The Making of “Can YOGA Ease Your Mind?”
By: Elizabeth Estefan
Tags: Infographics, Infographicsdesign, Data Visualization, Infographic Design

For the design, I opted for a mostly cooler color palette and minimal detail illustrations for a more relaxed feel to compliment the theme. The illustrations were drawn in Procreate, freehand using photographs for a more natural feel.

With the first draft critique, the audience for the story was refined to beginner yoga practitioners or those not familiar with the practice. This led the design to include a shorter list of poses in the chord diagram to allow space for illustrations of all poses presented, but with more benefits listed to provide additional information. This path also meant resorting the data, which resulted in a revised list of poses for the following drafts.

With the second and third critiques a color background behind the illustrations was recommended rather than a thin outline that was suggested looked more like placeholders rather than intentional. Adding the background color both highlighted the illustrations and polished the overall design. And a little more detail in the form of darker color elements was added to the illustrations to make vague areas more understandable, as well as adding a minimal shadow under the drawings to ground them.

The final draft though barely distinguishable from the previous version at a distance, was all about the very fine details. Though I had already focused a lot on the details, this is stage of the design while slightly maddening is a very satisfying process for me. There is always more to refine. Are the fonts consistent, are the colors consistent, is everything in alignment and proportionate, nudge to the left, nudge to the right, drop it down, move it up, and so on and so forth. This can take several hours. And suddenly, it is time to stop (or at least until I look at it again later–and back down the rabbit hole I go).

Reflections—Data Leads Design

Keep Your Eye on the Audience

Version 1, two layouts options — It’s about the audience.

With the first draft, I wanted to share as many beneficial poses as possible, which ultimately included a list of 50 poses. But as soon as I completed the rough draft, I thought surely it might not be of great use for someone starting out in yoga. They would not know what the poses meant. So I created a second version of the first draft which would allowed for more illustrations. But which would I use?

Then the aha moment came during the critique. I explained my dilemma and concern with the first option. It seems all along I thought of my audience as everyone. And that is okay. But it turns out that my two layout options were both acceptable, just useful for two different audiences. (Mind blown! It’s so obvious. Right? With focusing on so many details, an outside perspective can make clear what is right front of you.) The first option with fewer illustrations and longer list of poses would benefit seasoned yogis. They would understand the poses without the drawings. The second option would be useful for all but even more so beginners unfamiliar with the poses. Either layout was fine; it was up to me to choose my audience.

The Data

It was eye-opening after compiling and digging into the data. I have practiced regularly for several years. With the understanding that I have much to learn about the practice, I was pleasantly surprised by the findings. Some of the simplest, most accessible poses had the most benefits. This reinforced for me that data has much to reveal beyond our preconceived notions. And as the findings are revealed then the design can be started, reinforcing to me that the data leads the design.