Effective visual communication.

Information graphics is a relatively general term that refers to a kind of graphic image that is intended to convey complex information in a simple way.&nbsp. According to Doug Newsom and Jim Haynes (2004), this can include charts, diagrams, graphs, tables, maps or lists.&nbsp. Thus, the information graphic can contain within it all of the other recognized forms of visual communication – symbols and signs, shapes and colors, images and groups of images, charts and graphs, typography and cartoons and illustrations as long as these are used as a means of communicating a unified meaning.&nbsp. An example of information graphics use in my presentation can be found on the fifth slide of my power point.&nbsp. This graphic provides a simple illustration of a human arm and shoulder area.&nbsp. The unified meaning of this illustrated graphic is to explain the placement of the arteries of the arm.&nbsp. This is made clear by the all-capital-lettered title placed slightly to one side of the image and the fact that the details of the image include enough shape to define it as a human arm and enough inner detail to define the bones and arteries but nothing else.&nbsp. The names of these arteries are printed in a simple sans-serif font so that they will be easily read even from a far distance and they are related to the appropriate shape within the image by the common sign of a line connecting text to graphic.&nbsp. The first element to be considered in the creation of information graphics is the use of symbols and signs.&nbsp.