The Functional Art: An introduction to information graphics and visualization

by Alberto Cairo

Unlike any time before in our lives, we have access to vast amounts of free information. With the right tools, we can start to make sense of all this data to see patterns and trends that would otherwise be invisible to us. By transforming numbers into graphical shapes, we allow readers to understand the stories those numbers hide. In this practical introduction to understanding and using information graphics, you’ll learn how to use data visualizations as tools to see beyond lists of numbers and variables and achieve new insights into the complex world around us. Regardless of the kind of data you’re working with–business, science, politics, sports, or even your own personal finances–this book will show you how to use statistical charts, maps, and explanation diagrams to spot the stories in the data and learn new things from it.

You’ll also get to peek into the creative process of some of the world’s most talented designers and visual journalists, including Condé Nast Traveler’s John Grimwade , National Geographic Magazine’s Fernando Baptista, The New York Times’ Steve Duenes, The Washington Post’s Hannah Fairfield, Hans Rosling of the Gapminder Foundation, Stanford’s Geoff McGhee, and European superstars Moritz Stefaner, Jan Willem Tulp, Stefanie Posavec, and Gregor Aisch. The book also includes a DVD-ROM containing over 90 minutes of video lessons that expand on core concepts explained within the book and includes even more inspirational information graphics from the world’s leading designers.

The first book to offer a broad, hands-on introduction to information graphics and visualization, The Functional Art

• Why data visualization should be thought of as “functional art” rather than fine art
• How to use color, type, and other graphic tools to make your information graphics more effective, not just better looking
• The science of how our brains perceive and remember information
• Best practices for creating interactive information graphics
• A comprehensive look at the creative process behind successful information graphics
• An extensive gallery of inspirational work from the world’s top designers and visual artists

On the
In this introductory video course on information graphics, Alberto Cairo goes into greater detail with even more visual examples of how to create effective information graphics that function as practical tools for aiding perception. You’ll learn how incorporate basic design principles in your visualizations, create simple interfaces for interactive graphics, and choose the appropriate type of graphic forms for your data. Cairo also deconstructs successful information graphics from The New York Times and National Geographic magazine with sketches and images not shown in the book.

Genres: Design, Nonfiction, Business, Art, Science, Programming, Communication

384 pages, Paperback

First published November 29, 2011

About the author

Alberto Cairo is the Knight Chair in Visual Journalism at the School of Communication of the University of Miami. The author of several textbooks, he consults with companies and institutions like Google and the Congressional Budget Office on visualizations. He lives in Miami, Florida.

Reviews

[Jerzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just as great the 2nd time around :)

Well written, well organized, with helpful examples (and printed large enough that you can actually read them and get insights!)

Covers the basics of the "full stack" info graphics designer (with a focus on journalism): do the research, understand the client or goal, sketch and plan your graphic, analyze the data, report it graphically, incorporate into a well-designed layout, and perhaps use good interaction design if relevant.

Plus, an intro to the human visual perception principles that justify datavis best-practices advice.

Plus, interviews with practitioners that cover things like how to build a good infographics team, how to keep clients happy as a freelancer, how to get started in the field, etc.

Not all is directed at statistical graphics (which I want to focus on) -- there's a fair amount about illustrations and 3D models. But in fact that's great, because it's actually helpful for me to see how stat graphics fit in the broader spectrum of such visualizations.

[Fabrice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was looking for a description of the brain’s visual API. I got it at part II “cognition” and part I “foundations” was a good intro to visual communication. Part III is really focused on newspaper infographics, and part IV are interviews of famous infographics authors. Although probably interesting, I didn’t expect half the book to be specific about infographics from the title.

Still the best pedagogical source of information I have found on how to communicate visually to the brain, hence 4*.

[Sasha Ambroz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Немовірно корисне читво для дизайнерів будь-якого рівня, журналістів, а також людей, які хотіли б зрозуміти процес створення графіка для медіа. Написано прекрасною доступною мовою (окремі 12 балів за переклад) із розділами на кшталт "як влаштоване людське око", щоб ви вже напевне зрозуміли, яку створювати картинку, коли хочете привабити та затримати увагу глядача/читача. Останній розділ - це інтерв'ю з найцікавішими на думку автора дизайнерами сучасності, серед яких - начальники дизайнерських відділів великих американських видань. Тут мені найбільше цінними здалися прості питання типу "як у вас влаштована робота над темою у ньюзрумі" чи "кого б ви взяли зараз на роботу, якби у вас відкрилася вакансія", тобто, все те, що ми хотіли би знати, але соромилися питати в набундючених спеціалістів.

[Nhat Anh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book for those who start diving into the data visualization world. I love its linear and clear structure starting with the description humans' process of seeing and comprehending in order to explain why we should respect some certain rules of design to bring out the best results possible. The interviews with data viz. experts coming from different academic backgrounds are also thought provoking, inspiring and resourceful.

[Juan Torregrosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book itself was entertaining but I thought its narrative was more engaging than its technical advices. I recommend it, but I expected a bit more. Here I wrote a long summary of its content https://goo.gl/JTtEua

[Marcella Bongiovanni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un buon libro di partenza per chi è interessato al tema delle infografiche. Tocca tutta una serie di punti di base che bisogna sapere prima di lanciarsi :D.

Perde una stellina perché metà del libro sono interviste, interessanti ma non mi aspetto che prendano letteralmente metà dello spazio, e per le scelte traduttive (credo della Pearson Italia, non del traduttore).
Il libro originale ha previsto la traduzione in inglese dei testi delle infografiche (in origine in altre lingue visto che Cairo ha lavorato sia in Spagna sia in Brasile) ma la versione italiana lascia tutte le infografiche con i testi in inglese (di fatto facendo perdere parte della bellezza e dell'utilità del testo).

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jako úvod do infografik a datových vizualizací perfektní. Cairo se v teoretické části a vysvětlování důležitosti vizuální komunikace opírá všude, kde to dává smysl. O informační vědu, kognitivní vědu, HCI/UX, psychologii, ale třeba i mediální teorii. Nebojí se zároveň té praktické části, kde rozebírá, jaký mít proces (vlastně skoro klasickej double diamond), jak se stavět k umělečtějším podáním dat (záleží na audienci, obecně function constraints form), nebo třeba ke komplexitě (dle něj více spekter, které je třeba balancovat). Doplněna deseti profily designerů napříč obory, kteří přidávají své konkrétní zkušenosti, je to fakt povedená kniha.

[Tamara Rumiantseva · Rating 4 out of 5]

EN below.
Мій чоловік веб-дизайнер, тому, звісно, в нас вдома багато книжок про дизайн, юзабіліті, кольори, інфографіку і всяке, що може знадобитись йому в професії. Хто ж знав, коли ми одружились, що я стану цікавитись аналітикою і візуалізацією даних і дещо з цієї специфічної бібліотеки мені також буде з часом цікаво.
Читаючи Альберто Каїро «Функціональне мистецтво: вступ до інфографіки та візуалізації», я не могла відірватись і проковтнула цю книгу за кілька днів. В Україні вона видана у 2017 році, а перше видання взагалі вийшло у 2011 році, тобто деяка інформація, що в ній міститься в 2023 році вже застаріла. Історія інфографіки, основні принципи її побудови, що викладені в книзі, і досі є актуальними. Остання частина (інтерв’ю з відомими дизайнерами інфографіки) була найменш цікавою, як на мене.
Якби мені ця книг потрапила до рук хоча б п’ять років тому, я була б в захваті, проте п’ять років тому «візуалізація даних» і «інфографіка» для мене були магією яку, як я вважала, мені ніколи не осягнути. Зараз же книга мене надихнула на деякі ідеї, що вже дуже багато, як на мене. Проте я з радістю прочитала б зараз щось більш актуальне, тож якщо у вас є ідеї що саме, з радістю почитаю.

My husband is a web-designed and thus we have a lot of books on design, usability, colors etc at home. Who knew when were getting married that I will get interested in data analysis and visualization over the years.
Reading Alberto Cairo “The Functional Art: An Introduction to Information Graphics and Visualization” I simply couldn’t put it down and finished it in few days. In Ukraine it was published in 2017 and the first edition in the world came out in 2011. So obviously some information contained there is outdated in 2023. History of infographics and main principles on how to visualize data are still applied however the last part (interviews with famous designers) was not that interesting to me.
If I read this book at least 5 years ago, I would have been much more excited, but the thing is that 5 years ago data visualization was a magic to me I thought I would never master. This book has inspired me to move forward, gave some ideas that I want to implement. Now I would like to read something more modern on this topic, so if you have any suggestions, I would happily consider them.

[Dung · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick impression: I love the feel and look of the book right when I received it. The printing and paper quality is quite good. For me, that’s one of the critical criteria for a book about visualisation.

This book is packed with interesting facts and valuable lessons for beginners. Alberto’s approach towards visualisation is straightforward: it's a tool, hence it should be functional -- this is the central argument in the book. It might sound simple, but this way of definition subsequently decides how we should gather information for a project, plan for those projects and the way we produce them: Whatever form of visualisation you choose, it should reflect your purposes (questions you ask) and tights to its functions . Meaning that there’s no easy solution for any data and you can’t just take a random form of visualisation (which you think is beautiful) and hope it will work. Chapter 2 about the relationship between forms and functions is, therefore, definitely my favourite.

Part 2 about cognition is also an interesting read. Even though you can’t really apply the theoretical knowledge directly into drawing graphs, understanding how the eyes and our brain works visually is still essential to know what works and what does not. It’s more of something we should be conscious about while working.

I also enjoy reading Alberto’s practical tips and his thoughts and working process (especially when he redesigned some of the published charts. Wow!). Personally, I find the first half of the book more useful. The chapter of Interactive graphs feels a bit outdated and the profile part with 10 interviews is rather generic and not as helpful as I expected.

Overall, I’d recommend this book for anyone who is new to the industry. It will serve as a best first and inspiring step to get into the data visualisation field.

[Olesia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is entertaining and inspiring with lots of great examples (among my favorites is the one about sex reassignment surgery http://ptgmedia.pearsoncmg.com/images...). The author does a great job at introducing some of the most important names in the field. But, in my opinion, this book is not a very good choice if you want some kind of practical guide to data visualization.

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very nice and insightful read if you have something to do with data visualization.

[Brett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cairo blends aspects of journalism, statistics, design, and even visual neuroscience to give some best-practice recommendations on designing infographics (here used, broadly, for a one-sheet report that explores an idea in depth). While the focus of the book is heavily towards these static, well-curated 'explainer' type of graphics, there is a lot here to learn about improving ordinary graphs, too, and on the exploratory Tableau/PowerBI-style dashboards that are now commonplace. It's a fantastic cook's tour through the elements of design, perception and data analysis that make up the best and most persuasive graphs. It's illustrated heavily throughout with examples which make this a quick and lucid read.

Finally, in a refreshing change of pace the latter third of the book is a series of interviews with data journalists: from the lead editor on the New York Times data journalism desk to the up-and-comers trying to create new visualisations. There is a lot that I learned from the many different ways that these people tackled the same problems - it's a definite value add to the book.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cairo gives us a wonderful introduction to data visualization with this book - it emphasizes best practices for journalism, which is a very valuable lens to the work, and provides the basics for thinking about information graphics from the perspective of a reader. It’s impressive that he manages to communicate so much so effectively for an amateur audience.

Of its four parts, I expected the most and probably got the least from the one dedicated to “practice.” His emphasis in this section is interesting - instead of practice, its rather focused on purpose. That’s not bad, and you could dedicate several volumes of textbooks to the practice of visualizing data, but it speaks to Cairo’s purpose here as much as anything in the book.

I recommend this book as the first for anyone looking to better understand and appreciate the field, and I hope to read the rest of Cairo’s publications on the subject as I study it. He’s undeniably a skillful communicator.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my second read from Alberto Cairo - my first being How Charts Lie. The bulk of the content was valuable, but the real gems were in the profiles at the end. Don't skip them! I began my data viz journey reading books by Stephen Few and attending his workshop. This was super valuable but also limiting. Expanding my horizon's using Miko Yuk's Analytics on Fire podcast exposed me to all of these other fantastic paradigms out there. Alberto Cairo is my new favorite. I love his approach walking you through techniques as well as stories of both success and failure. I've changed my work processes as a result of both Yuk and Cairo - including thoughts from the profiles at the end of The Functional Art. I highly recommend this book to help expand your horizons on data and information viz and art.

[Maria Longley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I appreciate that this is a book about the fundamentals of information graphics and not a tool-heavy how-to guide, at the very least it means it is still relevant now whereas a tool-based book wouldn't be. If you accept that infographics are at their core tools then it makes for an interesting exploration of what makes a good tool. One thing surely is curiosity on the makers side when making the graphic and an ability to follow their own curiosity on the readers side. Should data visualisations be beautiful? An interesting question! Not at the expense of content is what quite a few people have to say... There are great examples in the books and the discussion is clear and illuminating. The book ends with short interviews with various practitioners.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good place for beginners to Data Visualization to start. Gives a good, fundamental understanding of how to begin thinking like a data designer. What's very helpful are the many examples of projects done by Albert Cairo sewn throughout the book and the short interviews with professionals working in the field in the last section of the book.

Does not get into technical specifics of how to do analysis in software but instead, focuses on the thought process required to create meaningful data visualizations and narratives.

[Sakib · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably my favourite book on data visualization because it's the most comprehensive book on data visualization that I've read.

It covers the theory of what makes a good chart, the psychology of visual perception, design principles generally (Gestalt) and in data (preattentive attributes, Cleveland and McGill's order of accuracy) and many more things in between. It's a true data + design book. Really enjoyed it.

[John Pyrce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview of Information Graphics, with many interviews of practitioners and case studies. I'm more interested in visual analytics that information graphics, but there is some overlap and the case studies were interesting.

Minor caveats: although the case studies are interesting, they don't really get to the process of how creation occurs. The actual invention of a design is still "and then a miracle occurs". Do lots of examples to try to find the miracle. jj

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting book about infographics, design and visualisation. I come from a slightly different area working in justness intelligence, so this was really fascinating and widened my knowledge of the subject.


The only issue I had with the book that ironically many of the graphics were so small they were difficult to read so I ended up skimming over them.

[Rasmus Dahl · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fantastic book. Working with large excel sheets on a daily basis, and constantly considering how to convey insights and findings, this is really a book with new ideals and concepts for further reflection.

But just the profiles of leading data visualisation experts are worth the price of the book alone. Especially the profiles of Hannah Fairfield and Hans Rosling are interesting.

[Justina Trisko · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for professional development. This book is a textbook. I really enjoyed the author’s teachings style. The first few chapters were extremely beneficial to my work and helping me understand how visual information is perceived, what makes it effective and not effective, and some strategies on how to plan, deliver and critique functional art, graphs, informational images etc

[Alex Olteanu · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book talks more to data journalists and graphic designers who work with data rather than data scientists.

There's a lot of useful information throughout the book, so it's still worth a read, but you need patience because the writing is very verbose and poorly organized.

[Ania Gaska · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a thorough and helpful introduction to Information Graphics! The author is a great teacher, and shows how visualizations work by critiquing specific examples. I'm glad I started by reading this, it is a great introduction.

[Elena]

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[Stephanie Zhu · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book came out over 10 years ago but still holds up well– probably because the principles behind its topic remain the same and cairo was careful in taking a holistic approach to infographics/data viz

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book better than Cairo's "The Truthful Art", although I recommend both books.

[Andrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Examples may seem a bit outdated (book published in 2013, but this field is moving REALLY fast), but still lot's of great insight and timeless principles.

[Tom Tao · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book made me want to be an (amateur) journalist.

[Bing Wang · Rating 4 out of 5]

全书更像是从战略层面出发， 提纲挈领的讲一些指导原则。并没有过多的操作细节。比较适合做过一些可视化项目之后回头进行归纳总结与反思。另外本书更偏向于新闻媒体领域的信息可视化，而非it领域的数据可视化。

[GleeGMJournal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book for infographic designers.
Since, I am Data Visualization, it doesn't relate to my working field much. Still, some chapter is applicable such as how eyes and brains perceive the image.