With 20 years of experience as a graphic designer, I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly of infographics. These are my thoughts and impressions around what makes a good infographic and why you should look at your content twice before deciding to turn it into one.
As you develop content for your website, sometimes you’ll get tired of writing yet another blog post. Often, the information you want to present could be shared more effectively in a visual presentation. Keep in mind, most people need to see information conceptually in order to better understand an idea.
At this point, consider converting your content into an infographic. Infographics encompass many styles to get ideas across, combining fascinating data and statistics with eye-pleasing design, as explained by Val Turgeon in this article on the Brandpoint blog.
[Please note that we’ve removed branding and calls-to-action in the infographic examples in this blog post.]
What is an infographic?
The Oxford English dictionary defines an infographic as “a visual representation of information or data, e.g., a chart or diagram.” This definition, although accurate, is overly simple. Infographics are engaging, informative and easy to comprehend. They should catch the reader’s eye and teach them information that’s relatable and educational.
What makes a good infographic?
Brandpoint encourages clients to develop infographics that are informative and educational vs. advertorial. Are you sharing important data or just trying to sell your latest product or service?
What makes an infographic successful? It’s when your audience values the information enough to share it on social media.
[Click the image above to see full infographic]
Infographics also tell a story. The story will draw the reader in. Structured with an engaging title and an intro sentence to set the stage, an infographic includes statistical data to support the main points of the story, and then the conclusion offers a main takeaway and a call to action that pushes the reader to respond. This infographic for Fetzer Vineyards is a great example that illustrates the story of how worms treat wastewater.
[Click the image above to see full infographic]
Visually, infographics should be legible, organized and engaging. The main goal is to make sure the information is conveyed in a way that attracts the reader’s interest. It’s the job of the graphic designer to pull the story together visually, drawing the reader’s eyes through the content. A strong engaging visual is used in the header to add attraction to the captivating title. A designer will expertly use contrasting colors and typography to add emphasis to key points. They carefully choose and create graphics and icons so that styling and branding are consistent throughout.
This typically means that only a couple of fonts (or 1 font family) are selected as well as a simple color palette of four to five shades.
What types of infographics are there?
There are many ways to visually convey information. Generally, the infographics we develop follow an outline of intro, three to five main points with supporting data, and a conclusion/CTA. But sometimes the story needs to be told in a more specific format. Here are some examples:
- Problem/solution (Sample: Problems & Solutions to Online Professional Development)
- Step-by-step process (Sample: Your No-fuss Guide to French Press Coffee)
- Flowchart (Sample: Navigating the Customer Journey with Big Data)
- Pro/con lists (Sample: The Pros and Cons of Email Marketing)
- Diagram (Sample: The Parts of a Car)
- Number crunch (Sample: 2013 Cookie Crunch)
- Maps (Sample: The Most Iconic Drink in Every State)
- Timeline (Sample: U.S. Census 2020 Timeline)
- Lists (Sample: Travel Document Checklist)
For more information and examples of infographics, check out this article by Vikas Agrawal.
Now ask yourself: Should my content be an infographic?
There are a couple of questions you can ask:
- Is the information engaging and relatable to a general audience?
- Do I have data or short bits of information to share? Can my information be condensed in a digestible way?
- Can the content be visualized in a clear and legible way? Can we get creative with this? Or will it just be large chunks of verbiage?
- Am I informing or educating the audience?
[Click the image above to see full infographic]
Remember, infographics are one of the most sharable types of content. Their strength is the ability to visually convey information to an audience that may not like to read or have a hard time understanding a concept when expressed through words alone.
Bottom line, have fun with it. Be creative. Keep it legible. And TEACH something! Educating a general audience helps to show that you are an expert who is knowledgeable in your field.
Janelle Van Bockel has been designing infographics for Brandpoint since 2016.
