infographics...

A graphic from MetaLayer's landing page

...have been all the rage for a while now. I remember when I first heard the term "infographic". It struck me. I like the concept of mashing together data and pictures and this word seemed to capture that idea so well. But the infographic rage that has followed what has quickly become a buzz word (and lost a bit of its appeal for me in the process) has been disappointing. Too often, sexy or eye catching is valued over the actual communication of data. I find this sad. There are some good infographics out there, but the majority are eye candy at best (and misleading through false representation of data at worst).

So I find it interesting that there seems to be a race of sorts to become "the" online place for making/collecting/sharing infographics: Visual.ly launched in 2011 (related blog post), I recently heard about another start up in this space, MetaLayer, that has been in the press lately (article). And I'm sure there are others.

I have a strong (not super positive) perspective here. But I'm curious whether others have found value in these sites. What's your take on infographics and the sites that are setting out to store and share them? Am I too quick to shun them? Leave a comment with your thoughts.