Infographics in Health risk communication: the contribution of design in guiding citizens during pandemic situations

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51358/id.v22i1.1195

Abstract

This article, which is part of the research project “Health Risk Communication: Design and Digital Communication of Official Public Health Sources to Guide Citizens in Pandemic Situations” (HERIC 2D), investigates the contribution of infographics to more effective and comprehensible health risk communication. The preliminary analysis of the websites of health institutions revealed that an excess of text-based information can compromise accessibility and reader comprehension, leading to the hypothesis that infographics may serve as a complementary solution to text. The results confirmed that infographics enhance readers’ efficiency and satisfaction in understanding information. The high satisfaction of participants, measured by the System Usability Scale (SUS), validated the infographic design guidelines based on established principles from the literature review and the tests conducted in this study. It is concluded that the implementation of infographics in official communications can improve accessibility during public health crises. It is also suggested that future studies apply these guidelines in different contexts and populations to reinforce their applicability.

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Author Biographies

Ana Pereira, Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave

Ana Pereira holds a Master’s degree in Digital Design from the Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave (IPCA), completed in 2024, and a Bachelor's degree in Design from the University of Aveiro, completed in 2022. She is passionate about design and its various applications.

Nuno Martins, Polytechnic University of Cávado and Ave

Nuno Martins holds a PhD in Digital Media at the University of Porto. In 2020 he completed a post-doctoral degree in Design at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto (FBAUP). He also holds a MA in Multimedia Art and a BA in Communication Design at FBAUP. Coordinating Professor of Communication Design at the School of Design of the Polytechnic University of Cávado and Ave. Researcher of the Research Institute for Design, Media and Culture (ID+), focusing on the areas of Digital Media Design, Communication Design, Brand Identity, and Interface Design.

Francisco Garcia, University Institute of Lisbon

Francisco Garcia holds a PhD in Communication Sciences and carried out a study on Health Risk Communication, more specifically, on Public Health Risk Communication aimed at Seniors in the context of COVID-19 in the Municipality of Cascais (Portugal). His fields of study and interest are: information literacy, health literacy, journalism, new media and audiences.

Rita Espanha, University Institute of Lisbon

Associate Professor with Habilitation at Iscte – University Institute of Lisbon. Deputy Head of the Department of Sociology. Researcher at CIES-Iscte, currently conducting research in the areas of "Communication, Information Technologies and Health", "Health Literacy", and "Generations and Communication Technology". ERASMUS Coordinator for the Department of Sociology. Author of several books and articles in the fields of Health and Communication, Health Literacy, Networked Communication, and Youth and Media in Portugal.

Daniel da Cruz Brandão, University of Minho

Assistant Professor at the Department of Communication Sciences and researcher at the Communication and Society Research Centre (CECS) at the University of Minho, Portugal. He has a degree in Communication Design (2004), an MA in Multimedia Art (2008) and a PhD in Digital Media, specialised in Audiovisual and Interactive Content Creation, from the University of Porto (2014). His main research areas are Communication, Audiovisual and Digital Design; Participatory Video; Documentary and Ethnography Film and Rescue of Oral Memory.

Ana Barros, Portuguese Pulmonology Society

Ana Barros is a researcher at the Portuguese Pulmonology Society. She holds a degree in Biology and a PhD from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto (2015). She was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (2015–2016), working in the field of health literacy and communication applied to cancer prevention, and at i3S, University of Porto, where she developed the project “Bridging the Cancer Communication Gap”, an integrative approach to improve communication between patients and healthcare professionals in an oncology care unit.

Branco Di Fátima, University of Beira Interior

Branco Di Fátima is a lecturer at the University of Beira Interior (UBI) and an Integrated Researcher at LabCom-UBI, where he conducts research on disinformation, hate speech, journalism, and social media. He is the author of several books and articles on the pathologies and dysfunctions of democracy and the impact of digital technologies on society.

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Published

2025-04-28

How to Cite

Pereira, A., Martins, N., Garcia, F., Espanha, R., da Cruz Brandão, D., Barros, A., & Di Fátima, B. (2025). Infographics in Health risk communication: the contribution of design in guiding citizens during pandemic situations. InfoDesign, 22(1). https://doi.org/10.51358/id.v22i1.1195

Issue

Vol. 22 No. 1 (2025)

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2025 Ana Pereira

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)