If you stop and think about it, on the surface, the very fact that people want to steal each others identity is kind of ridiculous. But when you really think about it you realise that this has been going on most likely since tribes began to have contact with each other and strangers could assume alternate personas.
Consider films like The Talented Mr Ripley or Richard Gere in Sommersby (seriously what wife wouldn’t recognise her own husband?) and my favourite Person of Interest. Taking another identity because your own life is pretty rubbish/boring/depressing/meaningless/penniless is actually understandable – an easy way to instantly change everything. Or sometimes because people want to disappear and hide.
Top Ten Ways Identity Theft Affects You infographic from ARAGgroup.com is eyecatching and highlights the issue of identity theft in todays society. Whereas Richard Gere wanted to start selling tobacco and take care of a dead mans wife on his way back from the civil war with a photograph and a watch as evidence, todays society is all about social security numbers. Social media hacking is rife online and recently I have read horror stories were a person had their entire online accounts wiped out: all all emails and photographs via Gmail and their iTunes and apple data – just because the hacker wanted their three letter twitter name (supposedly worth $50k).
The infographic has good composition and flow through the design. The banner is excellent, stands out and is relevant to the subject. The data is highlighted so that each snippet of information can be scanned quickly, illustrations are excellent and the colour palette is simple and effective. The design of this infographic is one of the best I have had submitted here in a while. My only comment for improvement is that I would like to see some stats about how many ID thefts are occuring each year and such like – the information presented could be strengthened.
Overall I give Top Ten Ways Identity Theft Affects You infographic an 8.5 out of 10 – excellent design.
