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1 Infographics: An introduction Dr. Jennifer Ferreira Centre for Business in Society Coventry University August 2014

Infographics Introduction

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A short guide to infographics and how to make them.

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    Infographics: An introduction Dr. Jennifer Ferreira

    Centre for Business in Society Coventry University

    August 2014

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    Infographics: An Introduction

    Contents Infographics: An Introduction .......................................................................................... 2

    Introduction .................................................................................................................... 3 What are Infographics? ................................................................................................. 3 The Tools: software options for making infographics .............................................. 5

    Tableau ....................................................................................................................... 5 Online Infographic Platforms ................................................................................... 8

    Creating infographics ................................................................................................. 10 10 Top Tips for Creating Infographics .................................................................. 13

    A Short Guide to using Inkscape and Publisher ...................................................... 14 Inkscape .................................................................................................................... 16 Editing Icons and Images in Inkscape ................................................................... 16 Microsoft Publisher .................................................................................................. 18

    Books and Websites .................................................................................................... 21 Summary ....................................................................................................................... 24 References .................................................................................................................... 25

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    Introduction

    If youve read a newspaper or blog, flipped through a magazine, or used social media recently, youve likely come across infographics those self-contained pictorials that tell you the gist of the story or concept at a glance (Smiciklas, 2012).

    The use of infographics and other data visualizations have become increasingly popular in the mainstream media as well as blogs, personal websites and social media. They can be a useful mechanism to display information in visual manner. There are many different ways you can create these images, some of which use specialist software while others make more creative use of software you may already frequently use. This introductory guide provides an overview of the different ways which infographics can be produced, some tips for creating infographics, as well as a short guide to producing simple infographics using Inkscape and Microsoft Publisher.

    What are Infographics?

    An infographic is defined as a visualization of data or ideas that tries to convey complex information to an audience in a manner than can be quickly consumed and easily understood (Smiciklas, 2012).

    Infographics are essentially visual representations of information. They are used to tell stories, convey ideas or explore issues through a range of different graphics. Infographics are now widely used in mainstream media to increase a readers understanding of a particular topic or issue. Alongside the traditional media such as newspapers and magazines you will also find infographics in many digital publishing channels and increasingly they are being produced by a range of public and private sector institutions as part of publications strategies (the example shown here is from the Office for National Statistics).

    Source: ONS (2013)

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    While it might appear that infographics are a recent phenomenon that have developed alongside the internet the reality is that we have been using icons, graphics, and pictures throughout history to tell stories and share information. This can be seen in Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, or Leonardo Da Vincis illustrations of the human anatomy in the 16th century.

    In Geography, data visualization is certainly not a new concept and the rise of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has been a key driver for the growth of more visual representations of data. However, the modern form of infographics as a particular form of data visualization could be considered a more recent concept. Since around 2009 there has been a rise in the use of the term 'infographic' to describe visualizations that use various graphics to display data and other ideas. A quick look at a Google trends report shows how rapidly the rise in the interest of the world infographic has taken place.

    Infographics can be useful to disseminate information from research in a more visual manner than traditional publication methods. There are no rules for creating infographics, they can be as large or as small as you want them to be and they can include as much or as little information as you wish (as seen in the two examples shown on the next page).

    Google Trends: Infographic Source: Google Trends (2014)

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    The Tools: software options for making infographics There are a range of different software options for making infographics and other data visualizations, some use software you may already by familiar with, some are freely available online platforms (with a paid subscription to access additional features), and others are software packages which need to be purchased. I will explore some of these options before providing a more each detailed explanation of how to use Inkscape and Microsoft Publisher to create infographics later in this document.

    Tableau Tableau: http://www.tableausoftware.com/public/ You may already by familiar with the data visualizations produced by the Tableau software as it is frequently used in publications such as the Guardian, the Wall Street Journal and the Economist. Tableau is a piece of software which allows you to produce a range of data visualizations and create dashboards' of information (which can be interactive), like those shown on the next page.

    Source: XKCD: http://xkcd.com/1071

    Source: DfID (2013) http://www.flickr.com/photos/dfid/11238612796/sizes/o/

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    There are two versions of the desktop software, the personal edition ($999) and a professional edition ($1,999). However, there is also a free public version which allows you to use the software with all the files you create saved on the Tableau public website. This means if there was anything you did not wish to share immediately this platform would not be suitable.

    Source: New Scientist (2011)

    Source: Guardian (2011)

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    For many academics the use of Tableau may go beyond simply producing graphs, charts and maps for infographics but may be a useful tool for data visualization more broadly. For those involved in teaching , there is a Tableau for teachers program which allows the use of the software for free for the teacher and the students: http://www.tableausoftware.com/academic/teaching Tableau also have a number of White Papers on different aspects of data visualization, including:

    'Data Storytelling: Using visualization to share the human impact of numbers': which explains that 'stories take advantage of human cognition. They build connections and context around facts in order to make them memorable' (2013:p.3). This uses examples from Tableau to show how stories can be presented using their software, but more broadly highlights the importance of developing a story or key message with your visualization. It also shows that data visualization is not a new concept and was in fact used by Dr John Snow in 19th century London with his research on the spread of cholera.

    'Visual Analysis Best Practices: Simple Techniques for Making Every Data

    Visualization Useful and Beautiful': which provides a good overview of what makes visualizations effective in terms of the types of charts used, ways to emphasize importance data, and designing dashboards in the Tableau software. In terms of design this document contains a lot of useful tips, for example the types of fonts or colours to use and how to label them effectively. It also includes a helpful list of questions to ask yourself when you've completed a visualization which are useful for evaluating your own work before publishing it:

    Does this visualization answer all of your questions? Is the purpose of the visualization clearly explained in its title or

    surrounding text? Can you understand the visualization in 30 second or less, without

    additional information? Source: Tableau (2013)

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    These are just some of the questions you might want to ask when you've produced a visualization, and the questions may alter depending on the purpose of the the infographic you are producing. For those involved in university admissions or promotion of your department the White Paper '8 Ways Universities are making an Impact with Data' may also be useful. These and other White Papers including a special report from the Economist Intelligence Unit and Tableau on 'Fostering a Data-Driven Culture' are available to download from the Tableau website: http://www.tableausoftware.com/learn/whitepapers

    Online Infographic Platforms The number of online platforms to create infographics continues to increase, with many offering similar features. It is important to note that with many of these online platforms which allow you to create infographics for free, it is often the case, as with Tableau Public, that your infographic will automatically be shared on their website. If you wish to make an infographic that remains private for a period of time then you should perhaps explore the paid options with the platform of your choice, or explore the Inkscape/Publisher option which I will explain later in this document. However, given the nature of many infographics is to raise awareness of an issue, research project, or idea then sharing it in another location is only going to raise your impact further, so this might not be an issue. The platforms included here represent some of the more widely used, but a quick search on Google for infographic websites will produce a whole host of different ways to start creating graphic designs that can be used as infographics - three are introduced here.

    Infogram http://infogr.am Infogram is a free visualization tool with six templates and colour schemes to choose from which each vary in colour, font and style. With this platform it is possible to upload images, maps and text to include in the infographic. There is

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    also the option to upgrade to a premium account where there is more functionality related to adding images, and changing styles.

    Piktochart http://piktochart.com/ Piktochart is another free visualization tool with an optional premium version. The free version provides a series of templates which can be altered, and various elements changed to suit the authors requirements. This platform has more functionality in terms of customisation of the format as well as uploading and editing data, providing different icons, and the positioning of infographic elements.

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    Easelly http://www.easel.ly/blog/ Easelly, another infographic generator offers 15 templates for infographics as well as the ability to create your own. It is also possible to import various types of objects and icons to customize you infographic. For those who already use the presentation creation platform Prezi, the format used by Easelly may seem familiar.

    Most of these infographic generator platforms are easy to use and may be able to provide you with enough customization to produce the kind of infographics that you need. For those who are more creative, or would like to do more with infographics, then the free versions of these platforms may feel restrictive, in which case creating your own infographics from scratch might be a better option.

    Creating infographics This next section provides some tips for creating infographics whether you decide to use an online design tool or standalone design software. Infographics are created for different purposes, for some companies they are produced as a marketing tool, for some NGOs they are used to raise awareness of an issue, for academics they might be used to introduce a research project, to highlight some research findings or simply to start sharing ideas about a topic. Whatever the purpose of the infographic these are some things to consider.

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    Make the theme, story or message clear Infographics need to have a clear theme, story or message. It is important to

    think about what the purpose of your infographic is and what you want to showcase before you start your design.

    It is a good idea to story board your idea before you start creating anything digitally. This helps draw out your ideas and begin to think about how they might fit together in an infographic. Sometimes an idea that might seem clear in a written paper or report might take a lot of work to display visually, and it is much easier to just sketch out rough ideas on paper than in a digital format.

    The storyboard doesn't have to be detailed - an example of a draft sketch I created for the infographic I created for the RGS-IBG 2014 conference next to the finished result is an example.

    Infographic Sketch and Final Result

    Source: Author

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    Consider your audience As with any type of publication it is important to consider your audience. Think about the big ideas that you are trying to display with your infographic and how best to visualize this. Tailor the infographic to the audience and where you are going to publish it. What symbols will be instantly recognisable for your topic? If you are presenting research findings are there terms or concepts that will need explaining? Make it visually appealing This might seem obvious but it is nevertheless fundamental to the production of a successful infographic.

    Use graphs, maps and data to support your main ideas.

    If the infographic looks too complex, remove one or two of the ideas and focus on those that remain.

    If there are several ideas that need to be displayed segment the infographic the break the information down into manageable chunks.

    Consider the Size Infographics vary significantly in size so you need to consider what will work best for you depending on how much content you need to display and where you are likely to publish it. For online infographics the longer versions sometimes work very well. An example is shown here of an infographic I produced while working at the Royal Geographical Society which has a lot of different types of information all related to the theme of megacities. It is an example of a much longer infographic which is suitable for viewing on a website, but works less effectively in print as it would take several pages. Consider simplicity There is a temptation to try and include a lot of information in an infographic but sometimes the best infographics are the simple ones. If you have a lot of information to present

    Source: RGS (2014)

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    consider keeping the design as simple as possible (with limited fonts or colours), or create a series of infographics. Don't worry if there is space on your infographic - you dont have to fill every part of it, it is more important that there is a clear focus to the infographic and a flow between the different elements of information. Use your data effectively Whether it is qualitative or quantitative you can use infographics to showcase your data. Try and consider more novel ways of presenting different aspects of your data. Are there more visual ways that statistics can be presented rather than in a table? Can you use a map to display information? Are there icons that you could use represent some of the data? Consider the impact Most infographics are designed to be shared. Nearly all the online infographic generators will provide an embed code for you to embed the infographic in other websites, or links to tweet it or share it on other social media. If your infographic is designed to be shared online then this should be taken into consideration in the design stage - a much longer infographic will be less effective on Twitter than it would on a website or blog. There are no rules for making infographics and there is no set formula for a successful infographic as it will depend on the content, purpose and design of the infographic. As you begin to make infographics you will develop your own style, you will realise the kind of designs that you like and are happy to work with, and others that you don't. If you are new to making infographics start with something small and simple and over time add in more features and design idea as you develop your skills.

    10 Top Tips for Creating Infographics 1) Sketch out a draft storyboard on paper before creating your digital design. 2) Be clear - have a title that is likely to 'grab' your audience. 3) Be concise - restrict the amount of ideas you are going to include. 4) Try to use differentgraphics to tell your story. 5) Limit your colour palette to keep the design simple.

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    6) Limit the amount of font styles used. 7) Try not to use too much text. 8) Only use data relevant to your infographic 9) Use simple graphics and icons that relate to your data 10) If you have a lot of information to convey consider breaking the infographic

    into sections.

    A Short Guide to using Inkscape and Publisher Having introduced some of the online infographic design platforms as well as some ideas to consider when creating infographics, this next section turns to explore the use of Inkscape and Microsoft Publisher to produce infographics. These are not the only software options open to you and any equivalent document design software and image editing software (such as Adobe Illustrator) should produce similar results. The way infographics are designed will vary from person to person. In many infographics the use of icons and images to display information is common. You do not need to design the icons yourself, there are several places you can visit to find a range of different icons and images that are suitable: The Noun Project: http://thenounproject.com/

    A good place to source icons to use in infographics is a website called the Noun Project. You will need to register with the noun project and then you can download file packages which include a version which you can then tailor to your needs in Inkscape (an .svg file). You can choose to subscribe to the Noun Project with a series of options depending on how much you want to use them (a personal account which gives you 10 icon licenses a month is $10 a month), or you can still download the without any costs but you need to credit the designer of the icons, except where they are freely available in

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    the public domain. If you are likely to become a regular user of this type of images, a subscription would be a good investment.

    Canva https://www.canva.com/

    Canva is a little different from the other infographic generator platforms mentioned earlier in this document, as it focuses more on creating graphics to be used within infographics, or graphics for other purposes such as a poster or presentation and so would be more useful for generating elements of your infographic.

    Wikimedia Commons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

    This is a repository of a range of media files which are freely available. This is particularly useful for blank outline maps in svg. format which can then be edited in Inkscape.

    Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/

    Flickr is a photo hosting website but there is the option to search for images which can be used under the Creative Commons license. If you wish to use photographs to include in your infographic but don't have any suitable from your own collections this could be a good place to start.

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    Inkscape http://www.inkscape.org/en/ When I have mentioned to people that I used Microsoft Publisher and Inkscape to make infographics the usual reaction is that they can use Publisher but have no idea that Inkscape even exists and find it daunting to think about learning to use it. The good news is that Inkscape is not complicated to use if you know what you are trying to do with it. The other good news is that Inkscape is open source software and so it is free to download. Inkscape is a vector editor, this means it can edit images without losing as much quality as would do it you were editing a other bitmap graphics such as jpeg .gif or .png. The files you will be editing in Inkscape are .svg (which stand for Scalable Vector Graphics). Once you've finished editing an image you can export it as a bitmap file which can then use in your infographic (or any other document).

    Editing Icons and Images in Inkscape There are three key functions you will need to be able to edit icons and graphics in Inkscape:

    Editing Colours Removing the background Exporting the image

    After you have downloaded a suitable icon in an .svg format from somewhere like the Noun Project open up the file in Inkscape and you should have a screen that looks like this. Hold down the Ctrl & A keys to select all of the icon objects, and then to change the colour of the icon to suit the theme of your infographic by selecting one of the

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    colours on the bar at the bottom of the screen (you can continue to scroll along to find the colour you need). If you need a specific colour, for example to use a university colour and you have the Pantone or RGB number for those colours it's easy to change it to one of these colours too. Double click here and you will open up a window with more colour controls.

    Here I have changed the colour using the RGB numbers (0/170/155) to give this turquoise colour. You probably won't need to worry about this kind of detail unless you are dealing with infographics that need to conform to any branding guidelines.

    So either by clicking on the colours at the bottom of the screen or entering specific colour details in the 'Fill and Stroke' panel you can now change the colour of the icons. Next you will need to remove the background to the icon so that it can be used on infographics which have a different background colour. At the top select 'Path' and then 'Trace Bitmap' and then tick the 'Remove Background' box. Once you've done this close the 'Trace Bitmap' box and you now have a graphic ready to export. To do this select 'File' and 'Export Bitmap'

    ?

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    Once the Export Bitmap window is open you have the option of changing the size of file you export. I would recommend you change the size to at least 800 pixels in width and height otherwise they may appear blurred if they are enlarged in the infographic. Select the area you wish to export the graphic to by clicking on the browse button and then click export. The file will now be saved in that location and is ready to use in the infographic. If you wish to edit a map in Inkscape, for example to highlight a series of countries. All you need to do is find an .svg file version of the map (for example from Wikimedia Commons).

    Then you need to click the fill tool indicated here, and then select the colour you wish to use and then the area of the map you wish to colour, as I have done here with Florida. You then follow the same steps to export your image ready for the infographic. You can also remove the background in the same way.

    There are of course at lot more advanced things you can do with Inkscape with various different graphics but it is these functions that I most commonly use and help build some of the fundamental parts of the infographics that I have created.

    Microsoft Publisher If you have not used Publisher before the commands are similar to those you will more than likely have used in other Microsoft software such as Word or PowerPoint. If take a look at the example of the infographic I created for the RGS-IBG 2014 Conference you can see the different elements that are included.

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    Don't be put off by the amount of different boxes, this was all relatively simple to put together. Each of the maps were created in Inkscape, the graph was created in Excel ensuring that the colours matched the scheme of the infographic and the text boxes were created as they would be in any other document (again ensuring the colour scheme matched).

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    Then other elements I added were: The dotted Lines to act as section dividers: Insert>Shape>Line followed by Right click>Format Autoshape - this allows you to make the line dotted and change the colour. Then to make the other images related to countries it was just a case of moving icons created through Inkscape into the correct pattern and then grouping them together to make one image (Select the items you wish to group>Right Click>Grouping>Group).

    For the countries with text inside them all that needs to be done is for the text to be changed to white and placed over the top of one of the country icons generated through Inkscape.

    The rest is left to creativity, or at least playing around the ideas you have until you find the layout you want. This example includes some of the simple ways of putting an infographic together. There are much more creative examples (and more complicated ones) which can be found in the list of books and website listed in the next section. For an infographic this had quite a lot of text. You might want to do something with much less text for example, this A to Z of Economic Geography.

    + =

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    Books and Websites There is a rapidly increasing variety of books around the topic of infographics and data visualizations but the following are good places to start:

    Cool Infographics: Effective Communication with Data Visualization and Design, 2013, Randy Krum

    This a great source for inspiration of different types of infographics. In this book the author explains why infographics and data visualizations can be effective, and examines the different tools and techniques to make them. The author is founder of InfoNewt a company which specialises in visualizing business intelligence and author of the blog: http://www.coolinfographics.com/

    Infographics for Dummies, 2014, Justin Beegel

    The author is a founder of Infographic World, a New York City based infographic agency, and this book provides advice on all aspects of creating infographics with a lot of step-by-step instructions.

    The Power of Infographics: Using Pictures to Communicate and Connect with Your Audiences,

    2012, Mark Smickilas

    If you are completely new to making infographics this is a good starting point, much like the previous too this provides a lot of advice about what to include (and what not to include) to create effective infographics. In particular the sections on 'Visualizing how things work and are connected'

    'Visualizing, who, when and where, and 'Visualizing

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    numbers and concepts provide lots of examples to illustrate the different ways different data types can be visualized.

    Visualize This: The Flowing Data Guide to Design, Visualization and Statistics, 2011, Nathan Yau

    Data Points: Visualization That Means Something, 2013, Nathan Yau

    The first book has a lot of data design tips. The author provides step by step tutorials to show how to visualize and tell stories with data, as well as practical design tips for creating statistical graphics, geographical maps, and information design. The second book then e essentially acts as a companion

    to Visualize This taking a closer look at a wider variety of visualizations. It explores the use of statistical charts, maps, and the art of data graphics. The author uses examples from art, design, business, statistics, cartography, and online media.

    Infographics: The Power of Visual Storytelling, 2012, Jason Lankow, Josh Ritchie and Ross Crooks.

    This book focuses less on the way you visualize data but more on the way visualizations and infographics can be used to communicate messages, and particularly how you can use these to market ideas, objects or processes. Discover how to unlock interesting stories (in previously buried or boring data) and turn them into visual communications that will help build brands and increase sales Use the power of visual content to communicate with and engage your audience, capture attention, and expand your market.

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    Infographica: The World As you Have Never Seen It Before, 2012 Martin Toseland

    A fun introduction to infographics and would be useful to gain ideas about the different ways to approach creating infographics. This is not an academic text and does include some bizarre infographics from the worlds hottest chillies to the countries with the most McDonalds Restaurants but it still provides a lot of good ideas for visualising different topics.

    Information is Beautiful, 2012, David McCandless

    Described as A visual guide to how the world really works, through stunning infographics and data visualization. If you are looking for inspiration about how to visualize data then this would be a good place to start. This book provides infographics on a wide range of topics aiming to making information meaningful, entertaining and beautiful. As with many of the books on this list they are good starting point or reference guide to see the different ways in

    which people have developed their infographics.

    These are just a few examples of the growing range of books on infographics.

    If you are interested in receiving further training on data visualization and the use of infographics there are courses run by the Guardian including, Data Visualization for Researchers and Visualization with Motion Graphics http://www.theguardian.com/guardian-masterclasses/data-visualisation-courses

    Before you start making your own infographics you might want to have a look through some of the websites to gather ideas. Good places to start are the websites of the Infographic online generator platforms such as Infogram mentioned earlier in this document.

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    Other useful websites include:

    A Daily Infographic http://dailyinfographic.com/ The Office for National Statistics Infographic Guidelines:

    http://theidpblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/infographic-guidelines-v1-0.pdf

    Cool Infographics: http://www.coolinfographics.com/ Visualizing.org: http://www.visualizing.org/

    Summary This document has provided an introduction to the world of infographics with some ideas for platforms where they can be created, some hints and tips for their design, as well as some guidance for using Inkscape and Microsoft Publisher to create your own infographics. I hope you have found it useful. An electronic copy of this report is available from: www.eternalexploration.wordpress.com If you have any questions about what I have written in this document or about infographics more generally then you can contact me:

    [email protected] @jennywrenwatts

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    References Google (2014) Google Trends. Available at: http://www.google.com/trends/explore?hl=en-US#q=infographic

    Guardian (2011) Data Blog: Crime in America: Get the data for your town, Guardian, 30 September 2011. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/interactive/2011/sep/30/crime-map-us-data?guni=Article:in%20body%20link Mackinlay, J. Kosara, R. and Wallace, M. (2013) Data Storytelling: Using visualization to share the human impact of numbers. Tableau White Paper. Available at: http://www.tableausoftware.com/learn/whitepapers

    New Scientist (2011) Interactive graphic: Japan's deadly seismic history, New Scientist, 14 March 2011. Available at: http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2011/03/interactive-graphic-japans-dea.html ONS (2013) Infographic: Labour Market Summary 2013, Office for National Statistics. Available at: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/infographics/labour-market-summary-feb-2013/index.html

    Royal Geographical Society with IBG (2014) Discovering Megacities. Royal Geographical Society. Available at: http://www.rgs.org/OurWork/Schools/Teaching+resources/Key+Stage+3+resources/Global+Learning+Programme/Discovering+megacities.htm

    Smiciklas, M. (2012) The Power of Infographics: Using Pictures to Communicate and Connect with your Audiences, Indianapolis: QUE.

    Tableau (2013) Visual Analysis Best Practices: Simple Techniques for Making Data Visualization Useful and Beautiful, Tableau White Paper. Available at: http://www.tableausoftware.com/learn/whitepapers