Creating an Interesting, Shareable Infographic
As a visually enticing way to spread information quickly in an appealing way, infographics are becoming one of the top content tactics for marketers. But there can be too much of a good thing, especially if that good thing starts to decrease in quality. Great infographics are beautifully designed to tell a story with facts and data, but poorly developed ones are beginning to give infographics a bad name.
If you’re looking to create an infographic, here are some tips for making it visually attractive, shareable, and getting it to stand out amongst the clutter. And if you’re not a designer, no worries! There is infographic-designing software just for you. If budget is an issue, there are many free image-editing programs available.
No matter what platform you choose to use, here are some tips to help you create amazing infographics.
Plan Your Infographic
Planning is important when designing an infographic. Knowing your audience and what they are looking for is huge when thinking about design and data. Should you use more facts or more statistics? More text or more images? By knowing your audience and what channels you plan to use to distribute your infographic (on social? On your website? In print?), you can begin to plan out the story that you want to tell.
Let Data Rule
The design is what your audience will see first, but your data is what will make them want to share your infographic. Your design should not eclipse the story but aid it. Let your data be the central point of your infographic and the basis for the design. Plus, if you have solid facts and information, it’s much easier to repurpose your infographic! Once you have laid out the facts and statistics that you want to include, make sure that everything is relevant and important. Get some feedback from your peers if you’re unsure. A second, third or even fourth set of eyes can really be helpful. From there you can begin thinking about the design.
Be Creative
Bar charts and pie charts have their place in infographics, but you need to get a little creative if you want your infographic to stand out. Check out some of these innovative infographics to get an idea of what I mean by “be creative.” Think about how to showcase your data in an unusual way. Designing an infographic about books? Use books in your design. Put your data in different parts of a book—the spine, the back, the inside cover, the pages. There are many ways to be creative, so get brainstorming!
If you have any tips to add about infographics, share in the comments! We’d love to hear them.
Vanessa Levin-Pompetzki—Digital Media Coordinator
