Kannan Sundar,National Design Editor of The Hindu, talks about how his team worked together to produce the infographics of World Cup Javelin throw gold medalist Neeraj Chopra’s winning technique exclusively to tksajeev of www.newspaperdesign.in
What are the design elements used to make this infographic effective?
First sketch
Shape – The circular shape, which has been in vogue for quite some time now, was used to convey the projectile of Chopra’s throw effectively. This was complemented by illustrating the way Chopra’s body also arches in reverse to launch the javelin.
Information flow
Texture – The sports audience of The Hindu are a truly dedicated readership… they still remember graphics done 4-5 years back and write to us about it. It is a legacy and responsibility of sorts. So I used the same water colour treatment, which was used for earlier infographic spreads on sportsmen. This has kind of become our in-house style for sports spread infographics and is very successful.
Space: Space, which is the prime real-estate in newsprint, was used very effectively in this graphic. The newspaper dedicated this spread to celebrate Chopra’s athletic prowess and we went on to make the most of the space given to us.
Colour: Blue is such a memorable colour associated with Indian sports and blue is also the colour of Chopra’s jersey. I also felt that blue represented the sky, which is the limit for this unbeaten athlete. We also made the scatter plot on country-wise data in blue to enhance the visual appeal in the overall spread.
Final product
How do you use data visualisation to communicate information?
Sometimes I am surprised when people talk of infographics as some new-fangled invention that we are exploring. Humans are a visually driven species. 80% of our communication is based on visual cues.
We have cave paintings dating back 7,500 years old. As a species we are so visually attuned, that it would be a shame not to use visualizations for communication.
Newspapers are now using graphics extensively because technology has made page-making much more easier than before. We actually need to do more… because people read more visually. And newspapers must hack the visual gene more effectively to drive readership.
In this graphic, we used the scatter plot because it would effectively convey the chronology of Chopra’s throws and distance.
Information in this age of data mining is extensive and easily available. However, verifying that data, decoding it and choosing the correct graphic device for a data set remains a core journalistic skill.
What are some of the challenges faced in creating infographics?
Time, time, time… in a daily newspaper, it remains our biggest challenge even today. Followed by accuracy. If this were a magazine, we probably would have had atleast one week to create a graphic like this. But this was done in just two days. So time, and delivering graphic accuracy within the framework were our biggest challenges.
How does this graphic stay up-to-date on the latest design trends?
Yes, trends do add flair and some aesthetic appeal, but in my opinion…. a good designer always needs to strike balance between trends and timeless design principles.
Here we have used the resident water colour style for our sports graphic, with good use of space, shape and colour.
For me, getting the right mix of font sizes, layout, and design elements in tune with the theme of the graphic and its data is the key challenge.
Explain the discussions between the writers and the designers
Our work loop is very circular… We work together from the discussion stage to the final layout. Like any media project, even this simple 2D infographic is made of layers of effort from different domain experts.
My teammates need special mention: Srinivas Ramani, our luminary who sparked this graphic, Jonathan Selvraj for delivering this brilliant and delightful story, Vasudevan Mukunth for breaking down all the science behind Chopra’s biomechanics; and Vignesh Radhakrishnan, the brain behind all our data.
I really need to thank our Editor Suresh Nambath and the editorial team here for the fantastic support they give us when making a spread. Given all the constraints in a daily newspaper for time, space and staff, our editors always support and cheer us when we do good work like this.