HCC: theoretical foundations and infrastructure for creating infographics in science communication

The National Science Foundation Division of Computing and Communication Foundations awarded the University of Maryland, College Park $559,048 on October 1, 2026, under the Computer and Information Science and Engineering program (CFDA 47.070) to develop theoretical foundations, empirical guidelines, and software tools for designing and evaluating infographics in science communication.

The project will create a grammar of infographics describing data components, visual components, mappings between them, and rhetorical devices, implemented as a declarative JavaScript toolkit for authoring infographics. Research activities include surveying, interviewing, and conducting longitudinal observations of professional designers to produce a taxonomy of design intentions and a model of infographic design workflows. The project will develop a measurement framework connecting different design intentions to evaluation methods, then integrate the grammar, intention taxonomy, and evaluation methods into a design toolkit to be tested through deployments with scientists and journalists. These outcomes will provide reusable infrastructure for infographic design and science communication.

Work is performed at College Park, Maryland, with a period of performance from October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2030. The assistance type is a Project Grant.

Abstract

Effective science communication helps people understand research, trust scientific discovery, and make informed decisions. Infographics are widely used in journals and news stories to convey complex scientific findings. Yet creating effective infographics is very challenging. Many scientists, journalists, and other communicators lack clear design guidance and dedicated tools to create effective infographics. This project addresses these challenges by developing new theories and tools to support the creation of infographics for science communication. The project will help communicators explain science more clearly and engagingly, support science education, and strengthen public understanding of research in natural sciences such as physics and life science. This project will develop theoretical foundations, empirical guidelines, and software tools for designing and evaluating infographics. The research activities include creating a grammar of infographics that describes data components, visual components, mappings between them, and rhetorical devices. This grammar will be implemented as a declarative javascript toolkit for authoring infographics. The project will also study how professional designers translate communicative intentions into design choices through surveys, interviews, and longitudinal observations. These studies will produce a taxonomy of design intentions and a model of infographic design workflows. In addition, the project will develop a measurement framework that connects different design intentions to evaluation methods. The final research activity will integrate the grammar, intention taxonomy, and evaluation methods into a design toolkit, which will be studied through deployments with scientists and journalists. The outcomes of this project will provide reusable infrastructure for infographic design, science communication, and future work on computational and AI-assisted visual communication. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.- subawards are not planned for this award.