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<div align="center"><a href="http://submitinfographics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/small-house-plans-infographic.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://submitinfographics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/small-house-plans-infographic.jpg" alt="infographic" width="430"><br /> Click to Enlarge </a><br />Via <a href="http://houseplans.co/articles/rise-small-house-plans-infographic/"> Houseplans.co </a><br />View Other <a href="http://www.submitinfographics.com">Infographics</a></div> <p>

This infographic was submitted to us by Houseplans.co.

I love the creative graph that opens this infographic. It’s a great way of taking a classic bar graph and turning it into something that plays into the topic of the whole infographic. Data visualization is used at essentially every opportunity in this infographic, which we love to see!

The accuracy of the visualization is a little funky, however — in “What’s Fueling the Decline in House Size?” in the “Growth of Single-Person Households” section, 14% is shown as being about 1/3 the length of 28%, instead of 1/2. A similar problem happens with 8%.

I really like the home layout element, showing the anticipated rooms to be included in homes in 2015. The color coding of likelihood that each room would be present is really interesting and effective, and I appreciated the inclusion of the information about changing living rooms and growing family rooms.

In all I like the color palette and organization of the infographic as well, and like that it stays pretty concise while offering up a lot of information. If anything, maybe the typography could be played with a little bit more for increased visual interest. Overall I’d give this infographic a B+. It’s clear and concise, but the point of data viz is to accurately represent the numerical values visually — if the numbers are misrepresented, it’s not any better than leaving them unvisualized.

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<div align="center"><a href="http://www.submitinfographics.com/full-size-infographics/modernization-of-ranch-house-plan.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.submitinfographics.com/full-size-infographics/modernization-of-ranch-house-plan.jpg" alt="infographic" width="430"><br /> Click to Enlarge </a><br />Via <a href="http://houseplans.co/media/images/blog_entry/modernization-of-ranch-house-plan.jpg"> Houseplans.co </a><br />View Other <a href="http://www.submitinfographics.com">Infographics</a></div> <p>

This infographic was submitted to us by Houseplans.co. They also provided a description:

The Mid-Century Modern home style has seen a resurgence in popularity as homeowners increasingly appreciate its clean, elegant lines and integration of outdoor elements. This infographic shows how this futuristic style developed from the early ranch house plan.

It’s a little hard to judge this infographic as there is no data visualization. It’s a timeline with a breakdown of the elements that make up each style of ranch house, and while there are a few numbers, none of them are visualized. It’s very informative, however, and does leave me with a pretty clear sense of the distinctions between home styles.

The layout and color scheme are fairly simple so it is easy to follow the order of information in the design. One thing I was curious about was that the introductory paragraph refers to “the Mid-Century Modern home,” but that term isn’t used again later on. It’s a little unclear to which home plan that term is referring, since “mid-century” in terms of time would be the Modern West House Plan, but the phrasing in the intro seems to allude to it being the 21st Century Modern instead.

The data shown with 21st Century Modern could easily be visualized in an engaging way that makes used of the numbers. 10 homes, 10 home icons. 22 awards, 22 trophies. Instead, a single icon is used to represent each point, and the number is just written out. I think it would be interesting to see visually that Schnell’s Street of Dreams homes have won over two times more awards than there are houses.

In all I’d give this graphic a B+ as a tool for home style distinction, but a D as an infographic — the few numbers there are are not effectively visualized.

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<div align="center"><a href="http://www.submitinfographics.com/full-size-infographics/palatin-remodeling-index-infographic-full1.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.submitinfographics.com/full-size-infographics/palatin-remodeling-index-infographic-full1.png" alt="infographic" width="430"><br /> Click to Enlarge </a><br />Via <a href="http://www.palatinremodeling.com/top-100-residential-remodeling-markets-of-2012/"> Palatin Remodeling, Inc. </a><br />View Other <a href="http://www.submitinfographics.com">Infographics</a></div> <p>

This infographic was submitted to us by Palatin Remodeling, Inc., who provided this description:

With the housing industry in such a shaky state, more and more people are turning to remodeling their existing homes, as opposed to buying a brand new one. According to the Residential Remodeling Index (RRI) the majority of cities who are doing the best in the remodeling sector are East of Texas. This infographic was designed by Palatin Remodeling Inc, a San Diego bathroom remodeling contractor.

This is a heat map depicting the top remodeling markets in the country. The color coding by density of Top 100 cities is helpful, but ultimately it is a map, not an infographic. I also find the color palette to be a little off-putting–the aqua/blue is awfully bright to dominate such a large part of the graphic.

If the designer added in some more visualizable data–what percent of homes in the top 10 markets have been/are being remodeled, the average cost of a remodel vs. the average cost of a new home, etc.–this could cross the threshold from map to true infographic. An introductory paragraph would also be nice, to explain a little more about what the map represents. The same descriptive text/blog post accompanying a graphic may not be reposted each time, so if an introduction exists right there on the graphic, all viewers will have context to the content they’re seeing.

As an infographic I’d have to give this a C-, since it’s pretty lacking in telling a complete story and including instances of data viz. I’d rate it higher as a map, however, since it does show some interesting concentrations of areas that are most prone and least prone to remodels.

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<div align="center"><a href="http://www.submitinfographics.com/full-size-infographics/top-house-plan-styles-by-state.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.submitinfographics.com/full-size-infographics/top-house-plan-styles-by-state.jpg" alt="infographic" width="430"><br /> Click to Enlarge </a><br />Via <a href="http://houseplans.co/articles/top-house-plan-styles-state-infographic"> Houseplans.co </a><br />View Other <a href="http://www.submitinfographics.com">Infographics</a></div> <p>

This infographic was submitted to us by House Plans, who wrote this brief description:

We took a look at the most sought-after architectural styles in each state and discovered that the Craftsman home plan is not only popular across all age groups, but it remains a top choice from one end of the country to the other. This infographic highlights what we found and explores the origins of the nation’s top home design styles.

This is a pretty interesting set of data. Before reviewing, I’m not sure I would have even though it possible to show the most popular style of home in a particular state! The breakdown of style preference by age group is also intriguing, though it clearly shows that Craftsman Home Plans are the most popular across all age groups and most states.

The problem I’m having is in the lack of cohesive design. For starters, the pattern key for Median Age in the map makes it nearly impossible to differentiate between 37.5 – 39.9 and < 35. There are many more patterns that could have been used--stars, stripes, checkerboard, hearts, etc.--so the repetition of circular dots across three of the metrics is perplexing. Also, the background patterns on the three sections of the infographic change drastically and don't seem to relate to each other, or really to the topics of the subsections (with the exception of the Timeline of Architectural Styles, as graph paper insinuates blueprints).

The introduction of blocks of text in the timeline is a little overwhelming. Notice that there aren’t really that many words per style–fewer than 100–but the vertical layout of a typical infographic makes a small amount of text look significant.

In all I’d give this infographic a C–it has good data and a unique topic, but it’s difficult to interpret the first set of data, the design needs to come together and the text could use a little truncating.

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<div align="center"><a href="http://www.submitinfographics.com/full-size-infographics/diy.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.submitinfographics.com/full-size-infographics/diy.jpg" alt="infographic" width="430"><br /> Click to Enlarge </a><br />Via <a href="http://www.toppstiles.co.uk/comms-centre/infographic.asp"> Topps Tiles <br />View Other <a href="http://www.submitinfographics.com">Infographics</a></div> <p>

This infographic was submitted to us by Topps Tiles.

I love the aesthetic of this IG! The sort of plaid, patchworky feel (especially of the text) is pretty unique and drew my attention in quickly. And really, if the overall design of an infographic isn’t eyecatching or unique, it’s going to be tough for a viewer to move through and absorb all the information. So right off the bat, great job there.

The way the data is visualized is working really well here, as a combination of iconography and charts. It’s very clear from looking what the top category of each chart is. It also does a very good job of keeping text incredibly minimal–the introduction is one sentence that only takes up 2 1/3 lines but sums up the data pretty well. (Although, if you’re going to get “texty” in any area of your infographic, it’s not uncommon to have a few sentences making up an intro paragraph to both explain the topic and build intrigue.)

I think maximizing data viz potential is important, so my only real critique is that a visual representation of the value adds of the top 5 home improvements would have been nice. (And perhaps it would be interesting if there were data on how much the average UK household spends on DIY home improvement each year?) Otherwise, it’s a solid piece that maximizes its use of space and covers its topic without overdoing it.

In all I would give this infographic an A! Short and sweet isn’t a bad thing in the world of infographics.

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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!