Design Center Tutorial

We are bombarded with information on a daily basis. Whether it is from newspapers, the Internet, BlackBerrys, magazines, outdoor advertising, television, or radio, we can absorb only a limited amount. At the same time, certain bits of information require a degree of focus and attention in order for us to process and really understand them.

Aware of the challenges, designers often turn to graphs or charts to present complicated information in a simpler manner. Also known as an infographic, a well-designed graph presents key data points in a visually stimulating way that quickly conveys a message to the reader (Figure 1). Graphs are often used in annual reports, business or sales presentations, and magazine or newspaper articles.

The use of graphs is a great way to communicate numeric information in a visual and graphical manner; when you use such a way to represent your data, you can turn a jumble of numbers into compelling data points. The important thing is to remember that a graph is meant to communicate information. As we’ll see in this chapter, Adobe® Illustrator® offers many ways to control a graph’s appearance, and it can be easy to get caught up in making a graph look so pretty that the reader misses its entire point.

Figure 1: In today’s fastpaced work, graphs help people visualize and digest numerical data. In this example, the percentage of teens interested in golf is highlighted. A salesperson for golf equipment might use this to bring attention to growth in that segment.

Requirements

To follow along with this article, you will need the following software:

Adobe Illustrator CS2

• Try
• Buy

Prerequisite knowledge:

Basic knowledge of Illustrator CS2

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