Infographic Assignment for the Health Sciences

Abstract

The infographic assignment was developed and pilot tested in summer 2016 and revised and retested in fall 2016. Students create an infographic focused on a health issue. The assignment objectives are to (1) understand the purposes of and potential uses for infographics, (2) cultivate creative visual communication skills, and (3) disseminate information about a complex health topic to diverse audiences. The assignment is divided into four steps: (1) brainstorming, (2) developing, (3) designing, and (4) finalizing. In the brainstorming step, students familiarize themselves with the infographic genre, selected a topic, used research skills to identify professional sources of information about their topic, and began drawing their infographic. In the developing step, students use software to develop their infographic. In the designing step, students select fonts and colors for their infographic. As part of the finalizing step, students market test their infographic with friends, family, peers, and faculty.