Purpose
The following design was created as part of the project for an organization named Tech Crowd. The purpose of the project is to create a static infographic that will be included in the “Technology and Culture” section of Tech Crowd magazine. The intent of the infographic created for Tech Crowd magazine is to be visually appealing, cater to and entertain the target audience, inform and educate the target audience, and to visually show facts with illustrations, charts, and graphs. The data set that has been chosen to focus the infographic on is the distributions centered around “Who Uses Social Media – Use of Online Platforms Based on Demographic Groups”. This data set is the most intriguing because it is interesting to see the correlations and relationships between age, gender, income, and education in regard to social media. The data set includes distributions that span a period of 9 years, from 2012 to 2021. According to CNET, 2012 was a year that social media started becoming mainstream as it was a part of an everyday life for most people and many social media platforms became very popular. Seeing the linear growth of social media users in the United States makes for a very interesting story. By aggregating and filtering the data, data visualizations were created to tell a story to the target audience. The intended target audience is tech savvy, business and culturally driven individuals who are readers of Tech Crowd Magazine and aged 28 to 45 years old. Men and Women would both enjoy this lifestyle tech magazine.
Design Rationale
Utilizing Tech Crowd’s Brand Style Guide, the infographic design is branded appropriately by incorporating the provided approved typography, colors, logos, and other design specifications. The tree map introduces the target audience to the story. The patterns and trends start the story and are easy to digest. The chart shows that there were fewer users in 2012 using social media in the US and that with each year the percentage grew. The last block for 2021 is larger than the others which shows it having the largest percentage. The blocks are easy for the target audience to depict size and see the percentages as parts of a whole. The slope chart depicts the age brackets and the relationships between them. The slope chart also depicts the before and after. The audience can see that the younger age bracket has the highest percentage of users and had a linear trend. The other age brackets also show linear trends. This helps to show the progression of the trends over time. The target audience can also quickly see that the older age bracket had fewer users to begin with and end with from the data set. The combo chart takes an in-depth look at the correlations between Income and Education. The target audience can see that the lower income bracket correlates with the progression of the lowest education bracket. The clustered columns allow the viewer to see trends, patterns, relationships, and gaps within the income brackets and how they relate to the education brackets. The column chart and the line graph are easy for viewers to read and comprehend because they are commonly used charts and placing them together makes them more sophisticated. The radar chart shows the trend of the Black and Hispanic brackets having more users in 2021 and how each bracket trends throughout the years. The colors help differentiate the brackets and are visual markers for each bracket. The viewer can quickly see how they relate to each other and make new discoveries. The images help to tell the story because it deals with technology and a user using the technology for social media. The image also includes a chart which ties in perfectly with the other data visualizations. This project shows skills in layout and publication design and designing with data.
