What makes a good infographic?

Infographics comprise of five main elements: story, data, text, visuals and brand.
I’ll cover each of these separately in this post.

1. STORY:

Ask yourself what is the message you are trying to convey in your graphic? Are you trying to show research results which illustrate a particular result or trend? Maybe you’re trying to explain a process, such as an application process? Or maybe you want to highlight key statistics or a timeline of events in your annual report.

No matter what you are conveying, it’s good practice to organise your content into an order or a flow that your reader can easily follow...remember a story always has a start, middle and end.

If your content is a collection of statistics or numbers, then you could divide it into sections or themes, starting with top level and overview data, and drilling down to the finer details. As with all design, having a visual hierarchy allows the eye of the reader to travel through or around your graphic easily. This helps the user to digest the information easily and will keep them engaged with the graphic longer, and thus more likely to remember it!

Your story will also define the type of infographic you need. For example a timeline will more than likely follow a linear or pathway structure.

2. DATA:

Once you know the story you’re trying to tell, you need the data to back it up. Do your research and either use your own research results or use reputable sources. Again, organise your data to fit into the visual hierarchy.

When selecting your data, try to imagine how it will be presented visually (see point 4 below). You don’t want a graphic full of similar bar charts, a mix of charts and text works better. People’s short attention span means they won’t dwell long trying to decipher a detailed bar chart, it’s more effective to present them with the topline fact or statistic.

If you use other data sources, be sure to include references or links at the bottom.

3. TEXT:

Your text (also known as ‘copy’) should be written to support your data. Keep sentences and statements short and concise. Long paragraphs of text don’t engage a reader and won’t be read.

Reduce the word count wherever you can, you’ll be surprised by how much it can be reduced while still retaining the message meaning.

When writing the text, like when selecting your data, try to use words and topics that will lend themselves to be illustrated visually. Always think visually, as that’s what will engage people.

Balance and harmony are important. If you have two sections or topics that are equally important, then give them equal prominence in the piece. Don’t have two facts for one, and 10 for the other.

As a rule of thumb, keeping your text to roughly 8 - 12 facts is ideal.

4. VISUALS:

This is the fun part! …bringing your data and text to life with creative illustrations and graphics.

Knowing your target audience, as well as your narrative, will help you decide the tone of your infographic. Will it be very corporate, friendly and fun, or serious and academic? Is it appropriate to have people or characters included or would stylised icons or abstract illustrations work better? And whichever style you choose, be consistent...mixing different types of cartoons or different styles of icons gives an amateur impression to an infographic

Consider your colour palette...should it be bright and cheerful, or cool and sophisticated or maybe it’s a seasonal piece for Christmas or a national holiday. The colour palette may also be determined by your branding (see the next point).

How will you illustrate your data, will you use bar charts, line graphs or pie charts? There are many ways that you can show your data and it’s a good idea to have a mix... instead of having 4 bar charts, could you mix in a few other types and make it more interesting to look at? (This link is a great resource for different types of data charts you could use.)

5. BRANDING:

Infographics present a great opportunity to promote your brand or organisation. Using your brand colours and a consistent style, you can create a unique look and feel to your graphics so they become recognisable.

You don’t need to have your logo in a very obvious position, often just placed in a top corner, or at the bottom is enough. Remember the story is the most important thing, and you don’t want it to feel like a piece of fluffy marketing.

I have one last piece of advice …don’t create an infographic with weak or jumbled content just for the sake of marketing. You need a compelling story or message from the start, and that will make the whole piece more useful, authentic and engaging for the reader. And you never know, it may end up going viral!

I hope you’ve found this article useful, feel free to contact us with any feedback or queries!

Posted by Andrea
Resonate Design