J464 is a 15-week course in the Media School of Indiana University. Students who complete the course develop a solid understanding of what constitutes an effective information graphic as well as the ability to render a variety of different types of graphics, from serious news stories to light-hearted features, from the clear and direct to the complex and engrossing.
Students learn the history of graphics, their prominence in today’s media and their promise for the future. They develop and refine visual skills, enhancing their ability to illustrate and design so that their graphics have maximum impact and help readers/users better comprehend important events, draw in the curious with essential and arresting visual information and lead them skillfully through complex data in a logical and appealing way.
The class focuses on building skills to report and write for graphics, using programs like Excel to create revealing data sets that we can turn into charts. Students practice isolating key information and focus on how best to convey that information in a visual way.
The class will concentrate on developing fundamental knowledge of reporting and producing information graphics. The primary tool for the former is Adobe Illustrator. A series of exercises are intended to guide students through mastering its basic functions, from creating shapes to drawing diagrams with the pen tool to using and manipulating its charting functions. The course concludes with an exploration of some online applications, like Highcharts, Raw and Google Charts, to provide students with some experience creating interactive graphics.