Best Practice Tips for Designing an Effective Infographic

What makes a great infographic?

The term "infographic" refers to a graphic that is used to represent information visually, particularly information that is difficult to understand in some way. To be effective, infographics must first and foremost provide value to the people they're intended to reach. The best infographics tell a story that helps the reader interpret the data presented in the graphic and put it in context.

In order to make sense of something that may be difficult to grasp, this interpretation is crucial.

Infographics can be a great way to present research, data, descriptions of connecting pieces, in-depth details, or even emotionally challenging themes. It can be difficult to convey such information, especially if it involves numerous components.

Infographics can include any number of visual components, such as text, images, icons, and animations. The best infographics are the ones that intentionally use these visuals to drive home key points and improve readability.

Making an Effective Infographic

Keep It Simple, Stupid (KISS)

The first step in creating a fantastic infographic is to avoid creating a terrible one. Avoid making these mistakes at all costs:

• Misleading through the use of fabricated or skewed facts
• Including an excessive amount of unnecessary visual elements or clutter in your infographic.
• Failing to recognise the worth of and include all demographics
• Choosing not to fix these errors

If you can avoid making these mistakes, your infographic will be on the right track. Put yourself in the shoes of your intended readers and make sure your content is helpful to them. Your infographic could be used for either internal or external training or client education. It's crucial to know your audience and work with them in mind. Think about what they will learn from it and how this knowledge will benefit them. Eliminate jargon and use phrases people are familiar with to make it simple to read.

Explain complex ideas by telling a story

When you know what you want them to learn, you can better guide them toward that knowledge. You can effectively lead your audience through data by telling stories with it. Great infographics tell stories that people will remember and share with others.

You should know that pictures help tell the story, especially the ones with people doing the things the text is talking about. Infographics that succeed go beyond only pleasing the eye to aid comprehension.

Use a format that works for the data

Design your infographics with usability in mind. Not all data lends itself well to being organised in the typical ways, such as a chronological timeline or bulleted list. You may be able to generate a side-by-side comparison, but other times you may be left with a plethora of statistics and no clear idea of how to make sense of it all.

A variety of potential structures for presenting the data can be considered during the selection of a template. Your data could range from the quantitative to the qualitative. The data should be grouped into categories that may help the reader make sense of it all. The layout makes up for the fact that the story is not told in a straight line.

Study the subject and your audience

Infographics stand out from the crowd because of the data they present. The best infographics provide context for the information they present whilst using data from reliable sources.

A deeper understanding of information gathering strategies and the following questions is likely to be helpful in this endeavour:

• Can I put my faith in this information's origin?
• Are there ways to check the information?
• What about sharing this information?
• What risks, if any, should users be aware of, especially in regards to their privacy?
• Do these details fit the narrative and its goals?
• Is there something it might expose that I wouldn't want others to know?
• How can I check that my preconceived notions aren't clouding my judgement?

Keep in mind that you might also need to investigate your target demographic to learn more about their interests, existing expertise, and the type of material they would find most helpful. Pay close attention to methodology whenever gathering information, and always provide context if sharing findings.

The best infographics strike a balance between being informative and easy to understand.

Include images that can help the audience understand

You will be better equipped to select relevant images based on your own understanding of the data and to identify those graphics in ways that are helpful to others if you have done your own research and analysis.

Here are some guidelines to follow when deciding on a visual format, but always keep in mind how practical it will be for your target audience.

Bar charts are the greatest for letting people use data to make comparisons (notice, people have a harder time comparing area or volume, therefore pie charts, donut charts, and bubble charts are possibly problematic).

If your data is location-specific, a map will be your best friend. Timelines, horizontal line graphs, and flowcharts are all useful ways to represent time. Mind maps and Venn diagrams are particularly useful for conveying relationships between concepts. Seeing a person's face in a photograph can make you feel a wide range of emotions, and photographs in general can be used to demonstrate progression through time or make personal references.

Good infographics don’t only employ the “correct” type of visual; they use it in the right place and in the right way. The visuals should be clear and succinct, helping to drive home the most important points. You want your listeners to have an "aha!" moment, not to be confused. Annotations or labels should be put in strategic locations to add a great deal of value.

Colour should be used with care. Colouring aids in bringing focus to key points and organising things to make things easier to understand. While high-quality infographics often feature vibrant hues, this is done for more than just aesthetic purposes.

Make it unforgettable

Use your imagination; what matters most is that your point is practical and memorable.

Don't let your imagination run wild to the point where you confuse or annoy your readers. You don't want them to recall that you were untrustworthy because of this, but you should aim for suitably innovative design choices that make your work memorable.

Conclusion

This is not advice for creating an infographic, but it is advice for people who already know what they're doing. Whether your infographic is decent or great, it won’t be beneficial to others until you share it.

These pointers will help you get started, but mastering the art of infographic design takes time and effort. The best way to assess if your infographic is having the impact you’d like it to is by asking the audience. You'll learn what aspects you have control over and what abilities you can hone with practice.