Infographics have become an important part of content marketing campaigns. Designing and distributing engaging graphics that present data or share a story in a quick and easy to understand way is especially important given how quickly we all cycle through information today.
However, some infographics that are being produced ignore some basic “don’ts.” Here are my top four things NOT to do when designing an infographic:
1. Don’t use plain graphs and charts
One of the easiest traps to fall into is to throw a couple bar or pie charts onto a fun background design and call it a day. These may be staples in some businesses, but if you are marketing to a savvy audience who is scanning through their social feed, a boring bar graph isn’t going to entice them to dig deeper.
That’s not to say you can’t still incorporate those standard graphs. But you need to have fun with them. Use vibrant colors and iconography to illustrate the data. Incorporate the theme of the infographic into each chart if possible. Here are two examples.
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2. Don’t use text that’s too small
Because infographics are viewed online — and especially on mobile devices — using a small font size is a huge don’t.
You want people to be able to read the text included in your infographic, right? So make sure that they can. Keep the font size large enough to be viewed on a tablet or smart phone. Also, be conscious of the font you’re choosing, as that may limit readability as well.
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3. Don’t use too much copy
Keep in mind that the purpose of an infographic within your content strategy is to give your audience a way to quickly understand the information you’re presenting. If you’re going to include all the text from your white paper in your infographic, what’s the point of the infographic anyway?
The copy you include should be quick and punchy. Create small, bite-sized pieces of information so the user gets the high-level info they need. We know you have more data than will fit on the infographic, but you need to be disciplined to include only what will keep your audience’s attention and nothing more.
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4. Don’t forget a link
Remember that your infographic is an important piece of marketing collateral and the whole idea is to get it distributed and shared around the web. Include a link back to your site so that whoever sees your infographic has a way to find you.
One thing many people forget is to actually write out the URL to their landing page, rather than just embed it. You might publish your infographic on your website with a link included to the next page you want a user to visit, but you don’t have a live link for when it is shared on Twitter or LinkedIn. Include the URL so those people who are two or three levels down the line can find you, too.
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These are just the top four mistakes I identify when looking at infographics for publication online. There are designers creating brilliant infographics out there, but we can always find areas to improve. Keep these four ideas in mind as you work with your team to avoid the most important “don’ts” of infographic creation. This post also offers some more tips on creating awesome infographics for your content campaigns.
