Cutaway Illustrations
One technique for illustrating an infographic is a cutaway view. I favor this technique since information is rarely what is visible on the surface. Take a common inkjet printer. One way to show what’s beneath is by making the outer case transparent. You can now see the printer cartridges sitting in a receptacle module or bay.
A cutaway view does not automatically
reveal information
To achieve an informative view requires context. While users may consider price, some of the lower cost printers will end up costing more than medium priced printers due to consumables. Cost per page would include such context if you were really shopping for the best value, not just the cheapest price for the printer. Cutaways actually showing how business adds value are not always easy or obvious. Unless a cutaway reveals something about human contexts and decisions, information value is doubtful. Just looking into an object does not automatically inform.
Information Counts In Decisionmaking
Most diagrams have little information value. A roofing contractor can show a diagram of the parts of the roofing system they sell. The user looks it over, assumes all roofers do roughly the same thing, and moves on to another site to get a lower price. Although such generic diagrams claim to be information, a better case can be made they are irrelevant trivia. The infographic version would be titled “The Most Expensive Roof Starts Cheap” This would work within the context of showing competitive advantage by explaining lowest price doesn’t mean best value. The context of potential customers is served by explaining how to avoid a costly mistake.
Expensive Roofing Starts Cheap
1.Poorly sealed. 2.Membrane damage.
3.Improper seams. 4.Shingles not chisel
edged, causing water to travel beneath.
5. Any of six other top ten mistakes
Almost every business person has been called in to fix the work of competitors who cut costs on materials and shortcut workmanship in order to bid low. There may be five, ten or more factors differentiating the cheap job from the one which represents value for your industry type. Hardly anyone makes all the mistakes but could make several of the top ten. Often this information goes missing on a site, creating an opportunity if your business addresses the issue. Value can only exist at the intersection of information and price. Price alone becomes the sole determining factor when the user can’t get the information to choose otherwise. I’ve talked to business people for less than five minutes and found ideas for how the business adds value which was never mentioned on the site. If you don’t communicate the value the business brings to the table, don’t expect the web site visitor to consider it.
For information to be present the graphic should at least have the potential to play an active role in decisionmaking. There is a sort of polite fiction (don’t ask, don’t tell) where information just happens. As a result every site can do a better job of considering just how graphics might factor into a customer’s decision to buy.
Resources
- The Triggerpack site uses Flash animation to explain how their unique CD jewel case works, finding the product is the best subject matter.
- The Gould pump diagram lacks the context for information. Surround Air ionizers shows what an infographic cutaway view would look like. Both are cutaway illustrations. One talks about the product as if explaining it to potential customers.
- You are in the market for a printer and know how expensive ink is. What is information for you? It might look a little like continuous ink systems. That which changes economic relationships would qualify; if information in practice is to live up to its reputation.