When a litigator engages a trial graphics consultant, he or she will most likely be getting more than anticipated - an expert in information design.

Information design, a field that is less than 50 years old, has been defined as a process that is “concerned with transforming data into information, making the complex easier to understand and to use. It is a rapidly growing discipline that draws on typography, graphic design, applied linguistics, applied psychology, applied ergonomics, computing, and other fields. It emerged as a response to people's need to understand and use such things as forms, legal documents, computer interfaces and technical information.”

Less than 30 years ago, the parallel field of trial graphics emerged – and trial graphics specialists can learn a great deal from the art and science of information design, and can contribute to the growth of that field as well.

After all, lawyers engage in information design and data visualization all the time, and demonstrative evidence firms such as ours provide litigators with the skills and specialized resources to provide information in a way that is not only easier to understand but also persuasive to a judge, jury, or other fact-finder.

In the courtroom, of course, the demands on the provider of information design are even more intense than in the normal situation, where the designer creates a map, chart, or similar graphic for travelers or viewers to understand. In the courtroom, the stakes are higher: the fact finder must quickly and almost intuitively come to an understanding of the subject matter and must find it convincing. 

So it’s not surprising that the best demonstrative evidence firms look to some of the best information design web sites and blogs for ideas and inspiration.  Here's where the designers at A2L Consulting go for inspiration:

1. Flowing Data is an excellent site with years worth of curated information design graphics including one here to illustrate the relative odds of each team winning the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
    
2. Cool Infographics shares a unique style of info graphics including how the iPad can replace any number of other devices and actually save money for its users.
    
3. Information is Beautiful focuses on data visualization, often a difficult and important task in litigation.  Most will find this info graphic showing the true size of Africa surprising.
    
4. Information Aesthetics is best for viewers with an interest in "big data" visualizations like the entire corporate history of GE via an interactive graphic. We often are tasked with describing decades of corporate history, and a simplified version of this chart would be suitable for courtroom use.
    
5. The New York Times is also an outstanding source of excellent data presentation. Here, the designers present the President’s proposed 2013 budget.  In this fascinating graphic, they display information about how Americans spend a typical day – eating, sleeping, working, engaging in recreation, and the like.

There is almost no limit to what creative designers can accomplish – whether building a subway map or an exhibit in a patent infringement case.