Bed Bugs

This graphic on bedbugs appeared on LiveScience.com. Karl Tate is credited with creating the graphic for the web site, and several sources are listed for the information.

The major strength of the piece is that it deals with a timely problem that people are hearing a lot about and becoming more and more worried about. Because of this, the general public will want to know more about bedbugs in general, and this graphic provides the basics. Another strength of the graphic was the artwork. One photo provided an enlarged image of a bedbug to show what they look like, and another image shows a colorized version which identified the eyes and the “proboscis” or feeding tube they use.

One of the weaknesses of the piece is that it doesn’t convey much information about how to kill bedbugs or what to do about them. The graphic does make it easier for the average person to be able to IDENTIFY a bedbug when they see it. This was a nice part of the graphic; for as much as I’ve heard about the current outbreaks, I had no idea what they looked like or how big they were. This graphic did provide that helpful information.

This graphic gives viewers a lot of basic information about bedbugs. It explains how bedbugs bite and feed, what they look like and what size they really are. The graphic also explains the life cycle of the bedbug and shows how their size changes after they feed.

I would have found it helpful to have a lot more information about where bedbugs have been found, how many, why and what to do to avoid them or get rid of them. However, I realize some of this information may not even be known at this point in time. The other information would be helpful to viewers, but I’m not sure it would really fit with this kind of graphic.

This graphic appeals to a wide variety of people because it’s on a topic that has been in the news a lot lately. People are concerned about the problem and want to know as much as they can about how to identify bedbugs. Any information or graphic will appeal to a large percentage of the general public.

The design is effective but a bit repetitive. The enlarged photo in the top right shows a bedbug up close, but it is merely used as chart junk to show the main body parts. Most of these parts are repeated in another image below that shows a look into the bedbug’s mouth. There seem to be so many mini-graphics in this one big graphic that all the subheads, text, and images get a little overwhelming and repetitive.