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The communication objective of my infographic is to visually communicate the trade data between China, Australia and New Zealand in an easily understandable way.
The purpose of the small version of my infographic is to represent the roughly idea of what the infographic is about.
The data is based on three available PDF documents which summarise the trade data between China, Australia and New Zealand. It is a bit challenge to represent the data visually in an A4 size infographic because there is a lot of data in these three documents.
At the brainstorming stage, I used the relative location of the three countries on the world map as my first layout and picked the country colours from the reference map. Then I used Photoshop for a quick mock-up of the layout. When I made the sketch, I refreshed my memory with the design principles of shapes and balance learned in the class. I come up with a big circle to connect the three countries and placed the country maps in a triangle positions. It was visually compelling and beautifully balanced with the right colours for the map and the background. I made another circle and add the arrows to represent the exports and imports between countries. Then I drawn some lines and put the figures of the major exports and imports around the circles. The descriptions of the export and import goods were also added. I used type on curve function to put the text of major exports and imports around the circles. Within the map, a country flag, country name and population figure were added. A pie graphic was placed in the middle to give a percentage of the total trade between the countries and each country has a column graphic to indicate the export and import values. In the theory of Gestalt & Constructivism, form or shape is very important. The eye takes in all the visuals and the brain create a coherent image. In this infographic, the shapes are the dominant objects to attract views attention. I also utilize Proximity to group the exports and imports data together.
Regarding font choice, I used Rockwell Extra Bold for the title and subtitle, and Roboto fonts for the main text. Fonts have perceived personality. According to a study, Rockwell Extra Bold has the assertive and/or masculine personality so it is appropriate for the title and subtitle of the infographic to indicate its datas credibility and solid. Roboto fonts downloaded from FontSquirrel.com were used for the main text because Roboto fonts are easily readable. Roboto fonts have many variations (Regular, Medium, Light, Thin, Bold, Black, Italic etc.) so there are many font options available if needed.
As for the colours, I started borrowing a colour palette from colourlovers.com. When further studying the colour theory and playing around with the colour wheel, I decided to use the analogous colour scheme for my infographic. But the bright hues are too strong so I toned them down. The tinted colours are far more pleasing and harmonious to the eye.
Australia-New Zealand trade, investment, and migration: Year ended June 2014, Retrieved October 10, from http://www.stats.govt.nz/~/media/Statistics/browse-categories/industry-sectors/imports-exports/fact-sheets-main-trading-partners/aust-yejun14.pdf
australia-28586_640.png (flag), Retrieved October 15, from https://www.google.com/search?site=imghp&tbm=isch&q=china%20flag&tbs=sur:fmc#tbs=sur:fmc&tbm=isch&q=australia+flag
australia-23498_640.png (map), Retrieved October 15, from https://www.google.com/search?site=imghp&tbm=isch&q=china%20flag&tbs=sur:fmc#tbs=sur:fmc&tbm=isch&q=australia++map&imgdii=_
butter.jpg, Retrieved October 15, from https://www.flickr.com/search/?l=commderiv&q=butter
cart-305428_640.png, Retrieved October 15, from https://www.google.com/search?site=imghp&tbm=isch&q=iron%20ores&tbs=sur:fmc#tbs=sur:fmc&tbm=isch&q=coal+cart&facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=ro7AoBnGGEtuoM%253A%3B17FqSxcGOZ2SYM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fpixabay.com%252Fstatic%252Fuploads%252Fphoto%252F2014%252F04%252F02%252F11%252F04%252Fcart-305428_640.png%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fpixabay.com%252Fen%252Fcart-coal-mine-job-energy-source-305428%252F%3B640%3B580
China-New Zealand trade, investment, and migration: Year ended June 2014, Retrieved October 10, from http://www.stats.govt.nz/~/media/Statistics/browse-categories/industry-sectors/imports-exports/fact-sheets-main-trading-partners/china-yejun14.pdf
CHINA, Retrieved October 10, from https://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/fs/chin.pdf
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Flag_of_China.png, Retrieved October 15, from https://www.google.com/search?site=imghp&tbm=isch&q=china%20flag&tbs=sur:fmc
Flag_of_New_Zealand_(WFB_2004).gif, Retrieved October 15, from https://www.google.com/search?site=imghp&tbm=isch&q=china%20flag&tbs=sur:fmc#tbs=sur:fmc&tbm=isch&q=new+zealand+flag
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Map_of_New_Zealand_(blank).svg, Retrieved October 15, from https://www.google.com/search?site=imghp&tbm=isch&q=china%20flag&tbs=sur:fmc#tbs=sur:fmc&tbm=isch&q=new+zealand+map
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meat.jpg https://www.flickr.com/search/?l=commderiv&q=raw%20meat
milk power.jpg, Retrieved October 15, from https://www.flickr.com/search/?l=commderiv&q=milk%20powder
wood.jpg, Retrieved October 15, from https://www.flickr.com/search/?l=commderiv&q=raw%20wood
Shaikh A., Chaparro B. and Fox D (2006). Perception of Fonts: Perceived Personality Traits and Uses. Retrieved October 20, 2014, fromhttp://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usabilitynews/81/PersonalityofFonts.asp
sponge_iron-250250.jpg, Retrieved October 15, from https://www.google.com/search?site=imghp&tbm=isch&q=iron%20ores&tbs=sur:fmc#facrc=_&imgdii=rvMc3pyV_MLTeM%3A%3BBIGTHPlp-P-XCM%3BrvMc3pyV_MLTeM%3A&imgrc=rvMc3pyV_MLTeM%253A%3BQfGYxA-N-rAtCM%3Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fc1.staticflickr.com%252F1%252F178%252F478766194_a114a62cab_z.jpg%253Fzz%253D1%3Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.flickr.com%252Fphotos%252Felsie%252F478766194%252F%3B640%3B513
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