Using Inkscape, I created an infographic called “A Brief History of Board Games.”
Requirements
- Title
- Introduction to establish context
- Body containing 4+ facts or pieces of trivia
- A visualization illustrating data, such as a timeline
- Conclusion/Call to action
- Original graphic elements
Planning
Brainstorming and Outlining
- Intended audience: Board game enthusiasts (all ages, but primarily children and parents)
- Rhetorical goal: Inform on the history of board games, highlight the variety in different games, and encourage the audience to go to a website to learn more.
- The “story” I want to tell: Board games and tabletop games have existed for thousands of years, and remain popular activities today. From the original board games of antiquity to the digital and store-bought versions of the 21st century, the board game has had many iterations. I want my infographic to be a timeline showing select games throughout history.
Preliminary Sketches and Designs
I decided to emulate a board game’s layout, with a trail of squares standing in for a traditional timeline. Boxes containing information about each board game are presented in chronological order along the trail. Each game is accompanied by original graphics I created in Inkscape.
Rough Draft
I created the game pieces and chess pieces in Powerpoint and imported them to Inkscape. I originally planned to use primary colors to evoke a sense of childlike playfulness, but decided to use a more understated palette of coral, yellow, green, and blue. At this point, I hadn’t yet aligned all the boxes and text.
Second Draft
Still unsatisfied with the colors, I decided to use a more harmonious palette of greens and blues, with complementary gold to add a “pop.” I slightly tweaked the game piece graphics I made in Powerpoint, but also added some new graphics.
Final Draft
Rather than align the boxes in my “grid” perfectly, I decided to lean into the childlike, quirky quality that attracts many people to board games. I made the squares in the trail different sizes, and rearranged everything. This made the overall infographic not only more fun, but more interesting to the viewer.
Rather than leaving in the raster graphics, I created new vector graphics in Inkscape by either tracing existing raster images or drawing them myself.
