Infographics and the journey of graphic design, from printing bibles to the popularised use of emojis.

Alvin Toffler, an American writer and a futurist, introduced the phenomenon ‘information overload’ in his book, Future Shock. Fast forward to today, his famous phrase represents the overwhelming mass of data we receive nowadays from our environment, society and devices we are surrounded by.

Information defined as a collection of raw input in forms of text, images or numbers that designers select, process, structured, and refined in order to make the information intriguing and accessible for the audience to use. Hence, design plays an enormous role in overcoming information overload.

Design is not a mere decoration to beautify words, figures,  and pictures, but the discipline also serves a greater purpose in communicating ideas by organising these elements to deliver context encompassed cleverly, yet maintaining the aesthetic aspect of it and enhance a reader’s concentration and engagement level in gathering knowledge and being inspired.

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We have reached the digital age as the world had advanced and transitioned their focus to the future, the modern world of electronics and technology, communication design was not an exception. Five centuries ago, there is a rapid rapid development in the printing industry, which shifted individual hand-written manuscripts to mass-produced books. Like a butterfly effect, this factor had contributed a significant transformation in the printing and publishing businesses, especially when steam-powered machines emerged which affected the distribution and buying habits at that time.

The twentieth century was marked as a momentous point in the communication design history. This special period of time ranged from a high demand of propaganda posters and daily packagings, the term ‘graphic designer’ was announced by for the first time, design organisations and institutions started to emerged after the war, the use of Macintosh as an appropriate design medium, to finally, the birth of internet. This evolution of digital type and images posed as a double-edged sword, which affects design thinking and execution.

Its influence disseminated within the broad scope of design disciplines. Presently, social medias and smartphones have been essential in daily occurrence, hence there is a emergence of a new language using expressive pictorals, called emojis. Wayfinding, a practice that operates space, now can have efficient screen-based platforms. In data visualisation and infographics, information now can be designed to be interactive, animated, and customisable. With the rise of artificial intelligence, comes the resurgence of  fine craft and hand-making that value originality, individuality, and personality.

Even-though graphic design has fluctuated along the years, one factor that remained constant is creativity. Although it is impossible to deny the presence of technology and digitalisation in our community nowadays, we start to build a community based on this analog interest and expertise, especially by the younger generation. For many decades digital visual communication has dominated the market and reached a major time-based point, where human beings tend to stop, check the rear-view mirror, and look back. There is no black or white in using design mediums, whether utilising machines or a pair of hands. Some designers prefer to apply both approaches and have all the tools he needed to create. In my opinion, good design comes from good minds, ethically and practically. It is critical for us to know how to harmonise our tools wisely and coherently to communicate the right message with the right approach.