Infographics offer a creative way to present information visually to an audience. In general, their creative design and visual appeal enhance the information provided to help make these ideas “stick”.

The infographic to the left offers a good example of the four key design principles known as CARP (contrast, alignment, repetition, and proximity). As a national park lover, this infographic was not only insightful, but it displayed the four key design principles well. This helped create an engaging visual that can be easily shared.

Contrast: This infographic uses a deep gray box to outline important text information within each section. This helps contrast the information from the images and other facts that are presented regarding each featured road trip. Deep yellow title flags are used to clearly distinguish the breaks between the information, contrasting with the blues and greens used to showcase the physical maps. The contrast is strong in some spaces throughout the infographic, but would not be described as overwhelming.

Alignment: The infographic listed four different road trips that could be taken to visit many national parks. The infographic created subsections for each trip, aligning information and images that were relevant to each trip. Every image and piece of information has some relevance, or connection, to the topic. Each banner is exactly the same size and is aligned with each banner vertically down the image. The use of the zoomed map for each section that still displays relevant information to help the viewer orient themselves to that particular location.

Repetition: There are many examples of repetition within this infographic. For example, each section begins with the same yellow banner to introduce the topic of the road trip. This helps the viewer further visually distinguish each section of the infographic. Another example of repetition is the use of the same wooden sign for each pinpointed national park and the exact same yellow car that drives down the road. Not only does this infographic utilize a visually similar map for each road trip destination, but it uses the same symbols and colors to create a unified look.

Proximity: This infographic has a good use of proximity, displaying information that relates to each particular road trip within the same section. In general, a viewer can read down the infographic without questioning which information and images apply to which featured trip. A grey backdrop is used between each section to give the same appeal as intentional white space.