Infographics and Design for Better Government

I was surfing the web today and learned of a non-profit, non-partisan organization called Sunlight Labs that works to digitize (US) government information. This righteous community has its feet planted on the grounds that government should be transparent, accessible, and easy to understand for people like you and me. A big chunk of their work involves design, and it just so happens that this week they’ve announced the winners of a contest called “Design for America,” a call to members of the art and design communities to visualize new ways for the government to serve its people.

One of the greatest tasks a designer must confront is how to make people understand concepts visually. There are few things more compelling than a real-life example of how a government website can be optimized to actually inform people. This proposal for IRS.gov impressed me (check it out here) because, apart from being straightforward, informative and visually compelling, it would also get me excited about paying my taxes! As a sole proprietor and expatriate of sorts, I’m always struck speechless by bureaucracy, so this and other breaths of fresh air that can be found in the form of infographics on the Sunlight Labs winner’s page are worth a good long look.

So what are infographics, anyway? Well, according to a little Wiki research, information graphics are graphic representations of information, data, or knowledge executed in a way that makes complex information easy to understand quickly. A picture’s worth a thousand words, so here are some more examples of infographics that will inform and inspire:

InfoGraphic Designs: Overview, Examples and Best Practices

An article that outlines the history, function, and types of infographics that exist alongside some interesting examples.

50 Great Examples of Infographics

Francesco Mugnai shares a long list of infographics of all kinds and sizes.

40 Useful and Creative Infographics

Six Revisions gives us 40 more where that came from.

Periodic table of Visualization Methods

An interesting explanation of different types of infographics in the form of a periodic table.

Infographics News

A curious blog that features infographics news and examples from around the world.