In my experiences with design, the main emphasis hasn’t been on pretty, flashy colors or crazy graphics. In J-Graph, if your work doesn’t tell a story, tell it well and tell it quickly, then it’s not as good as it could be. Functionality, in my world, tops flash. That’s why you don’t see very many 3d multicolor chartoons or extravagent maps in newspapers very often, if at all – it just doesn’t work as well (my apologies to USA Today for being the exception).
How does this apply now, in a world where I’m not detailing the number of jobs cut by Company X over the past 50 years, but rather coming up with plans to attract and maintain churchgoers, and also keep them up to date on the latest information about the church’s activities? This is a strange new world, and I don’t think it has much difference in methodology, but how I apply training into the newer realm.
A church bulletin is not a newspaper, and should not be treated as such. However, there are scientifically proven methods that people use when they read for information. They scan, look at dominant images and read headlines. Granted, I’m not sure how much of a difference is made when the main story is about the size of a twitter post, but the principle remains the same – if you want people to get something, make sure they can’t miss it.
This is only day two, and my first day of really looking at stuff beyond just “welcome to internshipland”. I can already tell that this is going to be a fun little push in the right direction for me.
Oh, and those that doubt the power of infographics need only watch this.
http://www.vimeo.com/3514904
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