I've just published a short article at Peachpit/Pearson's website. Most of what I wrote there ("the best design advice I ever got") was taught to me in 1997 by the infographics folks at La Voz de Galicia, a regional newspaper in northern Spain, when I was an intern. Old, sound advice that's still useful today:
"The central idea in my storytelling and design philosophy—which lies at the core of The Functional Art as well—can be summarized in just one sentence: an information graphic (whether it is a chart, a map, a diagram, or an explanatory illustration) should be thought of as a cognitive tool that facilitates understanding. Therefore, aesthetic concerns, being also crucial, should arise after (or during, in some cases) processing, structuring, and organizing your information correctly, not before. The priority for information designers should be to extract meaning from data and information, or to create tools that viewers can manipulate to build meaning by themselves."
Continue reading here
