I’m teaching infographics this spring. I’ll probably say quite a bit about it in the months to come, starting…. Now.
Background (the boring stuff)
I teach a senior-level preservation planning lab every spring. It’s a wide-open course: as long as it builds on what students have already learned, and teaches them useful skills, it can be pretty much anything. Since arriving at UMW, I’ve tried to alternate local projects with more experimental stuff. So for instance last year my students developed a bike/ped plan for Fredericksburg. Two years before that it was a preservation plan for campus. While those projects can be very inspiring, I don’t want to get burnt out on local issues. The “off years” allow me to go a bit further, and be more creative in what we cover. So for instance two years ago my students developed a board game: Plunked! The time has come again for an “off year”. This time around, I’ve chosen infographics as the topic.
Infographics because reasons
There’s lots that could be part of a preservation planning course, so you may wonder why I chose infographics. They are certainly all the buzz right now. You’d be forgiven if you thought I’m just being faddish. But no, I think infographics are actually relevant, and moreover could be applied whatever my students end up doing after college. I often tell my students: “learn to do something your bosses don’t know how to do themselves, and you become magical. Once you’re magical, you’re indispensable.” I experienced this myself, and have seen it again and again. Lots of people don’t know how to make a website, or a brochure, or a chart that looks nice. So learning infographics and their components could become the magic trick that launches a career. Sounds like a worthwhile thing to me.
Marge: I can give piano lessons
Lisa: But you can’t play the piano
Marge: I just have to stay one class ahead of the kid!
One step ahead
The reality is that while I’m an avid consumer of infographics, I don’t have any special knowledge in data viz. I’ve read Tufte, sure, I’ve marveled at Minard’s map, but I’m just an amateur. Until a month ago, I’d never really made an infographic. That doesn’t mean I don’t think I’m qualified to teach the course. I feel like I have what it takes, for a few reasons:
– I’m interested in the topic
– I believe the topic is relevant and useful (see above)
– I’m willing to take the time and effort to learn
That last part is the key. Yes, I had read some on the topic before choosing it for my course, but last fall I went on a tear. I read a bunch of books and articles, looked at infographics and websites about infographics every day to get a better idea of what’s out there and what people think about it. And then, I learned to do what I’m expecting my students to learn. I made an infographic from scratch.
I chose my syllabus as my guinea-pig-experiment-thing. Right off the bat I had to make lots of design decisions: width/orientation of the graphic, color scheme, level of snark, etc. Then I worked out which apps to use. Although I often use InDesign and other Adobe products, I wanted to see if I could do this entirely with cheap/free apps. So I chose the iWork suite. After that, it was just tweaking and more tweaking and even more tweaking. I like the result. It fits in my website and is straightforward. Not very colorful or detailed, but I like the minimalist approach myself. Anyway, I’m sure the students will quickly find their own style and leave me in the dust in terms of creativity, but the process was the point here, not the result. It’s actually quite thrilling to be a student as well as a teacher in this course. Whatever my students produce, I will learn too. Can’t wait.