Although early forms of infographics date back thousands of years, the first modern design was published in 1915 by the London Underground. Alfred Leete used the concept to show how fast passengers would travel at different speeds.
Over the next century, the infographic would become an essential data visualization component for newspapers, journals, and online publications. Online use has been extended to businesses, blogs and other websites that wish to share important information in an easy-to-digest fashion.
What exactly is an infographic?
An infographic provides a graphic visual representation of data, knowledge, or information easily understood by the average person. It uses imagery options like bar graphs and pie charts to tell a visualized story of a data-rich concept.
The purpose of an infographic is to present complex information in a precise and highly visual way. Whether designed in an infographic template or drawn by freehand, the data is much easier to interpret when it's laid out correctly.
What is a typical infographic size?
Infographics can range in size and vastly depend on the medium of print, or sharing and the venue on which they will be displayed. For example, an infographic could take up a billboard (although they rarely work well as targeted ads). Alternatively, they could also be as small as a Twitter image post viewed on a mobile device.
If you are using an infographic within an email newsletter, or on a web page, typically you are looking at around 500-1100 pixels wide and no more than 2000-5000 pixels long. Remember, how your infographic is interacted with is going to be key in its design.
You will want a mobile responsive image setting for most web uses and you will want to avoid scrolling as much as possible. The concept is one screenshot of information on your subject.
Here’s one I made earlier!
How to make an infographic for free
There are lots of options out there for easy to use graphics software, one that you can use for free and extend into paid plans for is Canva.com. I use them daily with clients and find their templates easy to customise and design from.
You can see from my video exactly how easy it is to get started.
Canva has a huge library of infographic templates, which makes designing your specific information simple, allowing you to concentrate on the message and the data points you wish to share.
What information can I put on my infographic?
Anything!
Start with something your clients most ask about, but can be complicated to answer, then break this information down into key points. Use those key points to design your infographic around and you have an informational graphic that your clients will wish to see.
5 ways to make an infographic people want to share
These steps will help you create the graphics people want to see and share with others because they hold value in an easy to understand way.
1. Tie your visuals to the data
A good infographic does more than throw a simple JPEG, or PNG into an empty space. Each visual addition should tell a story that makes your statistics or data understandable. The best designs get straight to the point, eliminating excessive information to focus on the overall thesis of the piece.
An infographic designer will create a simplified process to generate their work for brands and businesses. Within each template, you can drag and drop (or copy and paste) your key information into the premade template to save time and keep on brand. This is something I often do for clients to help them manage their workflow and allow each branded piece to be instantly recognisable.
2. Eliminate the legend
The best infographics provide self-explanatory information that the average person can use to learn something new. You don’t need to include a legend that explains every line, colour, or point, in fact, great infographics don’t have these at all. If descriptors are necessary, they can be embedded into the design so that viewers can understand the intended communication.
3. Reduce the clutter
Putting as much stuff as possible into an infographic might be tempting, but the best designs maximize white space to make the data easy to see and understand. Try to separate different components to create a relevant argument for your overall point.
That doesn't mean you need to leave things out to keep your infographic understandable. It can be filled with dense information if the story follows a logical course.
4. Sign the infographic
An infographic is an effective marketing tool. When people share it, your name or brand should go along for the ride. Including a logo is a straightforward way to take care of this step. If you post your infographic on your website, either on a specific page or a blog post, then this may also be a great tool for creating important backlinks.
Here’s one I designed for this particular content marketing dictionary entry.
5. Cite your sources
You've probably heard the joke that "95% of the statistics found on the Internet are made up." People won't believe the information found in your infographic unless you can deliver sources or references for it. Even if the material comes from internal data, your readers need ways to verify it. You can place this element at the bottom of the graphic or anywhere that makes sense for its story.
With these five ways to make an infographic shareable, you'll create a compelling graphic that gets your point across through facts in a timely manner.
So are infographics a useful element for your website or blog?
In short, yes. They provide useful information in easy-to-digest ways, making your readers grateful that they found you to help them answer their questions. These also act as a great way to highlight your expertise and approachability, because you have taken the time to answer a possibly frequently asked question in such an easy but insightful way. Potential clients love them.
From an advertising perspective, a great infographic is shareable, giving you lots of brand awareness and clicks from backlinks.
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