An exhibition showcases 30 years of infographics from El Mundo

Javier Martínez Tubío

The Palm Tree Room on the Fuenlabrada Campus is the place where you can see a dozen infographic pieces reproduced in large format and explained in detail.

The inauguration was held this Tuesday, February 17th, in the Aula Magna 322 of the classroom building III of the Fuenlabrada Campus of the URJC and was attended by Emilio Amade (section head of the newspaper El Mundo), Mario Benito and Ricardo Vizcaíno-Laorga (professors of journalistic design at the URJC).

Emilio Amade has showcased the evolution of infographic creation over the past 30 years at the newspaper El Mundo, which, from its inception, has embraced this type of graphic as a journalistic approach to visually explain complex information. It has made this genre its hallmark and positioned itself as a leading and pioneering example in the national press landscape. Today, more than three decades later, the format is fully integrated into the newspaper's reporting, and its possibilities have grown exponentially thanks to digitization, becoming an essential resource for its editorial line across all formats.

Infographics: a bridge to outreach

Commemorating 30 years of infographic journalism at the newspaper El Mundo, the exhibition aims to demonstrate how visual resources are a vehicle for conveying complex information clearly and comprehensibly to everyone. The precise creation of images, concise texts, and a structure where the correct order is key.

Emilio Amade, with over three decades of experience, has witnessed the evolution of this communication method as a key player: “Today, the work of the infographic designer is even more complex, because each piece must be adapted to each device, and this requires careful planning.” Amade concludes that “the true challenge of visual representations lies in making information understandable without sacrificing precision; it’s not about simplifying, but about clarifying.”

Ricardo Vizcaíno-Laorga, Professor of Journalism and promoter of the exhibition, believes that “information graphics are not limited to the press: one of their great qualities is that they can also be applied to any type of dissemination: technical documents, scientific information or any public document; it is what we call clear communication.”

The exhibition features a selection of diverse works: from historical topics (such as the first circumnavigation of the world by ship), descriptions of inventions (such as those of Jules Verne), current affairs information (such as the 11-M attacks), the labyrinthine plots of Star Wars characters, or even the complex human anatomy.