal of the
Australian Graphic Design Association

    Volume 4, Number 1, 2009, pp.78 –90

Figures: a social application of infographics
    Stuart Medley and Nicola Kaye
Edith Cowan University Edith Cowan University

Figures: The social in the visual is a research project exploring the potential for information graphics
to tell news. To date, the research manifests itself in a website (http://figuresmag.com), tertiary level
teaching materials, and a printed zine. This article details the principle aspects of our research. Firstly,
it states our issues with the status quo of mainstream news imagery and dissemination. Secondly,
we discuss our media choices: Why information graphics, and why the Internet? We will explain
information design as a graphic form within a contested space: The form itself requires experimentation
so that its users, including ourselves, can be more confident about what approaches to information
design communicate what messages. This experimentation leads us to the Internet, using the Web 2.0
as a space for efficient and socially focused experimentation. Our research uses a reflexive methodology
which sees us as creative practitioners within the space we have set up as well as audience members
seeking explanation. We demonstrate how we use the Internet as a reflexive space in developing
Figures. Thirdly, we will describe some outcomes of the research so far: Tertiary assignment briefs for
design students at Edith Cowan University, Western Australia (ECU); graphics created for Figures have
been published in Visual Language for Designers (2009); and, another design school (at the University of
Otago, New Zealand) has published information graphics on our site.

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Citation: Medley, S & Kaye, N (2009) Figures: a social application of infographics, vol.4, no.1, pp.7 8 – 90 online at: http://
www.agda.com.au/vds/vds040108.pdf
ISSN 1833-2226
Figures: a social application of infographics
    Stuart Medley and Nicola Kaye

Dr Stuart Medley
Stuart is a lecturer in graphic design at Edith Cowan University in Perth. Formerly he lectured in
design at Otago University in New Zealand. He has presented research papers at various international
conferences including TypoGraphic2005, Lebanon, and the NewViews 2008 conference at the LCC in
London. Medley has written articles on pharmaceutical design history for the Australasian Medical
Journal, His graphic designs have been published in several reference books including Grids: Creative
Solutions for Graphic Designers, Visual Language for Designers, and Logolounge 5. Medley has been
a graphic designer for 15 years. He is a partner in, and the designer for, Hidden Shoal Recordings, a
critically acclaimed record label with a roster of international artists. He has a PhD in graphic design/
illustration based on the paradoxical premise that less realism in an image equates to more accurate
communication. Medley’s PhD examiners included the illustrator/designer George Hardie, Professor of
Design at Brighton, who described the research as bringing image into the fold of graphic design theory.
s.medley@ecu.edu.au

Dr Nicola Kaye
Nicola is an artist and coordinator of the Master of Arts (Visual Arts) course at Edith Cowan University
in Perth, WA. She has recently completed her PhD at the University of New South Wales, and published
a book Physical/virtual sites: using creative practice to develop alternative communicative spaces. Her
research examines the online/offline social application of visuality. She has exhibited and presented at
numerous national and international exhibitions and conferences, including Transforming Audiences 2
at the University of Westminster, London (2009), and at the International Symposium on Electronic Art,
Singapore (2008).
n.kaye@ecu.edu.au

Central issues with news perspectives

Increasingly globalised contexts for information dissemination demand alternative
communicative spaces to mainstream media that allow diversity, plurality,
intersubjectivity and differing forms of interrogation:
it makes sense that we should have a plurality of voices and opinions in the
mainstream media rather than only hearing the views of a select number
of corporate giants. We live in what everyone keeps referring to as the
‘Information Age,’ yet as our means and ability of accessing information
have increased, the sources from which we gather it are increasingly
homogenous, and the quality of information is questionable at best.
78 (Monopoly: Media Edition, n.d)

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 Part of this homogeneity lies in the form of the news—photographs and text—not
just in the content or the sources of the information. One way this is being challenged is
by alternative communication spaces colloquially described by Jeffery P. Jones (2006) as
alternative media that “represent a wide variety of politically conscious, non-mainstream
media forms”. Our research interests lie in exploring ‘alternative media’ spaces of
interpretation and communication away from mainstream notions of news, information
and public space. We are particularly interested in the visual (non-textual) aspects of
news presentation. We believe that to some extent, regardless of content or editorial
gatekeeping, the visual form of the news, especially its ubiquitous reliance on photography,
contributes to the problem of homogeneity. A photograph appears to show us reality, since
it is understood to be a record of something that occurred in front of the camera, but
it records without explanation in and of itself. As Roland Barthes (1982) explains, the
photograph “suggests the gesture of the child pointing his finger at something and saying:
that, there it is, lo! but says nothing else”.
We wish to explore visual forms that may provide more of an explanation of
events. We also question the authority photography still has within this news realm.
While newspapers openly credit photographers’ with pictorial authorship, the photograph
is still widely regarded as objective truth where viewers tend to separate the photograph
from the photographer (Lewis-Green, 1996, Art of the Book, 2006). Principally, we believe
the visual form of news, that of the photographically real, tends to decontextualise the
moments that the audience has long assumed are the news from the larger ‘picture’ that
these moments happen within. As Susan Sontag put it, ‘Photographic exploration and
duplication of the world fragments continuities’ (1977, p.156). Visuality, the realm of the
image, should be contested. Our view of visuality concurs with Peter Dallow’s (2008):
To use a term with a good deal of currency, we might think of the visual as being like
an interface or cultural zone of social exchange, a space where the conventions in the
construction of visual imagery and the prevailing or imminent social and cultural
practices meet: a social sphere or arena where contemporary views of reality are
displayed. Hence a notion of visual literacy could be the capacity to negotiate or “navigate”
this visual cultural zone. (p.98)
Our means of negotiating this zone is to problematise the photograph. Of course,
other theorists—Sontag being prominent among them—are well-known for doing just
that, but their approach has been a linguistic critique. We approach the critique through
images. Hence we have begun to explore an alternative form for news dissemination:
The information graphic. Information design, though a contested space as we describe
below, is widely regarded as an explanatory visuality: A means to make visually clear
complex models or relationships (Tufte, 1997, p.57). Typical examples include maps,
diagrams, wayfinding systems, graphs, timelines and technical drawings. In addition, the
information graphic obtains the same kind of ‘rhetoric of neutrality’ (Kinross, 1989, p.131)
that an audience looks for in a photograph (Malamed, 2009, p.130), paradoxically while
it is made up of images and symbols generally chosen from the other end of the realism
continuum as we will explain. What has become central to our research is an examination
of the credibility of information suggested in these apparently objective, abstracted
graphics and the potential for aesthetic appeal to attract an audience and keep them
interested in the information.
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 Information graphics, the internet and a reflexive methodology
Information design: problems and potential
Mainstream news relies primarily upon realistic modes of representation for the visual
aspects of its communication. Namely, video for television news and photography for
printed news, with a combination of these media used on Internet-based news services.
Since we are looking for alternative visuals to those provided in mainstream news, we
are interested in visual forms removed from realism. By realism we mean those images
derived using a camera to record light reflected off objects and people. We decided to
explore images at the furthest remove from photographic realism on the assumption that
this decision would highlight those differences in sharpest relief. The most realistic image
(removed from the object itself) is the colour photograph of whatever the object happens to
be. At the other end of the scale is the arbitrary graphic (Wileman, 1993; Gropper, 1963;
Knowlton, 1966) sometimes referred to as the icon (McCloud). It is these distilled images
that are the modules upon which information designs or diagrams are built (Buchheit,
n.d.). Diagrams are the visual result of travelling along this continuum, removing detail in
the process. Using a diagrammatic metaphor—the realism continuum derived from Dwyer
(1972), McCloud (1993) and Wileman (1993)—we can say that diagrams sit at the opposite
end from photographic realism. An example is shown at Figure 1.

Figure 1 - A realism continuum between colour photography (Robert Moses by Arnold

Newman) representational and specific at one end and text, abstract and general at the other.

According to McCloud (1993) this stripping away of realistic detail allows the
resulting image to amplify particular meanings in a way that realistic images can not.
This suggests that diagrams, the kinds of visual material at the end of this process of
abstraction and distillation, allow a deeper intellectual connection with visual material
than is prompted by realism. At the very least, a reduction in realism must prompt a
search for meaning beyond the representational. This could be described as seeing with
the mind as opposed to merely seeing with the eyes. Malamed, in Visual Language for
Designers, describes the function of abstract information graphics:
Not only do abstract graphics enhance communication, they also enhance
the credibility of a message. There is a sense of objectivity to the non-
representational graphic, similar to the way photographs appear to be
objective renderings of reality. After all, abstract graphics represent facts
and data, concepts and systems. People expect them to reflect accuracy
and precision, believing they are the final word. In truth, however, every
abstract graphic is inherently the result of numerous subjective design
decisions. (p.130)

However, information design is itself a contested space: We cannot merely begin

using its approaches in an unquestioning manner since these approaches are debated
among experts in the field. Different authors place the same kinds of images, line-
drawings and silhouettes for example, at different points along the continuum. In other
80 cases there are profoundly different readings even of the same graphic. For example, the

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 graphic at Figure 2 by information designer Nigel Holmes’ receives applause from his
fellow information graphic designer, Duncan Mill:
This two-column graphic sums up the power of infographics. The exhilarating
abandon of the floozy Monroe character grabs the reader, then powerful
dynamics take over, all within the restrictions of an image surrounded
by text, Holmes guides the reader’s eye around the data […] The use of
fishnet stockings as the graph background is so clever, not only accurately
reflecting the years and dollar values but also echoing the sexy visual joke.
The typography is clean and simple, and the use of colour is eyecatching.
(Agar, et al, 2003, p.45)

Figure 2 - This information graphic

for Time Magazine by Nigel Holmes
is lauded and lambasted by different
design critics.

The same graphic, however, attracts the ire of information graphic critic, Edward Tufte:
chockablock with cliché and stereotype, coarse humour, and a content-
empty third dimension. It is the product of a visual sensitivity in which
a thigh-graph with a fishnet-stocking grid counts as a Creative Concept.
Everything counts but nothing matters. The data-thin (and thus
uncontextual) chart mixes up changes in the value of money with changes
in diamond prices, a crucial confusion because the graph chronicles a time
of high inflation. (1990, p.34)

What seems to be at issue here is the focus of information design: Is ‘grabbing’
the reader important, as Mills suggests, or is accuracy of data presentation more pressing
as Tufte argues? Can accessibility and accuracy be reconciled? Interestingly, little of the
research into information design specifically addresses whether a balance may be found
between these two potentially contradictory focuses. What we do with Figures, then, is
experiment for ourselves within this contested space, using a reflexive methodology to
determine whether we are on the right track towards defining diagrammatic approaches
to explaining the news, and also what advantages such approaches have over realistic
news imagery.
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 Methodology
Reflexive praxis and the internet
The Figures approach to research into information design is a reflexive one. In our
research we propose information graphics as a productive visual tool for communication.
Praxis is an essential methodology for Figures as at its core is the interrelationship of
theory and practice and how it relates to contemporary culture. Sociologist Nick Couldry
(2004) proposes that through praxis there is a democratic potential for the individual. It
is through the act of doing that change for the amelioration of society can be facilitated.
Like Couldry, we encourage public empowerment by engaging in practices to promote
discourse. Figures has developed a community, via the website, printed materials and
public projections to promote such discourse. Our approach to research on the Figuresmag.
com website has been to offer designs and pictures for public comment. Each post contains
at least one image—in most cases designed by us, in other cases chosen for its news
currency—and a written context, in what we hope is accessible language, to explain the
presence of the images. At the end of each post we prompt for readers’ comments.
Couldry’s discourse is in constructing practices to enact theoretical goals—this is at
the heart of praxis. A reflexive praxis is therefore integral to our research as it is provides
us with a cyclic model. This model allows us to continually build on what has come before,
where we reassess and critically interrogate our research outputs in order to get closer
to our goal of balancing aesthetics and accuracy. We concur with Anthony Giddens when
he asserts, “At each moment … the individual is asked to conduct a self-interrogation in
terms of what is happening” (1991, p. 76). We are constantly ‘interrogating’ what we do,
and this can be viewed on the Figures website where we regularly post questions for our
audience. For example, we ask via the site what topics interest the readers while seeking
feedback on our visual approaches to those topics. For example, on June 9, 2009, we asked:
Which postings do you connect with and why? Can you spot any key
themes that are worth developing? What are some issues that you might
like to be addressed?

What reflexivity provides for our research, is the underlying principle, at the
core of the reflexive act, that there needs to be cognition of ethical, social and historical
awareness, in order to negotiate the innumerable complexities in any given situation.
We stress that, in any reflexive context, there has to be an acknowledgement of power
relations, as cultural theorist Michael Lynch contends, “Reflexive analysis is often said to
reveal forgotten choices, expose hidden alternatives, lay bare epistemological limits and
empower voices which had been subjugated by objective discourse. Reflexive analysis is
thus invested with critical potency and emancipatory potential” (2000, p. 36). We suggest
it is these attributes of reflexivity that should be central to any social interaction. We
recommend the form of reflexivity by Giddens, et al, as significant for our research in the
way it demands a critical interrogation of ones cultural context—it is this that we are
constructing on the Figures website with the help of contributors’ feedback.

Reader feedback
There are some commonalities of response in the comments on the website. In general
the area of research meets with the approval of our readership, with a commentator
82 describing our work as: “not only a fascinating area of exploration, but also increasingly

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 necessary as we are witnessing the beginnings of developments in new means of language
and linguistics, namely of a visual nature.” (Mind map: June 17th, 2009 at 8:56 pm).
Other comments focused on the clarity of our visual interpretations of data: “Beautiful
work team. Easy to follow.” (Scott Savage: February 7th, 2009 at 5:14 am). With regard
to our seeking a balance between aesthetic appeal and accuracy of data presentation, our
readers seem to understand this pursuit and appreciate our steps in this direction, but
don’t hesitate to point out shortfalls in communication: “OK it needs work to decipher,
which is not necessarily bad, but I am still a little unclear of the meaning of the positions
etc. Looks lovely though.” (The Worst of Perth:July 4th, 2008 at 5:12 am). Even when this
pursuit of aesthetic appeal took us into three dimensional territory, as with the ‘World
Languages Graphic’ (http://figuresmag.com/archive/world-languages-graphic/) the readers
seemed pleased to join us for the journey: “The idea of this being a physical info-graphic is
awesome.. kinda reminds me of the games ‘box cover’ or something with the way it is shot
also which gives it a nice aesthetic.” (Vaughn: October 8th, 2008 at 4:01 am)
Where the graphics were heavy on data and text, and less aesthetically focused,
this seemed to have a detrimental effect for some readers: “maybe briefer text, to give it
the aesthetic of something interesting, it’s too flat atm. Needs to be visually enticing for
me to go further.. too much going on for me.” (October 8th, 2008 at 4:09 am). Ultimately,
we would like even the feedback mechanisms, like our visual critique of news imagery, to
be picture-based. To this end we are currently seeking funding to develop a visual wiki-like
system which would allow our commentators to upload visuals that suggest improvements
to our designs.

Outputs
Tertiary education materials
Our research has appeared as the basis of assignment briefs for graphic design students
at ECU. The research informs the teaching of vector illustration software: Students
are not just learning the tools but reflecting on the advantages of drawing versus
photographic means of image-making. They learn that as realism is reduced, the
designer can bring order to the drawing, suggesting relationships between elements
through the imposition of colour, shape and line weight. One such assignment was
structured in order to find out what students thought information designs were good for.
We were interested to know if their approach to designing for news stories would confirm
our conjecture: That information design could help to create a visual context lacking in
photographic images. We asked the students (40 second and third year graphics majors)
to reflect on what a diagram might allow for visual communication that a photograph
could not. No student in the group reported having considered these two approaches
to image as points along a continuum of realism; as alternative ways of addressing the
same subject matter that might reveal different things about that subject. In response
to the prompt, “In your understanding, what can information graphics or diagrams
do?”, One student suggested that “diagrams show how things work”; another that
“diagrams can measure things”; and another said “diagrams visually compare things
like statistics”. When asked if these tasks were possible with photography students
responded, “You would have to think very carefully about lighting so it was really clear
what the photo was telling you to do”; “Yes, you can compare something like the height
83 or size of people but for most things it would be very hard”. Students were again asked

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 the question “why draw when you want to measure or explain something visually, why
not take photographs?” Student responses included, “drawings and diagrams can make
things clearer”; “you don’t have distracting backgrounds”; and “you can compare things
that you can’t put together in a photo. Like a blue-whale and a building”. From these
responses, we determined that the students had some intuition about diagrammatic
drawings, but had not yet applied this understanding to information design. Given this
general inexperience, the results (some of which are shown at Figures 3, 4 & 5) were well
resolved in terms of what we look for in the Figures research.
For their diagrams content, students were instructed to chose a news story on the
basis of feeling strongly about the topic. This emotional connection seems to come from
stories that are complex enough to be retold through information graphics. Complexity in
turn often leads to a need to compare or measure such that the reader gets a better sense
of the news context. We take information architect, Richard Saul Wurman’s lead here: The
reader understands something new relative to something they already understand (1997).
In this way students learn how to use graphing tools and scales as well as drawing tools
within their design software, and begin to understand that data can be explained visually
and accurately at the same time.
The advantages to the Figures project is that a group of students can generate
many complex information graphics in a fraction of the time it takes for the Figures team
to do the same. In terms of our research this means manifold graphical experiments to
study but also a ready audience for feedback as to the effectiveness of these diagrams.
Through the help of a funded research assistant and student submissions, we have been
able to experiment with dozens of new information graphics. We can explore a range of
topics, but more importantly we can examine different approaches to information design
and get class feedback on these as they are produced. From our research for Figures, we
were able to explain to students that this balance between aesthetic appeal and accuracy
was key. In-class discussions concurred with the comments on the website: An initial
glance at the graphic should reveal the context of the information and be engaging such
that the reader wishes to understand the information. The graphics need to strike a
balance between being eye-catching and seemingly objective in order that their content
be credible.

Figure 3 - Study of personal wealth by Blagoj Micevski, shows attention to detail in statistics
and colour relationships, but also a pursuit of visual wit (the piggy bank metaphor) through
which to connect the reader.
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 Figure 4 - Study of carbon footprint reduction by george Domahidy uses a silhouette to
delineate the context of the information. Students responded positively to the accessibility of
the visuals but found fault with colour usage. One comment was “Yellow things should relate
to other yellow things, and same with red. But some red things here are positive while others
are negative”.

Figure 5 - Greatest Rock Moves

by Steph Cormack approaches
visual wit as a subversive
take on the characteristically
serious form of infographics.
In-class responses to this work
were very positive indeed; it
was voted a class favourite.
Further exploration by Figures
of information graphics suggests
that even serious content can
benefit from a humourous
execution.

When the graphics were submitted and pinned up on the studio wall for review,
those that got the best feedback showed a combination of clean, precise visuals with some
form of visual wit. This wit could be evidenced through a visual metaphor (as in Figure 3)
or a knowing subversion of the dry form of infographics (Figures 5).
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 Scott Savage, a professional practice fellow in design at the University of Otago,
New Zealand, along with two of his project tutors, Tracey Gardner and Sian O’Gorman,
have chosen to publish some of their student information design projects on our website.
Interestingly, their marking criteria for the project also point to the importance of the
relation between aesthetic appeal and credibility:
- is the information clear and scannable? [ie. can one get an overview of the
intent quickly]
- is the information telling a clear story about your topic?
- is the information graphic compelling, elegant and stylish with a strong
attention to detail?
- is the structure of the information graphic innovative and witty?
- is the information graphic convincing / persuasive?
(retrieved from http://figuresmag.com/archive/project-profile-duninfo-
making-information-accessible/#comments)

Again, the issue of humour or visual wit raises its head. The graphics that received
the most positive responses in the Otago groups all demonstrated aspects of visual wit.
Our findings in this area seem to concur with McAlhone and Stuart’s endorsement of the
sudden insights promoted by ‘the pleasure of decoding’. (A smile in the mind, 2001, p.19).
For the Figures team however, this visual wit raises another question. In the
realm of social statistics and news, does visual wit erode the seriousness of the content?
In order to test whether lightheartedness of graphic treatment resulted in a perception
of implausibility in serious contexts, we ran a short survey via a web posting. A recent
comparison on Figuresmag.com of two pharmaceutical designs for the same product
elicited some interesting responses. Readers were shown two designs for the same
product [Figures. 6 & 7]. The designs were chosen from Spain allowing English speakers
to concentrate more on the difference in graphics and less on the written information.
Readers of the blog were asked:
What kind of words would you use to describe each design? Is one more
appealing than the other? If so, why? Does one seem more or less likely
to work? If you had to choose between these two packages based on their
visual design, which would you reach for at the chemist’s?

Figure 6, left (c. 2000) is the

current Utabon decongestant
graphic. Figure 7, above
(c.1960s) is the graphic
it replaced. Designs from
Spain, designers unknown.
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 Eleven comments were submitted for this post. Seven of the respondents said
they would choose the (now obsolete) graphic at Figure 7 from the chemist’s shelves.
Comments describing this design included the words, “friendly”, “fun”, “cute”, “easy to
comprehend”. One respondent said this illustration suggested the product was “easy to
use”. Interestingly, two of the respondents used the word cute in a negative sense: They
thought the brand less trustworthy and less serious because of this smiling face. Generally
though, the comments suggest that humour or light-hearted approaches to graphics do not
necessarily result in an assumption of a lack of authority, quality or effectiveness. Most
who found the packaging appealing said they would also be happy to use this product.

Printed booklet
Through our research we are trying to weigh the importance of aesthetic appeal against
accuracy of data presentation: The appeal of the graphics must not distort or interfere
with the data but the data is as good as useless if it is not made accessible enough to
understand or appealing enough to keep the reader interested until the information
is decrypted. In this latter sense, we agree with Hans Rosling’s call to liberate the
important data (www.gapminder.org) trapped in tables and lists the world over. One
way we have found to explore this balance is through the use of humour. Neurath’s
famous Isotype approach to visualizing social statistics was an attempt at objectivity and
universality (Neurath, 1946). However, recently a number of designers (Pippo Lionni and
Nicolas Felton foremost among them) have begun tapping this typically serious form of
design for humour.
One of our experiments in this area manifests itself as a printed booklet: The
gas plant explosion which slowed the W.A. economy for many months during 2008 was
picked from the front pages of the news of the day (June 2008). The West Australian
Newspaper and the ABC news website published the picture at Figure 8. This showed a
flame appearing to originate from a broken pipe—a perfect example of Barthes’ notion that
a photograph can only point but not explain—The text of the article however, referred to
the potential ‘downstream’ industrial disruptions that may occur as a result of a pipeline
explosion. Over the course of several months, the stories pertaining to the explosion began
to suggest that the relaxed W.A. lifestyle itself might soon become compromised. In our
pursuit of the potential for humour in information design we decided that the stories could
be retold through a set of 10 postcards referencing holidays and pleasant destinations.
Figures 9 and 10 show our Explosion over the horizon book of postcards. We adopt Bruce
Mau’s idea that a book is a time-based medium (2000). We have interpreted that literally.
We thought about what a book of postcards might be once all the postcards are zipped out
and sent off. The remaining artifact is a little flick-book which explains through animation
that this gas explosion lit the fuse which led to the loss of hundreds of jobs.

Figure 8 - This news photograph reveals

nothing of the complex downstream effects
of the Varanus Island gas explosion.
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 Figures 9 (above) & 10 (above right) - The first hard-copy article from Figures is a book of
postcards. After all the cards have been removed, the stub becomes a flick-book animation.

On the reverse side of the postcards we placed statements intended to

serve a number of functions. They are positioned as advertising satire, and in part
as provocation, to hopefully engender a self-reflexive response in the reader. This
posits the work within the lifeworld (Habermas, 1987), asking what we share with
others. The statements also foreground the connections that are fundamental to
information design that are absent within mainstream news coverage. A couple of
examples are on postcard number 2, “It doesn’t matter really, we have a state filled
with natural resources” and on postcard number 3, “Haven’t you heard we are in
the middle of a “BOOM!”? Comments on our website about the booklet suggested
that the humour does not negate the power of the data but actually makes it more
accessible. Similar responses were forthcoming on a range of our web postings: That
visual wit often helps the viewer to engage with the content without compromising
the credibility of that content.

Conclusion
Our research appears to be delivering the desired balance between accessibility and
credibility. Figures graphics have recently been published in Visual Language for
Designers. The author, Connie Malamed, an authority on how graphics communicate,
described the World Languages graphic so:
Creates an environment with little visual noise. The designer uses sufficient
detail to depict the board game metaphor and statistical data, but not
enough to overwhelm or distract the viewer. (p.110)

As we have asserted however, we are being constantly reflexive and acknowledge

that there are some limitations to our research that we need to address. Our readership
so far is small, so any survey results must be viewed in this light. We don’t know the
cultural circumstances of our readership either so we don’t know their personal biases. For
example, it might be that a community of visual artists might prefer the aesthetic appeal
of a certain approach to the graphics, while a more scientifically minded community
might prefer the foregrounding of accurate graphing. Similarly, in-class discussions of
information designs were among design students rather than the larger community.
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 Design students might be more visually literate than the larger community—perhaps
prone to seeking out connections in an image made via shape, colour and line—or at least
visually biased in their appreciation of this communication form. It is not inconceivable
that a layperson may prefer tabular settings of the same information.
Our in-class experiments in part acknowledge a problem with information
designs as news visualisation. That is, that photographs are quicker to make and publish.
However, in our opinion, the broad context that an information graphic can potentially
capture can apply for the life of the news story. In this way it can provide an arena in
which to view photographs. An information graphic could place a series of photographs
in sequence (to reassemble the fragmented continuities that Sontag complained of) while
at the same time showing the reader where those photographs were taken. It is visual
possibilities like these that we will continue to research through Figures.

References
Agar, M., et al (2003). The best infographics in history. In J. Arrea (Ed.), Malofi ej, 10th
World Infographics Awards (pp.35-53). Pamplona: Capitulo Español.
Art of the Book (2006). On-line video, retrieved, May, 2008, from 92nd St Y.: http://
www.92y.org/shop/category.asp?category=888Podium%5FVideo888
Barthes, R. (1982). Camera Lucida, New York: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux.
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90 © 2009 Published by AGDA

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visual:
design:
scholarship
Research Journal of the
Australian Graphic Design Association

MANAGING EDITORS–– Mark Roxburgh

University of Technology Sydney

email:
  Sidney Newton
journal.editor@agda.com.au
University of New South Wales

Katherine Moline
College of Fine Arts
ISSN:
1833-2226 University of New South Wales

visual:design:scholarship is a fully refereed, online journal that aims to stimulate, support  

and disseminate design research with a focus on visual communication design in the Australian  
context. The journal seeks particularly to encourage contributions that speak to, and on behalf  
of, the visual communication design industry in Australasia. The aim is to include contributions
from students, practitioners and academics. A range of research approaches, methods and forms  
of presentation is anticipated.
    visual:design:scholarship is published online continuously, as articles become available.  
All of the articles in any given calendar year will comprise a separate volume. Special editions  
will be published as additional numbers within each volume.

Types of Contribution • the main document should be clearly organised with a

Refereed Articles (minimum 3,000–5,000 words or equiv-
alent, no maximum). Original and previously unpublished
scholarship in visual communication design of a research
or developmental nature, inclusing: case studies, student
dissertations, minor theses, research reports, new method-
ologies, substantial position state-ments, reflective analyses,
critical reviews, visual essays, experimental practice and
curriculum developments. This is an opportunity to have a
scholarly work internationally blind refereed for academic
publication.
Format Requirements
We are interested in a variety of formats for refereed
articles. All submissions require the following:
• a separate page indicating a Title for the article/statement/
view. the Full Name for each Author with their current
affiliations, a Contact Address listing email and telephone
details. Please avoid the identification of authors within
the manuscript.
• an abstract or short summary of 100–200 words.
• 3–6 keywords that identify the main issues for the
readership.
hierarchy of headings and sub-headings that structure
the presentation. The style should be clear and concise,
presented for an Australian graphic design audience.
In general, please avoid the use of footnotes and endnotes.
Referencing should follow the Harvard Style (reference in
the text by author, name and date, cited at the end in
alphabetical order), and all tables and figures should have
descriptive captions (including source information). A short
(100–200 word) biography of each author for reader infor-
mation would be appreciated. We also encourage authors
to submit examples of their own practice, student work
or other examples that generally illustrate and support the
tenor of the article. Such examples of work will be published
along with the biographies.
Submission
Submissions should be emailed to the Editors in Word (.doc)
format only. For other submission possibilities, please
contact the editors.
Email: journal.editor@agda.com.au