Infographic Project

Link out to "Live Longer: Eat the Mediterranean Diet" Infographic

I turned 40 last year and the first thing my doctor joked about was no more pizza or french fries. She suggested I shock my metabolism with the Mediterranean diet so I could lose the few pounds I found it challenging to shed. For this project I chose something relevant to me: what lifestyle changes do I need to adapt in order to have a healthier, more toned body? I focused the project on a low-carb, high-protein diet like the Mediterranean diet since it is a plan I had recently tried with success.

I designed this infographic with busy doctors in mind since I work at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Physicians work hard but save little time and energy for themselves and their own personal health. Doctors are fully educated about the human body, but many of them eat very poor diets (including carb-heavy meals like donuts, bagels, soda and pizza). I provided a visual reference to remind my audience of the benefits and simple steps of a balanced, healthy diet. I included scientific research that clearly demonstrated the benefits of the Mediterranean diet and its effects on heart disease, neurologic disease, diabetes and longevity since this is what my audience treats on a daily basis. I wanted to increase retention and bring about positive, healthy diet and fitness lifestyle changes by communicating this data in a medically relevant and visual way

 I used Piktochart software to develop this infographic because it is user-friendly and creates high quality graphics good for printing and posting online.      

I designed a simple, one-page infographic that visually teaches the audience what to eat in order to stay alive longer. I utilized the Made to Stick SUCCESs Model (Heath & Heath, 2008) with simple design, concrete language, credible resources and emotional aspects to appeal to the audience.

Design Decisions

Design Decision #1

I chose a simple layout and limited it to a one-page infographic. Heath and Heath (2008) emphasized brevity: “To make a profound idea compact you’ve got to pack a lot of meaning into a little bit of messaging” (p. 52). The graphics I selected were simple and communicated the message clearly. Reynolds (2014) supported simplicity and economy in good design (p.15). I used simple images to demonstrate the Mediterranean diet components (abundant fruits and vegetables, fish, olive oil, etc.) without replicating the food pyramid that can be visually complex.

Design Decision #2

I supported images with text descriptions. As Lankow, Ritchie & Crooks (2012) pointed out, “the strongest visualizations are those that are supported by descriptions as well as narratives” (p.45). Even though simplicity in design is best, if images alone do not communicate the story the tool will not be effective. Heath and Heath (2008) supported this when they discussed naturally “sticky” ideas having concrete images and stories behind them (p.17). I included text descriptions for the Mediterranean diet components to communicate recommended serving sizes, specific ingredients, and health benefits to more clearly describe the diet.

Design Decision #3

I talked about dying. Lankow, Ritchie & Crooks noted that if one appeals to the audience emotionally, it will create a deeper connection to the information being presented (p.52). I wanted the audience to clearly see how death could be reduced by simple dietary changes. As Reynolds indicated, emotion makes things stick and knowing what’s in it for your audience makes it meaningful (p.18). I chose to highlight reduced risk of death by following the Mediterranean diet as a way to appeal to the audience’s emotions and to give a clear call to action.

Lessons Learned:

When I initially looked at infographic examples, I didn’t think they would be very hard to create since they are only a few pieces of statistical information and some visual aids on a page. But it was surprisingly difficult distilling academic articles into tangible, useable data and then turning that data into easily digestible visuals.

I was going to use Canva for this project since I’ve used it before but decided to try Piktochart since it was specifically recommended by former students for infographics. I’m glad I used this program but found some things difficult, such as the lack of bullet points and the issue of dragging and dropping text boxes to align perfectly on the page. It took some practice, but I learned the program fairly quickly and would recommend it to others.

I would recommend working on a project that has personal interest if possible. I recently lost eight pounds on this diet and exercise program and found that great motivation to share with others. If the author is excited about a topic it will come through in the work.

Bibliography:

Crooks, R., Lankow, J., & Ritchie, J. (2012). Infographics: The power of visual storytelling.     Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Heath, C., & Heath, D. (2008). Made to stick: Why some ideas die and others survive. New York, NY: Random House.

Lankow, J., Ritchie, J., & Crooks, R. (2012). Infographics: The power of visual storytellin Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Reynolds, G. (2009). Presentation zen design: Simple design principles and techniques to enhance your presentations. Berkeley, CA: New Riders.

Salas-Salvado, J., Bullo, M., Babio, N., Martinez-Gonzalez, M., Ibarrola-Jurado, N., Basora, J., …Ros, E. (2011). Reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes with the mediterranean diet. Diabetes Care, 34, Number 1, 14-19.

Widmer, R., Flammer, A., Lilach O., & Lerman, A. (2010). Accruing evidence on benefits of adherence to the Mediterranean diet on health: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 92, 1189-96.