2021 Paper 1 Sample Response 1 (Infographic)
The text is an infographic published by the UK government detailing the importance
of consistent physical activity in developing children. It also presents guidelines on how to
ensure adequate daily activity for growing children. The infographic’s target audience is
obviously parents, but the audience also includes day care or preschool and kindergarten
teachers and even children who have started to learn how to read. The infographic uses a
combination of images and text to establish a carefree, yet instructional tone to appeal to
new parents, teachers, and even little kids.
The combination of stick figure visuals, colorful graphics, and simple instructional
directions is very effective in appealing to the main focus of the whole infographic: kids.
One-word commands like “jump” are used in conjunction with the accompanying images to
issue directives in a non-threatening and playful manner to children. The brilliance of this
combination is the fact that kids do not even have to be able to read the words to
understand the action. The stick figures carrying out representations of each action and the
drawings of the items are enough for kids to understand the message. The clear
representation of each age the number of boxes in a row make it even easier for kids to
understand what to do. This combination of visuals with short written text appeals to
children because of the easy to understand, and thus implement, format. It channels an
almost juvenile or childish spirit and tone showing that one possible audience is the kids
themselves.
Other aspects of the infographic appeal to a more a mature and adult audience. The
combination of image and text on the top that depicts developmental milestones for
children creates a certain pathos or emotional pull for new parents or parents of young
children. The six components such as “relationships and social skills,” “health and weight”
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and “brain development” are directly aimed towards this audience. Who doesn’t want their
child’s brain to develop properly? These components and their presentation in short bullet
point style format are effective at appealing to parents because these tend to be the main
concerns for parents who want their children to be health, well-adjusted individuals. The
images associated with these are no mistake either because in their simplicity, they grab
parent’s attention to focus on fostering the health of their children in the first few years of
their development. This is, of course, a central concern of parents as they are so focused on
their children at this age. The smiles on all the children in the building blocks in the center
of the infographic also create pathos for parents as they want the best for their child.
Parents want to see their child happy! Therefore, by playing on concepts of what parents
want for their children, the infographic is directly appealing to their emotions while also
providing scientific information from a respected medical group.
One of the more subtle aspects of the infographics visual and textual features are
the explicit and implicit appeals to facts and logic that not only encourages parents to pay
attention, but also pre-school teachers and day care caregivers. Other than parents,
teachers often have the most interactions with young children and thus some aspects of the
infographic appeal to them as well. The characterization of active children as “health,
happy, school ready” as well as the inclusion of “playground” as a place explicitly attracts
the attention of this audience. The positive connotations of these words allow the author(s)
of this infographic to appeal to teachers to be proactive in promoting physical activity in
young children. The credibility and reliability of the infographic is also supported by the
reference to the “UK Chief Medical Officers’ Physical Activity Guidelines.” It is a respectable
source. The adults who interact with children have confidence in validity of the information
presented infographic because it directly references professional institutions trusted with
© Tim Pruzinsky, InThinking 2021
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dealing with the health and safety of children. The soft edges for each box are also a subtle
visual cue that provides a possible sense of safety – they depict a child safe environment.
The lack of sharp edges mimics efforts to child-proof homes and classrooms by eliminating
hazards in the spaces children play/work in. This eases parents and teachers that typically
handle the child-proofing of areas and manufactures an air of reliability in the graphics.
Boxes have sharp edges and the creator of this infographic made a deliberate choice to
create softer edges to subtly demonstrate the actions depicted are not dangerous either.
Overall, the combination of simple words and phrases with easily understood images
alongside more complex and complicated language go a long way in ensuring that separate
and very different target audiences are able to quickly and easily identify and understand
the different sections meant for their consumption. The simple images of children playing
means a child can understand what to do while a parent, teacher, or day care provider can
go beyond the image (or verb) to grasp the impact this action has on the child’s health and
well-being. The infographic is concise, easy to understand, pleasantly colored and all of
those aspects allow the interplay between image and text to effectively appeal to the
various target audiences.
Word count: 866
© Tim Pruzinsky, InThinking 2021
www.thinkib.net/englishlanglit
www.englishalanglit-inthinking.co.uk
inthinking.co.u