Graphic Information: Nintendo vs. Sega
Hello, and welcome to the first installment (of what I hope to be many) in the series I have defined "Graphic Information." Through each blog entry, I will highlight an infographic I've stumbled across during my intrepid online journey and analyze both the content and aesthetic quality of the presentation. As we can all attest to, we're all highly active people with vastly intellectual busy lifestyles that make perusing and absorbing information challenging if it dares to be verbose. . . Did I lose you already? Oh, there you are!
What makes a successful infographic? The perfect storm includes: an intriguing topic, attractive visuals and a simple delivery of the subject matter. After all, the main purpose of all infographics is to deliver boring research/study data in an otherwise eye-catching way. Who doesn't like having their retinas clutched by science?! Okay, that sounds messy and awkward. But the key take away is, you have to want to learn about this data, and an infographic's job is to suck you in like a Hoover vacuum does a dust bunny.
Today's infographic (presented by The Logo Company, full version seen below) is one that I came across way back in the good ole' month of July 2012. As an avid lover of many things defined as dorky, the topic of "Nintendo vs Sega: Video Game Logo Evolution" not only intrigued me as a fan of chubby plumbers in red overalls with mad ups and sassy blue hedgehogs addicted to speed, but also as a person that enjoys researching logos and their origins. The infographic's purpose is to not only display the companies' logo transitions, but also show their corporate evolutions and accomplishments. This is all done fairly well, with a few minor exceptions.
I bet very few of you knew Nintendo was not over 100 years old, but also found themselves being fairly entrepreneurial in their younger days. Playing cards? Instant rice? A taxi service? All of these and more were attempted business ventures of Nintendo. While their earliest successes came from creating playing cards, it wasn't until they got into the video gaming industry that their business really boomed, mostly thanks to a young upstart named Shigeru Miyamoto. Sega, on the other hand, was always at home in the electronic industry. Does the infographic effectively educate you about Nintendo and Sega's histories? To the layman, it does a great job. To the seasoned veteran, however, there are plot holes. Nintendo has had a few other systems not mentioned (the SNES, for example, or the current 3DS). Sega too has had a few other accomplishments, such as their portable Game Gear system. It's hard to say why this data was left off, but in the grand scheme of things it may have been to save space and assure the infographic itself wasn't a mile long. Despite leaving this data out, I can let this slide for the most part.
Aesthetically, minus a shield and sword wielding Mario and Sonic, this infographic does a great job at delivering imagery that fits its content. It was a great touch using graphics directly from the companies' mascot franchises. the data itself is delivered in a clean format, allowing itself to be easily read while guiding my eyes down the page to the next data set. The only thing I'd add would be a subhead further explaining the other content of the infographic, to better prepare the reader for what they're about to learn about. Totally not a huge deal. So, what do you think? Did you learn anything? And have you seen any fun or interesting infographics lately that you'd like discussed? Comment away! 