FPM #4: Infographic & Blog Post

Note

FPM #4 is the the fourth step in working towards your final project, which is meant to combine nearly all of the course learning outcomes. You’ll assemble your final infographic and publish a blog post describing your motivations and design process.

Description

I. Review the final project instructions

Reread the final project description in full (one last time!) to remind yourself of the goals and requirements.

II. Review feedback and plan your revisions

Begin by reviewing the feedback you received on FPM #3 from your instructional team and from your in-lab peer reviews. Make a short plan describing what specific changes you intend to make based on that feedback. Respond to the following in an issue titled, FPM4 - reviewing feedback

• 1. Summarize the key feedback points you received on your FPM #3 draft visualizations.

• 2. Explain which of these suggestions you plan to implement and how.

• 3. Identify any areas where you decided not to follow feedback and explain why (e.g. “it didn’t align with my main message” or “I found a different design solution”).

• 4. Address which (if any) of the ten design elements you do not plan to implement (rememeber, not all ten will necessarily apply to your project, and that’s okay!).

III. Refine your data visualizations and assemble your infographic

Continue refining your data visualizations based on feedback, then assemble your infographic using the tool of your choice (e.g. using {ggplot2}, Affinity, Canva, Google Docs/Slides, etc.).

Be sure to revisit the ten design elements listed in the final project description to guide your design choices.

IV. Write your blog post

Share your data design process in a short, 1-2 page (~500-1,000 words) science communication blog post-style write up. Your blog post should be structured as follows:

• 1. Open with an engaging introduction, which states any necesssary background, your motivation, question(s), data / data source(s), and goal(s) of your visualization.

TODO Storytelling helps to engage your reader

• Un-sung Pollination Hero, by Marina Kochuten (MEDS 2025)
• Forest Restoration Reduces Wildfire Risk and Increases Carbon Storage, by Liv Hemond (MESM 2025)
• Designing an Infographic on Shoreline Armoring and Coastal Resilience, by Lilia Mourier (MESM 2026)

• 2. Embed / render your final infographic following your introduction. If you are embedding a png file, ensure that it’s centered and an apppropriate size. The same applies if you are rendering your infographic from code, though you should additionally ensure that:

  • just the output renders and not the code (e.g. using code chunk options eval: true & echo: false)
  • warnings and messages are suppressed, as necessary (e.g. using code chunk options warning: false & message: false); other intermediate products should not be rendered

• 3. The body of your blog post should address your approach and decisions for the ten design elements listed in the final project description (though you are welcome and encouraged to comment on any others that are not explicitly listed). You may choose to render and refer to individual / component data visualizations throughout the body of your blog post, as necessary or appropriate – if you do so, be sure to suppress code from printing.

• 4. Include the all code used to generate your final data viz products in a single foldable code chunk (see code chunk option, code-fold: true), at the end of your blog post. Be sure to include some written text beforehand that lets your readers know that they can explore the full code by expanding the chunk. Here, your code should:

  • print, but not execute (i.e. use code chunk options eval: false & echo: true)
  • be appropriately styled (e.g. following tidyverse style guide) and annotated

You may submit your write-up in one of two ways:

1. As a blog post on your personal website – check out the Adding a blog to your existing Quarto website materials for a refresher, if needed. Note: If you choose this option, you will need to copy code from your eds240-infographic repository into your blog post file within your personal website repository.

2. As a published Quarto document that is deployed using GitHub Pages. Expand the note below for detailed instructions on how to do so:

Instructions for publishing a Quarto doc using GitHub Pages

1. Your Quarto doc must be named index.qmd and live in your repository’s (eds240-infographic) root directory. Be sure to rename / move it, if necessary.
2. Render index.qmd and ensure that index.html appears in your root directory as well (this is the file that will be deployed by GitHub Pages).
3. Head to your remote repository on GitHub. Navigate to the Settings page (top navbar), then select Pages from the left-hand menu. Once there, you should see something that looks like this:

4. Under Build and deployment > Branch, update the drop down that says None to main. Leave the second drop down on /(root) (this tells GitHub to look for and deploy our index.html file from the root directory of the main branch). Click Save. Your URL will appear at the top of the page once it’s deployed (you will need to refresh the page – this could take a few minutes):

Remember, this is an opportunity to grow your portfolio and showcase both your technical and communication skills (through data viz and writing). The more thought, organization, and care you put into this write-up, the more confident you can be showing this to a potential employer!

Rubric (specifications)

To recieve a “Satisfactory” on FPM #4:

• Address your plan for implementing feedback by responding to the four Part II prompts in an issue titled, FPM4 - reviewing feedback. There are no strict length requirements for the free-response questions, however we expect that you answer them thoughtfully and fully.
• Tag your instructors (@samanthacsik & @annieradams) somewhere in your issue (at the start or end may make the most sense) – this will send us an email notification linking to your issue.
• Build a cohesive, data-driven infographic that takes into consideration the ten design elements described in the final project description and incorporates peer- and instructor-provided feedback, as appropriate. All graphical elements must be constructed using code to ensure that data are represented accurately. These graphical elements may be enhanced using alternative graphic design tools (e.g. Affinity). The final infographic (and any supporting elements), may also be created / modified using alternative graphic design tools.
• Add any additional information to your eds240-infographic README. Your README should include all required sections, as defined in the MEDS README Guidelines.
• Author an engaging science-communication piece in the form of a blog post, which features your infographic and describes your motivations, data, goals, and design choices. Your writing should be free of typos and grammatical errors. Any code should be well-organized and annotated, and included in a single, collapsed code chunk at the end of your blog post. You should follow code chunk option recommendations as described in Part IV.
• Add your published blog post URL to this Google Sheet by 11:59pm on Sun 03/08/2026.
• Submit a Generative AI Statement of Use for FPM #4 by 11:59pm on Sun 03/08/2026.