Information Design Journal - Volume 28, Issue 2, 2023

Infographics tailored with patients’ own health data are increasingly being used to support comprehension of health status, particularly among patients with limited health literacy. However, best practices for this type of health communication are still emerging and little is known about how some types of health data can be optimally displayed. We used an iterative participatory design process to design tailored infographics to present subjective and objective measures of asthma control status to adult patients in English and Spanish. Here, we document our design journey, reporting on the rationale for our design choices and the successes and lessons learned during the project.

Infographics are commonly used in public health to disseminate key messages to wide audiences. Although health organisations are making increasing use of infographics, their designs are of variable quality. The research reported here aimed to develop an educational tool that could improve public health infographic design, using motion graphics to teach users with limited design experience how to apply research-based design principles. Results were positive, with significant improvements in performance (including information location time, memorability, and user perception) observed for the infographics designed after the resource was used, compared to the infographics created before.

Most studies on the legibility of highway signs focus on the legibility of Latin typefaces. Few legibility studies of Arabic typefaces are considered in highway signage. The current study is an empirical assessment of the legibility of the Boutros Advertisers Naskh Arabic typeface, the typeface commonly used in road signage in most Middle Eastern and North African countries. The study uses common highway signs configuration within a laboratory-based simulated driving experience. The results show that Boutros Advertisers Naskh has a high threshold, which indicates low legibility on road signs, and that it requires significant improvements for continued use.