This infographic was submitted to us by Company Folders, who provided this description:

There are multiple printing methods for graphic designers to select from when sending designs to a commercial printer, including 4 Color Process Printing, Spot Color Printing, Foil Stamping, Embossing and Debossing. Each method is capable of producing high quality printed marketing collateral for branding your corporate image, but it is important to know which method fits your specific printing needs. This infographic will give you the information you need to know to choose which printing method is right for you.

If your print technique is incompatible with any of these elements, it can make your finished product less attractive or even downright illegible. For that reason, it is vital to select the right method for your particular project.

This informative tool gives a good rundown of how you might select the right printing process for your project’s requirements. The examples at the end provide good guidance for someone who might not be familiar with how the different processes present in a finished product. It’s a good overview of the basics of printing without getting overbearing.

Since the subject matter is presented in more of a “how-to” format, there isn’t any opportunity for data, which closes the graphic off from the potential for data visualization. Since that’s the primary tool used in infographics, it’s difficult to evaluate this as an infographic. As aforementioned, it’s a good tool that accomplishes what it’s after, but only by a series of checks and Xs. Actually, there is one symbol that could use a key: the exclamation point in a yellow circle, used twice in “Selecting the Type of Paper,” isn’t really explained. My guess would be “use with caution” or “may not produce ideal results” — something to that effect — but a brief explanation, like is given for the strikethrough “Does not apply” in the previous section, would help clarify.

The introductory paragraph could also use a second look — the word “method(s)” is used four times in three sentences, and the last sentence also features odd repetition: “The information below will give you the information you need…”

As a tool I’d give this an A-, but I can’t properly grade it as an infographic because it doesn’t contain visualizable data.

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<div align="center"><a href="http://www.submitinfographics.com/full-size-infographics/Feng-Shui-full.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.submitinfographics.com/full-size-infographics/Feng-Shui-full.jpg" alt="infographic" width="430"><br />Click to Enlarge</a><br />Via <a href="http://www.paulsimon.co.uk"> Paul Simon </a><br />View Other <a href="http://www.submitinfographics.com">Infographics</a></div> <p>

This infographic was submitted to us by the folks at Koozai, for Paul Simon home furnishings.

It has a calming effect, and water could conceivably flow between the blocks of text, so perhaps the designer paid some mind to chi when creating the infographic. The background and font are good choices, and I like that most of the points made are illustrated here. It’s certainly a good guide to creating feng shui, and could be really useful for people moving or just reorganizing their living area.

To achieve “infographic shui” (a concept completely made up for the purposes of this critique), the guide would need statistics. Since this is what we call “soft data” (there are tips and tricks, but no facts or figures), data visualization would be difficult to impossible. Any statistics about the amount a person’s mood is boosted by a properly set up room or how many people consider feng shui when designing might be difficult to find or unreliable. This really just means that while this is a nice tool, it can’t be called an infographic.

It’d be difficult to critique the guide as such, then. I would like to see the model of the living room as the main focus, regardless. That way viewers could see a large sample of feng shui executed properly, and each key element could be highlighted by a symbol or arrow that would then be explained in a key. In general with any graphic, the emphasis should be on visuals more than on text.

As an infographic, I’d have to give this a D-, because there is no data, and therefore no data viz. It’s text-heavy and offers no concrete information. But as a tool to increase awareness of the concepts of living room feng shui, I’d be rating it much higher. I’m sure I will consider these points when I reorganize my furniture next!