Five steps on the path to infographic brilliance

By Jordan Yates
 
About 90% of the data our brain receives is visual, which makes infographics a brilliant tool for us to read and retain content.

Here are five elements that are key to making your infographic the best it can be.
 

1. Get the content right

Content is a key  component to any good  infographic.

Great content focuses on the ideal target audience and aims to hit their tone of voice and appeal to them. Once the content is right you can begin breaking that content down and laying out a strong foundation for your design.
 

2. Keep it simple…

The next step is to plan the infographic by either sketching it out or roughly mocking it up on your computer.

Without a good layout, infographics can become messy and mind numbing.

The trick is to not to make it too complex – keep it simple. The user should be able to read through an infographic with ease, and quickly pick out and retain important facts and figures.
 

3. … but break the rules

Nowadays  there are thousands upon thousands of infographics – probably 95% of which are long portrait pieces.

When you approach your infographic, see if there’s any way you can break away from the sea of other infographics and really stand out from the crowd. Can this infographic be animated in any way? Can it be horizontal instead?

As long as the user can still read it at ease, and it’s a manageable length and size, then there are no limits to the visual possibilities of an infographic.
 

4. Be visually  focused

There are plenty of infographics that are more “info” than “graphic”. They end up looking more like a Word document than visual piece of content.

But the perfect infographic will have a good balance of visual and written content. Focus on pulling out the killer bits of content, and make them big elements of your design.

Use to your advantage different fonts or colours from your colour scheme by highlighting specific elements and making them stand out, but keep the info-to-graphic balance in mind.
 

5. Start strong and finish even stronger

It’s  imperative that the headline to your  infographic pulls in your target audience.

Using  questions and bold graphics will bring the reader in and then, as they near the end of the infographic, you’ll need to finish even stronger.

It’s important that throughout the reader’s experience they’re left satisfied and, more importantly, that the  infographic itself has made a memorable impact on them.
 
Further reading
Five ways to butcher your infographic.