Visualising Investment Cycle
#Infographic #DataVisualisation #VisualCommunication
Overview
An infographic visualising the entire investment cycle for a certain government project (identity is concealed by NDA). This infographic was entirely done by me with occasional feedback from my reporting manager while I worked at Gravity iLabs Pvt. Ltd. as their in-house Sr. Visual Designer.
Certain precincts were to be developed and our client was responsible for overseeing the entire process. The process involved co-ordination with a lot of stakeholders with different roles and responsibilities. Furthermore, the investment cycle wasn't definite and there were a lot of unknowns in the way. Both, me and the client gained clarity as and how we progressed with visualising what we couldn't completely conceptualise in the beginning - the entire investment cycle with all it's complexity and dynamism.
How did the infographic help?
With so many stakeholders, activities and unknowns, the biggest challenge our client faced was gaining clarity and effectively communicating with the team to lead it's operations.
This infographic served as the proverbial "same page" that everyone could be on. Visually mapping the entire process with a participatory approach not only simplified it's complexity to a great extent, it also helped our client to gain clarity and communicate effectively with the stake holders, track progress and ensure smooth operations throughout the cycle.
The Process
Data Gathering
This involved talking to the client, reading from a lot of data and then presenting the synthesis in a visual form. It was a heavily participatory and iterative process. The most important part of this step was to ask the right questions.
Info-model
The info-model or the information architecture refers to the granularity and hierarchy of information. At this stage, we make sure that the relevant chunks of information are grouped together in a hierarchy that reflects the narrative.
The Info-model serves as a check point for the narrative and that no important information is missed out before the actual illustration work begins. It is the foundation of the infographic.
Metaphor Elicitation
Metaphors are extremely powerful means of communicating a lot of information implicitly. Eliciting the correct metaphor can help a great deal with understanding the client's (and audience's) mental model about - how they view the entire topic in discussion.
Visual Design
Considering our audience, the visual feel was kept 'modern', 'crisp' and 'to the point'. Another consideration during this phase was to maintain the visual hierarchy throughout the infographic. Many a times, the spatial arrangement depending on the visual metaphor is not in accordance with the linear narrative that the clients often need to present to a team. It is particularly challenging to weave the visual narrative such that it compliments the sequential presentation.
