Infographics haven't been around for that long, especially compared to other forms of visual communication, but they have become essential to graphic design in the decade or so that they have been in existence. Infographics are used to teach, communicate business ideas inside of a company, convince consumers to make a purchase, and for all kinds of other purposes.
In fact, these days infographics are all over Instagram, in particular, and brands use a slideshow of several to get their message across in a direct, digestible way. An infographic is really very simple. It is a visual representation of data, typically developed through various images and charts with small amounts of text.
Infographics work so well because they create a fun experience of data gathering for the reader. Advertisers and teachers have always relied on visuals to help communicate information more effectively.
Infographics take visual representation to another level. The combination of text, visuals, and graphs are highly effective at communicating information in a way that consumers enjoy.
Infographics come in all kinds of different shapes and sizes, each with their own goal and target audiences. However, regardless of the infographic, a few things are common between all effective infographics.
An infographic that does a good job of explaining and informing is still not accomplishing its goals if it is not compelling enough to make people want to look at it and consider the information that is being presented. Infographics made up of simple graphs and text on a plain color scheme are unlikely to be effective.
Look for creative infographic ideas, like an infographic that is in the shape of something the data is discussing. Try relying on animation within the infographic to create a sense of story.
Infographics are supposed to make information clear, not more confusing. Be wary of infographics that may seem to put more emphasis on making graphs than intelligently communicating information. The best infographic explains something that is presented in the text in a way that makes it clearer to the reader than the text could do alone.
The best infographics draw the eye. They should cause readers to want to look at them. Clear, bold typeface paired with bright and bold color schemes and graphics of the subject matter create a visually compelling image that customers likely will have a hard time resisting the urge to examine.
Infographics can be used for a wide range of different purposes, depending on the needs of the makers. Usually, infographics are used to support information presented in text, but sometimes they are self-standing.
Here are a few of the purposes for infographics. Keep in mind that most infographics will satisfy more than one of these purposes. The best infographics fill a number of different roles.
Many people make the mistake of thinking that infographics hurt SEO because of the old idea that text should never be buried in images since it hides it from search engines. This is true, and one of the reasons why it is so important that infographics support, rather than replace, written text.
However, infographics can serve their own purpose in generating clicks and improving SEO. Because infographics are images, they will show up on Google Image and other image searches.
You may be able to rank in an image search for your infographic even if your text is not anywhere near ranking in text search results. This is a valuable way to generate additional clicks without having to do anything extra besides make sure you're using appropriate SEO in the infographic file name, caption, title, etc.
Most people who are reading written content today, particularly online, rarely read the entire article from start to finish. Rather, they skim through a given article to see if it will meet their needs or catch their interest.
This is why it is so important to break content into headings, provide lists, and offer other ways to make content appealing for people who aren't reading it all the way through. Infographics can also be a valuable way to appeal to skimmers.
By providing a quick overview of the subject near the beginning of an article, you can quickly and easily tell the reader what to expect from your article. This makes it much more likely that they will commit to reading it more in-depth.
The most straightforward goal of infographics is to present information more effectively. If you are making comparisons, presenting data, or even trying to clarify the points of an article, an infographic can help to make information clearer to the reader.
Anytime you think that the content may be a bit confusing or boring, you are seeing an opportunity for an infographic. Infographics are a great way to visually present the thesis statement of an article so that readers are perfectly clear on what an article is about.
Infographics can make the difference between holding a reader's attention and losing it by clarifying a point that may be frustrating for your reader to understand.
Because of the infographic’s capacity to catch and hold attention, it is a valuable marketing tool. Since infographics so often contain information that is legitimately valuable to the consumer, they can also help to establish trust in your brand, whether you are trying to get a new customer or build a relationship with existing customers.
Infographics hit on some of the most important aspects of effective marketing: get attention, provide meaningful value, and make a strong connection to your brand, all at once.
When you consider all of the benefits of infographics, you may be wondering what the next step is. Infographics are not something that you can create once and expect them to keep meeting all of your goals.
For an infographic campaign to be effective, you will be creating infographics that match various aspects of your content and are used for different purposes, from marketing to internal teaching, to presentations.
There are infographic creators that you can find for free or affordably online, but most companies find that it is worth the additional expense to hire a graphic designer to take care of infographic design. There are a few reasons why a graphic designer may be the right way to go:
The best graphic designers charge by time period or the number of projects, not by the individual infographic. They will also be able to take care of a number of your other graphic design related needs, including marketing videos and static visual creation. Get started with a great graphic designer today and add the value of infographics to your business repertoire.
Sources
https://www.forbes.com/sites/cherylsnappconner
