Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Information Graphics 101


The NYTimes posted an article that touches the cockles of my heart, titled We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Powerpoint.

The reason why I cackle stems from the fact I design sites for a living and am very familiar with the graphic atrocities wrought by this program when used by someone who understands less then nothing when it comes to knowing how to properly present information to an audience. The nightmare seen above,  known as
THE SLIDE, shows how "really" bad graphics permeate the highest echelons of the military with impunity, something I find somewhat discomforting because 1: I have absolutely no idea what the hell is going on here and 2: I shudder to think just how long it took the person to build this monster while being paid with our money to do it. 

Anyone who uses Power Point, Keynote or any other presentation app intended to create information graphics should be required to look at Apple or IBM design sets as a start point to learning how information should be packaged because, (I have seen this more often then thought possible), 10/12 helvetica light combined with 300+ words jammed on one slide with a dark grey background doesn't make it no matter how powerful an idea a presenter may have.



Houston, we have a problem...

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