Infographics as an Information System: Information Encoding Issues

The purpose of the study is to reflect the relationship between the number of information encoding tools involved in the design of infographics, and the convenience and effectiveness of perception of its content. Infographics are considered as a screen message, within which information is presented with different ways of visual coding. The variability of decoded elements and their interaction can lead to synergy and dissonance of the content components of infographics, which encourages in-depth study of the conditions for combining encoded elements into a coherent information system. The methods: analytical and logical (identification of theoretical and methodological approaches to the construction of infographics, assessment of the impact on the audience), a systematic approach (systematization of the possibilities of forming an array of data in infographics, identifying problems and prospects for using visual information in infographic design), a method of analogies (determining the impact of visual information in infographic design on the audience). Results. The structure of communicative elements and stylistic characteristics of graphic images in the infographics design form an information system that collapses with the growth of ways of encoding information. Such a system involves maintaining a clear hierarchy in the compositional arrangement of elements and the logic of visual movement between them. Unlike banners, posters and packing, infographics can contain multiple optical centres and an extended colour-coding palette. The scientific novelty is represented by the definition of the levels of interaction of communicative elements and the establishment of compositional conditions, which include: maintaining a scale-proportional hierarchy of communicative elements; the relevance of the introduction of several optical centres and a significant number of equivalent image elements, supplemented by auxiliary planes (dies) to increase the legibility and readability of text blocks; limiting the number of iso-graphemes (not more than 3) as excellent ways of stylistic and graphic reproduction of pictorial elements; usage of no more than two different fonts; avoiding intersections or direct overlapping of text on the image; maintaining realistic proportions between the graphic elements; the use of a significant number of shades of colours, provided that the predominant mass of one or two colours in the characteristics of the chromatic composition of the overall semantic solution.