I received a few questions last week about the infographics posted on the site and thought I would write a quick note to address them. I also found a new one from the folks at ClearViewIP on IP and the Connected Car which I also thought I would share.
Infographics are a bit of an internet meme these days but overall they provide an elegant way to tell a story using data of one sort or another. They are normally associated with charts and graphs which are used to support a story based on analytics but can also be primarily text driven. The infographic I promoted last week on using Public PAIR, for instance, is an example of an infographic which doesn’t rely on numbers but tells a story involving several steps in order to achieve an objective. In this case to understand the prosecution history of a US patent. There is also a picture in the Gallery on the home page on key court cases which have impacted US patents which is text driven but organized by year so the viewer can see how the cases have progressed over time. I will be writing a full-blog post with a high-resolution version of that infographic this week. The IP and the Connected Car infographic which is featured in this post is another example of a text driven image which describes a progression over several years.
I have only seen a handful of infographics in the patent space and none of them were being used for instructional purposes so I thought it would be a good idea to produce a few as illustrations for some of the ideas I would like to share. They are also interesting snapshots of the impressions that patents are making on various industries so as I see more being produced in the patent space I will share them via the blog.
And now, on to the questions:
Q. Are all of the infographics on the site done by Patinformatics, LLC?
A. No, so far I have created two infographics, the one on using Public PAIR and one on key US court cases. The remaining images are ones that I found on the internet primarily at the visual.ly site. The ones I produced have Patinformatics, LLC branding in the lower left-hand corner.
Q. How do I print these so they are not so small on a single page?
A. I have found that the simplest way to do this is to download the image file and then open it in an image manipulation program (like PhotoShop) or in a browser (like Safari). These programs give you the ability to scale the images appropriately so they can be printed on poster paper or on more than one sheet of paper. The key court cases image, for instance, prints very nicely on two pages if it is scaled to 47%.
Q. Will there be more of them coming?
A. Absolutely, I have ideas for producing additional inforgraphics and as I see new ones being produced on the topic of patents I plan to write blog posts on them and share the links.
Q. Will all of them be text based?
A. Nope, I have some ideas which are definitely numbers based and will feature more traditional charts and graphs.
Q. Can I buy a poster of any of the graphics produced by Patinformatics, LLC?
A. Not today, but if there is sufficient interest I would be happy to consider selling posters of the graphics I produce. Let me know if this would be of interest in the comments or by email.
Infographics are a nice way of concisely portraying information or providing instruction on a topic in a way that the user can easily refer back to it at a later date. They also provide insights in a visual fashion which, for some people, is an easier method to illustrate complicated ideas. Please share in the comments or by email if there are topics or ideas that you would like to see covered in a future graphic.
