Dr. Nigudkar embraces an interdisciplinary pedagogy to approach education in Art and Design. She believes that both, the macroscopic and microscopic views are essential in approaching any art or design problem. She has a double Masters, one in Applied Arts and the other in Painting. Through her Ph.D. research, she has contributed to the domain of Art Aesthetics, where she synthesises multiple perspectives, like semiotics, linguistics, cognition, perception, and visual arts. Her core interests are diverse, spanning from Branding to UI/UX as part of Communication Design, and extend to Painting and Music. As an academician, her focus is on aligning education with real-world needs and developing research and problem-solving attitude.
In the present times, data and art have been integrated to create visually appealing and aesthetically pleasing infographics featuring images, texts, statistics and other media in the field of electronic media. Leveraging information, ideas and media tools, artists weave into a vast amount of data to create unique, informative displays and stunning visualisations.
Graphic designers and illustrators create the right visual story that is channelled into interesting designs and patterns for engaging infographics that offer insights into our world. Infographics also help brands connect with their audience through effective messaging for a lasting impact.
Coinciding with the birth of data-driven methods, the refinement of infographics turned it into a tool that could be used in disseminating a great deal of complex data and insights in a concise and comprehensible manner. Transcending language barriers, data visualisation began to gain momentum in the 1970s with signage designs at airports, icons or infographics to explain major news stories in printed publications.
Further, the world of the internet brought a paradigm shift in the way infographics were designed, as people began accessing content online on websites. Interactive media, motion graphics to gifs, made their way to social media to the present day, classrooms, businesses and online domains to entertain, educate and engage. Hence, infographics have posed a deep and positive impact in delivering concise messages from advertisers, marketers and brands. It has also led to designers and illustrators adopting creative changes and newer tools to match the expectations of the audience.
The process of designing infographics allows artists the creative freedom to explore various styles or tools/ technology such as graphic editing software and design programs. Apart from fine motor skills, a design aspirant or new designer must possess creativity, attention to detail, multi-tasking abilities and interpersonal skills.
Further, being visually talented people, they have excellent drawing skills, along with the ability to sketch and communicate visually through creative thoughts. Good digital illustrators are expected to work within a brief and deliver the work to meet the expectations of the client while succinctly crafting a strong story.
In the age of data and automation, the future of infographics has strengthened and growing in leaps and bounds, as people want to be informed and entertained at the same time. From enterprise leaders to content makers, visual content like infographics data becomes more appealing to the audience. Its simplicity makes it a powerful tool to supply information and feature visual storytelling creatively for an instant connection with the viewer.