The 69 Rules of Punctuation

Learning how to use punctuation properly is essential for communication. However, it is much easier said than done. The 69 Rules of Punctuation infographic from The Visual Communication Guy separates the 14 major marks and notes their uses. The only thing that could make this infographic better, is if it could write your paper for you!

The title is a bit a misleading. Sadly, there are more than sixty-nine “rules” of punctuation. When it comes to punctuation rules, there are probably countless guidelines about how NOT to use them. But the reality is, if you can just learn what each of the punctuation marks do, you won’t have to worry so much about all the ways NOT to use them.

This chart separates each of the 14 major punctuation marks (asterisks are excluded from this list) and identifies most all of the ways you could possibly use each punctuation mark. Note that some punctuation marks, like the en dash, have very few rules (only one this case), whereas others, like the comma, have over a dozen.

Take the time to learn these sixty-nine rules and you’ll be on your way to being punctuation error free!

Good infographic that clusters the related rules together into a visual design. No big datasets here, just a good visual guide to the concepts of punctuation.

Also available for purchase as a poster for $5.99 on The Visual Communication Guy Store

How to Create Beautiful Calligraphy

Calligraphy is a skill that requires a lot of practice. But no amount of practice will help you if you don’t have the right tools. The How to Create Beautiful Calligraphy infographic from Moo explains everything that you need to be successful. From the tools you need, to how to actually do each letter.

The graphic is a step-by-step guide to creating your own stunning hand-drawn calligraphy, and explores everything from the tools and materials you need, to how to draw the perfect curve with your nib.  The design very clearly walks the audience through the sequence of information using illustrations to enhance each point.

The text is a little bit too small when the infographic is sized to fit within a blog post (usually 600 pixels wide, as you can see above), but that can also have the benefit of encouraging readers to click through to see the original full-size version on the Moo site.

The footer of the infographic should include a copyright statement (or Creative Commons) to clearly outline the rights for sharing that the publisher wants to allow online.   Also, the URL to the original infographic landing page on the Moo site would be very helpful.  Currently it is very hard to find on the Moo site, and is not included in any blog posts that I could find.  Including the URL in the infographic image itself ensures that readers will be able to find the orignal even when the infographic is shared in social media without a correct link back to the original.

Thanks to Dan for sending in the link!

8 New Punctuation Marks We Need

Our punctuation choices could really use an update, and CollegeHumor.com is proposing we add these 8 New Punctuation Marks to our collective writing options.

A humorous look at some of the punctuation marks missing in the English language.

This is a borderline infographic.  Originally, all eight were designed as separate images, but then College Humor stacked them together into one image file so that it resembled a tall infographic .  There’s no data visualization or much in the way of illustration other than the symbols themselves.  However, it is informative, so like I said, I consider this to be a borderline infographic.

The response to the ideas was strong enough that they actually created the font, and you can download it from the College Humor site.  They created a separate infographic as the instructions on how to use the font in your desktop applications once you have it installed.  

UPDATE: Want to use these punctuation marks? Click here to download the CollegeHumor Punctuation font and get access to all of them.

The downloaded font won’t work on websites, just desktop applications, but I have seen a few people trying to make it available online as well.  For example, here’s a link to a Google Chrome extension that let’s you use the font on Facebook.

Found on Visual.ly