Case-study: Medical Research Infographic

The team at Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes (AAMRI) is the peak body representing medical research institutes (MRI’s) across Australia. AAMRI works to improve the policy landscape for medical research in Australia and promote the important role medical research plays in the health and wealth of all Australians. AMRI’s members research in almost all areas of human health. The team at AAMRI were developing a 2016 AAMRI member report, to highlight the success of their members, and outline the “DNA” of their member workforce.

To demonstrate the return on investment in health and medical research, AAMRI wanted to showcase the progress their members have made. The consolidation of medical research achievements would help legitimise and personalise their tangible aims and objectives but they also needed to keep their audience engaged. And so it was that AAMRI approached us to weave in some creative design, and personification to their infographic report.

The majority of the 2016 report was being designed by a different design company. It was very data-driven, and was led by AAMRI’s pre-existing style and brand guidelines.

Datalabs’ mission was to design three separate infographics that would be three key highlights of the year’s work. These would be spread out across the 22-paged report and, essentially, act as chapter summaries that would provide context to the expanded data throughout the report.

As the rest of the report was quite data heavy, the infographics needed to provide some contrast. To achieve this, the design contained simple character illustrations and icons. The copy was reduced substantially to give the reader reason to drive further into the report. As the main report was still in design, our team used the style and brand guidelines of AAMRI to keep the design style-aligned.

The final product was developed out of three design drafts, the third being the magical final number. Each design went through three drafts, and the process took around two weeks in total.

Research data can be quite full-on, visually. Simple illustrations break up content, giving the audience space to appreciate the narrative of the data, and stay engaged.

You can find the public report here. Take the time to read the report and check out the amazing work the researchers done by members of the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes. Millions of humans across Australia and the globe have a lot to thank for organisations like these, and they might not even know it yet!

Get recognised for your work! You deserve the recognition of your success. So give your success the memorable, beautiful and engaging design it deserves!