Picture This: EU Lawmaking
Chances are, if you’ve studied the EU in a college course, you’ve experienced the moment in which your professor says, “Yes, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers pass laws through ‘co-decision.’ Any questions?”
Usually, the resulting silence is enough to move conversation on to the next topic, which saves the trouble of explaining that “co-decision” now falls under the umbrella of “Ordinary Legislative Procedure,” and that both of these terms belie a fairly straightforward process. However, they might seem a little difficult to grasp, in that EU laws require the actions of 3 institutions, and none of them is particularly analogous to the US Senate or House of Representatives.
This is why CES has been working to train one of our EURO majors to break down the jargon of EU institutions, and to visualize the connections and processes that help the EU and its member states function. Under the guidance of one of our program assistants, and workshops with UNC Data and Visualization Services Librarian Lorin Bruckner, our student has worked to develop infographics that outline these topics. Continue to see their most recent work, which explains the lawmaking process of the EU, accompanied by a brief explanation of the different uses of color in creating infographics.
One difficult aspect of making infographics to describe EU institutions difficult is their process-oriented structure. Oftentimes, infographics rely on data to make a compelling argument — much like a text-based essay. Making data into exciting charts and visual metaphors can be a really strong way to bring a topic to life for the reader. And while there are troves of EU-related data in the world, categorizing the laws passed by the EU in the past six months isn’t necessarily useful information if you’re trying to tell someone how the organization works.
So we’re left then with a question:
How do we make a process or purely expository set of information compelling?
One of the answers — just add color!
For example, the infographic above uses visual cues to alert the reader of order and process. As the stars move from 1–5 with the steps of EU lawmaking, you might also notice that the saturation, or amount of color, increases. The first star is very pale, where the last star is completely yellow. This taps into visual norms associated with development — photos in darkrooms slowly increase in saturation from a blank sheet to a final image, with each second in between growing clearer and clearer. In the same way, we can use saturation to show progress through stages of passing legislation.
Color can also be used to add emphasis, or to draw the eye. For example, this infographic uses red sparingly, but when it does, it usually makes a point. The red bar between the heading and subheading helps orient the viewer, giving a clear starting point to the text. Similarly, the small red tails on the arrows provide a small moment of interest, helping to direct the viewer on to the next stage in the process.
Likewise, color can help to create a visual metaphor, and give the reader some idea of topic. By using a lot of blue and yellow in the circle of stars, this infograhpic plays on associations of these colors and icons with the EU. However, a color palette based on only two colors can be a little boring, which is why it’s important to find accent colors to complement your main choices. Neutrals can also help round out your composition by providing font colors and backgrounds to make reading easier.
In short, color is a useful tool in helping build infographics. It can help us create a sense of progression, tell us how to interact with a given image, and even give an indication of subject matter, and much more! This is why it’s important to consider what colors you use, and how and why you use them.
Interested in reading more about the work CES students do? Check out the Students tab on our blog!
Curious to see our other infographics? Head over to the Infographics tab on our blog!
This post was produced by EURO major Brett Harris.
This post’s production was supported by a 2018–2021 Jean Monnet Center of Excellence grant from the European Union.
The European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
