How Infographics Evolved

Infographics have functioned as “visual shorthand” that serves a definite purpose – to communicate. From the first cave paintings to Egyptian hieroglyphs, to maps on trains, to icons for the Munich Olympics (which have now been adopted into daily life, such as in the traffic signal for “Walk”), to the graphics used in newspapers to tell a story, to animated, scrollable, colourful, illustrated, interactive and highly detailed infographics on the Web – IGs have changed over time to reflect the social and cultural environment in which they have grown.

As expressed in this infographic on the Evolution of Infographics, IGs today are powerful tools to present information attractively on multidimensional topics. They are used to inform, educate and persuade people through attractive visual presentation of information in an easily understandable format. They are immensely popular in the media and on the internet as a means of communication in a society that needs to process more information in less time.