8 Ways to Ensure Your Infographic is Effective

Infographics are very important in conveying information and statistics but what exactly might you say would be a good infographic and what should it contain? A few key tips to what you need to keep in mind when creating an infographic of your own could make or break whether it gets the point across to the reader or not.

An effective infographic is a map or chart that can be quickly looked at by the reader and understood without having to stop, step back and analyze the meaning of the infographic. Just because a diagram may be appealing to the eye does not mean that it is easy to grasp the meaning of it, and sometimes even the simplest of diagrams are the ones that are the easiest to comprehend. Infographics that contain too many words are not very effective because the reader has to stop to read the text instead of being able to glance at it and continue on reading the rest of the report. The purpose of an effective infographic is to summarize data into a simple visual representation so that the intended audience can glance at the chart or map with complete understanding of the meaning of the infographic at hand. The information contained in the infographic must have good form, function, integrity, and be interesting. Without these the infographic ends up not efficiently conveying the information of which it was intended to and is thus rendered confusing to the reader.

This infographic about mankind’s exploration of space, documenting the number of missions made to different destinations and how far they went, is a example of an effective infographic. The text is limited, it’s not too cluttered, and it’s easy for the reader to comprehend.

When organizing your infographic there are eight things that you want to keep in mind:

1. Audience– you want to ask yourself who the infographic is intended for and who might be viewing it to determine if it should be informational or editorial when targeting your audience.
2. Sources– most infographics contain statistics and facts so when gathering your data you want to ensure that it comes from reliable sources and is accurate.
3. Design– you want to make sure the infographic is not too cluttered or the audience will get annoyed trying to figure it out.
4. Content– infographics are useful for illustrating complex concepts and difficult to understand processes but ensure that it isn’t too text heavy.
5. Sharing– to maximize the social impact of the infographic it’s important that it is share-able to other sources.
6. Optimize– to optimize the usefulness content it might help to create a link to where others can be directed to another page for more insight.
7. Measure– you want to ensure your infographic is track-able so you can monitor the social impact and see how it is being shared to others.
8. Resources– if you don’t have the time, there are programs out there to help people create their own infographics.

When creating your own infographic make sure that you minimize it to one topic. Blending two or more topics in a single infographic makes it confusing for the reader to determine what the real underlying meaning or topic is of that visual. Attractive colors also help to appeal to the audience’s eyes and the use of short text ensures that anybody will be able to understand what is being conveyed. Infographics are very flexible and almost any topic can be turned into a visualization of the facts at hand from something as simple as a concept to complex theories or processes. If it weren’t for the use of infographics, then many of today’s concepts and processes would be very hard to grasp. In addition, those who are visual learners might have a harder time trying to digest the wordiness of complex topics.

These guidelines can help to make your infographic stand out from the rest of the visuals out there that are used to convey information to readers quickly and effectively. When people are living busy lives, infographics tend to play a major role as a form of communication and understanding, without having to take time out of a hectic work day. Even though they serve their purpose very well most of the time, this does not guarantee that every single one is as good as the next. If the reader must back track or stop to try to figure out your infographic, then it must not have been effectively constructed.

For similar blogs on using infographics in PowerPoint Presentations visit here.

Nichole Stewart is a current student at the University of South Florida. She is going for a Bachelor”s Degree in Finance and has been attending University of South Florida since Fall 2009.